Hiking: Santa Monica Mountains : A Little More Backbone : Hondo Canyon’s new footpath winds through dramatic scenery and links other popular trails

Mile by mile, the Backbone Trail, a 25-year-long dream of hikers, is becoming a reality. The latest link completed in the proposed 65-mile trans-Santa Monica Mountains trail is through Hondo Canyon, state parkland between Topanga State Park and Malibu Creek State Park.

“With the possible exception of Zuma Canyon, where the Backbone Trail has not been completed, Hondo is the most dramatic canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains,” said Ron Webster, who designed the footpath through Hondo Canyon.

Webster, widely admired as one of the finest trail builders in the West, has labored 12 years in the Santa Monica Mountains and other local ranges. Under his direction, and thanks to labor and funding from the Los Angeles Conservation Corps, the Sierra Club, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, the five-mile-long “missing link” through Hondo Canyon was recently completed.

One look over the canyon rim at Hondo (which means deep in Spanish) will convince most hikers what a daunting task Webster and his crews faced in forging a footpath through it. Not only did the trail builders have to overcome difficult engineering problems, they--and their trail--faced the full fury of Mother Nature.

“Fire, flood, earthquake. Hondo Canyon experienced all these awesome forces just during the time we were building the trail,” Webster noted. “And yet, look at the canyon now; it’s more beautiful than ever. A testament, I’d say, to nature’s miraculous powers of recovery.”

Nature’s self-restoration efforts in Hondo Canyon are indeed a wonder to behold. The severe 1993 brush fires that swept Topanga Canyon and other mountain communities also scorched Hondo Canyon. However, the chaparral and other hardy flora have already resprouted. Some botanists predict a truly spectacular post-fire wildflower season.

Signs of seismic activity from last January’s Northridge quake are dramatic. Large trees at the bottom of Hondo Canyon were bowled over by huge boulders dislodged from the canyon walls. *

Now that a trail has been hewn through Hondo Canyon, it’s possible to hike about 40 uninterrupted miles along the Backbone Trail from Will Rogers State Historic Park to Kanan-Dume Road. Once a couple more missing links are completed, the path will extend 25 more miles west to Point Mugu State Park.

A network of nature paths, fire roads and horse trails, the Backbone Trail leads through diverse ecosystems: meadows, yucca-covered slopes, handsome sandstone formations and springs surrounded by lush ferns. When finished, it will literally and symbolically link the scattered beauties of the Santa Monicas.

Winter and spring are great times to hit the trail. From Topanga State Park to Will Rogers State Historic Park, the Backbone Trail has been finished for quite some time and has long been beloved by hikers.

Two Backbone Trail routes through Malibu Creek State Park have been completed for many years and have proven very popular: A high primary route follows a dramatic ridge top toward Castro Crest, with spectacular ocean and island views, while the alternate route meanders along with geologically and ecologically unique Malibu Creek through the heart of the state park.

While Hondo Canyon ranks as one of the most scenic segments of the Backbone, its trail head access and transportation logistics are a bit complex. For the casual holiday season hiker or the newcomer to the Santa Monica Mountains, I’d recommend a Backbone Trail walk in one of the two nearby state parks--Malibu Creek or Topanga.

More experienced hikers, and those trekkers who can prevail upon family members to assist with car shuttle arrangements, will love Hondo Canyon.

The Hondo Canyon hike can be a five-mile one-way, mostly downhill jaunt from Saddle Peak Road to Topanga State Park or a 10-mile round-trip walk.

Directions to trail head: From U.S. 101 in Woodland Hills, exit on Topanga Canyon Boulevard and proceed south, winding a few hilly miles into the canyon. Turn left at the signed entrance to Topanga State Park on Entrada Road. A short distance up Entrada, turn left into a state park parking lot. (Don’t continue driving up Entrada to the main entrance of the state park.)

Another trail head can be reached by driving down Topanga Canyon Boulevard one-quarter mile past the state park entrance on Old Topanga Canyon Road, turning right, and proceeding another quarter-mile to “horse trail” (also the Backbone Trail) that departs from Old Topanga Canyon Road.

To reach the Saddle Peak Road trail head: From the intersection of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Old Topanga Road, proceed 5 1/2 miles up the latter road to Mulholland Highway. Turn left and drive 4 1/2 miles to Stunt Road, turn left, and continue four more miles to a junction with Schueren Road. Park off Stunt Road (which assumes a new name--Saddle Peak Road and continues east) in one of the wide dirt turnouts.

The hike: Begin at the yellow fire gate on the north side of Stunt Road. Walk 100 yards and look right for a sign (an arrow) that directs you onto the footpath. As you follow the ridge top east, to your right is Flores Canyon.

The ridge top you’re following has long been known informally as Fossil Ridge and if you look sharply at the rocks, you’ll see why. A quarter-mile from the trail head, embedded in rock, are what appear to be a trio of giant clam fossils (at least to us non-scientists).

After a half-mile descent from atop the canyon, you’ll reach the site of a former mega-marijuana garden, destroyed by authorities a couple years ago. It was a difficult operation to discover: No trail led to this remote and sun-drenched spot, and the crop was hidden from aerial view by camouflage netting. The pot growers managed to tap a fire hydrant on Stunt Road and snake miles of plastic pipe through thick brush in order to irrigate.

The path climbs briefly along the south canyon wall, then descends to what looks to be the scene of a minor avalanche but is really the work of the great quake of ’94. Past a burned-out cabin, the path crosses lush Topanga Meadows, where signs keep you on the Backbone and steer you away from a complication of horse paths that cross the meadow. Winter rains can make meadow trails mighty mucky; expect a couple pounds of mud to glom onto your hiking boots.

Soon after crossing the meadow, the trail leads across the usually shallow waters of the creek flowing next to Old Topanga Road. If you parked your car on Old Topanga Canyon Road, your hike is over.

Those hikers continuing to the Dead Horse Trail head in Topanga State Park will cross Old Topanga Road and join the moderately steep path (signed “Horse Trail”) that climbs a low hill, passes a water tank and descends to Topanga Elementary School. Walk past the school, down Topanga School Road to Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Cross the boulevard and walk 200 yards up Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Entrada Road, turn right and ascend briefly to the trail head in Topanga State Park.

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Backbone Trail

WHERE: Hondo Canyon, Topanga State Park.

DISTANCE: From Saddle Peak Road to Topanga Canyon is a bit over five miles one way with 1,200-foot elevation loss.

TERRAIN: Dramatic ridges, deep canyon.

HIGHLIGHTS: Newest, perhaps finest segment of Backbone Trail.

DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Moderate.

PRECAUTIONS: Sparse parking along Old Topanga Canyon Road.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Mountain Parks Information; tel. (800) 533-PARK