Please Proceed With Caution: Unmarked Trail Ahead

Hikers should always take precautions, and special care should be observed when hiking the Backbone Trail.

Always let someone know where you’re going. Carry plenty of water, even on cool days. Stay on trails. Bring a hat and sunscreen, and leave the dog at home. Learn to recognize, and avoid, poison oak.

Backbone Trail hikers face an added risk. There’s a fair chance that they will get lost.

Although clear enough most of the way, the trail was, on a recent hike, abysmally marked in some places, including key trail and road junctions. In a couple of spots, the trail seemed to disappear, and there were no signs to help.

Elsewhere, the Backbone hitchhiked onto local trails, but signs failed to explain which of these was also the Backbone. These situations appeared contrary to state park guidelines for recreational trails. They are likely to create considerable confusion for first-time hikers of the Backbone Trail, even those with long hiking experience.

This was not a problem on our five-day hike. We had an escort of park officials and trail builders. The average hiker does not.

“It’s just the most frustrating thing,” said Ruth Kilday, executive director of the Mountains Conservancy Foundation, an affiliate of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. “I think people who are out there every day assume that hikers have . . . radar,” Kilday said, referring to park officials.

The lack of signs “results in a trail that’s not really available to the public.”

The state Department of Parks and Recreation and the National Park Service are responsible for managing the trail. A few well-placed signs would solve the problem. But agency officials cite limited budgets and manpower as the cause.

Two rangers suggested that using a compass, or getting lost, should be part of the experience.

“You’re not wrong in thinking that we need more signing out there for the general hiker,” said Jean Bray, information officer with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, a unit of the National Park Service. “As a private citizen, if I went out there and hiked . . . I would expect a trail to be fairly easy to follow.”

The Mountains Conservancy Foundation is awaiting delivery of $5,000 worth of Backbone Trail signs it plans to donate to state and federal parks officials. Time will tell how soon the signs are installed and how well they are maintained.

In the meantime, first-time Backbone hikers should consider budgeting extra time for blundering around--or finding a companion who already knows the trail. The most recent additions to the trail are not yet in books and maps. But Milt McAuley’s “Guide to the Backbone Trail” and Tom Harrison’s set of three Santa Monica Mountains topographic maps will certainly help.

Hikers may also call the Mountain Parks Information Service (800-533-PARKS) for help in planning a hike.