Closing the Gap

It sounds like an urban myth--hiking through the wilds of Los Angeles for days at a stretch, bedding down at night in remote, pristine campsites.

But that’s the idea behind the Backbone Trail, a nearly complete 70-mile trail that hugs the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains from Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu.

November is Backbone Trail Month, and for the next four weekends you can join organized hikes or work parties on the trail. The hoopla is designed not only to raise awareness of the trail, but to point out a six-mile gap and a drive to raise funds for completion.

Even though the trail is within 15 minutes of more than 1 million residents, it doesn’t get heavy use--especially the kind of use that its backers envision. “It’s not used as an overall trail,” said Ruth Kilday, executive director of the Mountains Conservancy Foundation, which is spearheading the trail’s completion. It draws day hikers, but not those who see the trail as a backpacking adventure over several days.

Despite the missing link, you can hike two hefty chunks of the trail. At the east end, a 46-mile stretch runs from Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades to Trancas Canyon. The six-mile missing link of trail straddles the Los Angeles-Ventura County line, followed by 18 miles of unbroken trail from Circle X Ranch through Point Mugu State Park to the beach at the west end.

For backpackers who crave uninterrupted days of hiking, campgrounds along the route are few and far between with spots in Topanga State Park, Malibu Creek State Park, Circle X Ranch, and at the beach in Point Mugu State Park.

Kilday wants to add more. In fact, a coalition of agencies that spent the last two years studying the trail has recommended that the number of campsites be boosted to a dozen, spaced no more than six miles apart.

Here is a list of activities:

Saturday, 8 a.m., trail maintenance work on Dead Horse Trail in Topanga State Park; (213) 222-4600.

Sunday, 8:30 a.m., 8 1/2-mile hike on Fossil Ridge, Saddle Peak and Piuma trails, above Malibu; (818) 716-6918.

Sunday, 8:30 a.m., 7 1/2-mile hike, Tapia Park to Saddle Peak; (310) 398-0774.

Sunday, 8:30 a.m., 11-mile hike, Will Rogers State Historic Park to Deadhorse Trail Head; (310) 559-3128.

Nov. 16, 8:30 a.m., 18-mile hike, Malibu Creek State Park loop with added Upper Solstice-Castro Crest loop; (310) 606-3171.

Nov. 16, 8:30 a.m., six-mile hike, Tapia Park to Dark Canyon, return via Piuma Ridge Trail; (818) 342-2894.

Nov. 23, 8:30 a.m., 6 1/2-mile hike, Tapia Park to Century Lake loop; (818) 716-6918.

Nov. 30, 8:30 a.m., seven-mile hike (new trail section), Newton Canyon to Trancas Canyon; (818) 347-6433.

For directions, call (310) 589-2400.