Backbone Trail Includes Diverse Ecosystems

Ever so slowly, the Backbone Trail is being completed. When finished, it will extend about 65 miles over the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains from Will Rogers State Historic Park to Point Mugu State Park. About two-thirds of the trail is ready for hikers, but the missing links, about 20 miles, form large gaps in the trail.

The Backbone Trail passes through national, state and county parkland in addition to land owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. It’s a rich pastiche of nature walks, scenic viewpoints, fire roads and horse trails leading through diverse ecosystems: meadowlands, savannas, yucca-covered slopes, handsome sandstone formations and springs surrounded by lush ferns. When finished, the trail will literally and symbolically link the scattered beauties of the Santa Monica Mountains.

La Jolla Ridge Trail, in Point Mugu State Park, is the newest segment of the Backbone Trail. Depending on how you look at the Santa Monica Mountains, it’s either the beginning of the Backbone Trail or its end.

The well-graded trail, made possible by funding from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, offers fine ocean and island views; it also provides the only coastal access along the length of the Backbone Trail.

La Jolla Ridge Trail is a fine way to explore Point Mugu State Park, the largest preserved area in the Santa Monica Mountains. The trail joins several other trails, giving the hiker a chance to create longer loops through the state park.

The new trail passes through a burned area on La Jolla Ridge. Charred in a brush fire last October, the chaparral and coastal scrub flora is already recovering. The yucca has been particularly quick to regenerate.

During the next few months, hikers with an interest in botany will enjoy a close-up look at how Southern California’s Mediterranean flora rises phoenix-like from the ashes. With a little luck and a little rain, the burned slopes of La Jolla Ridge may have a nice display of spring wildflowers.

Directions to the trailhead: From Los Angeles, drive up Pacific Coast Highway about 21 miles past Malibu Canyon Road. The turnoff for Ray Miller Trailhead/La Jolla Canyon is 1 1/2 miles beyond Big Sycamore Canyon, which is also part of Point Mugu State Park. Follow the short park road to its end at a parking lot.

The hike: The old established trail, near an interpretive display and restroom, is La Jolla Canyon Trail; you’ll be returning to the trailhead by this route if you choose the longer-loop option of this day hike. Look to the right side of the parking area for the new La Jolla Ridge Trail. The trail marches right up a brushy hill and soon passes a brand-new horse trail coming up from a group camp that is still under construction.

La Jolla Ridge Trail works its way north and east, first through a draw dotted with prickly pear cacti, then over slopes that were burned in the October brush fire. (About 800 acres of the park burned. Rangers say the slopes will not be reseeded but will be allowed to regenerate naturally.)

A bit more than a mile out, you’ll get the first of several stunning ocean views. The Channel Islands--particularly Anacapa and Santa Cruz--are prominent to one side. To the southeast is Catalina. During the winter, you might catch sight of a migrating California gray whale on the horizon.

The trail ascends over some red rock, then parallels the coast for a time. If the California Coastal Trail, a proposed 1,600-mile system of interconnected beach and coastal-range trails running from Mexico to Oregon, is ever built, this section of La Jolla Ridge Trail certainly has to be included. Listen carefully and you can hear the distant booming of the surf.

The trail reaches an unsigned junction with Overlook Trail, a dirt road. Head up Overlook Trail, which climbs north along the ridge that separates Big Sycamore Canyon to the east from La Jolla Canyon to the west.

Overlook Trail ends at a signed junction, where you’ll bear left on La Jolla Valley Loop Trail. You’ll soon turn left again when La Jolla Valley Loop Trail forks again. (A right turn at this junction brings you to La Jolla Valley Camp, a fine place to picnic.)

Skirting the east end of La Jolla Valley, you’ll enjoy an overview of waving grasses and descend into La Jolla Canyon. A bit more than a mile’s travel brings you to a lovely cattail pond just off the trail. Above the pond is a picnic area.

Beyond the pond, the canyon narrows. Farther along it widens, as does the trail, which becomes a fire road. The fire road takes you back to Ray Miller Trailhead.

La Jolla Ridge Trail: Ray Miller Trailhead, to Overlook Trail 4 miles round trip; 800-foot elevation gain

Loop via Overlook Trail, La Jolla Canyon Trail: 7 miles round trip