Paths to the Past

Of the thousands who annually hike, bike and ride horses at scenic Malibu Creek State Park near Calabasas, few probably know much about the area’s history.

This isn’t just a 7,000-acre state park with hidden waterfalls, a lake, sheer rocky cliffs, stream-side forests, broad meadows and oak woodlands. It’s an area rich in modern history. To educate the public, Jim Holt, a California state park interpreter, will conduct two tours beginning Sunday that focus on the area’s history.

The informative two-hour walks also mention the park’s rare botanical and geological treasures as well as its wildlife population that includes mountain lions, golden eagles, bobcats, mule deer, badgers and hawks.

But the focus is on the Chumash who lived in the area for thousands of years and the American homesteaders who occupied the land through the end of the 1800s, farming, raising grapes and goats and selling charcoal made from the giant oaks.

The free tour begins at the lower parking lot, just inside the main entrance off Las Virgenes Road.

It’s a beautiful area surrounded by lush rolling hills sprinkled with yellow wildflowers and golden poppies.

Holt gives the group a brief introduction and it’s off to the Back Country Trail, a relatively easy walk that crosses a bridge over Malibu Creek.

“You see that, it’s Las Virgenes Stream and it meets up with Malibu Creek,” Holt said. “There’s a story about the stream that I go into.”

He also talks about the four main types of vegetation found at the park and how the Chumash took advantage of the year-round water and abundant acorn supply.

The area ended up being sold after the Mexican Land Grant, shortly following the 1821 Mexican Revolution.

Eventually, rancher Don Pedro Alcantara Sepulveda moved into the area, and in 1853 built the Sepulveda Adobe near Las Virgenes Creek.

It’s the oldest European structure in the Santa Monica Mountains, and Holt’s tour stops there for a view of the deteriorated structure behind a chain-link fence.

“We would like to restore it, but public parks doesn’t have the funding,” Holt said. “We hope to get FEMA funding to do it since a lot of the damage was caused by El Nino and the ’94 Northridge earthquake.”

You can still get a good view of the white adobe from the other side of the fence. The rotting walls reveal blocks made of mud, straw and manure, which at the time was the best adhesive agent for holding the blocks together.

Holt also has some great photos of the adobe when the Sepulveda family (Don Pedro and his wife had 14 children) lived in it, as well as artifacts and tools the family owned. There are also family photos.

“We researched city assessors’ records to confirm all the historical documentation,” Holt said. “That’s how we got all the dates.”

There are many interesting anecdotes associated with the adobe. For instance, the infamous bandit Joaquin Murietta was said to have visited it. He was known to hide with his band under a huge, 700-year-old oak to prepare for heists along El Camino Real, a few miles to the north.

It’s stories like these that add a new dimension to a hike in the Santa Monica Mountains.

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Sepulveda Adobe Walk at Malibu Creek State Park on Sunday at 2 p.m. and June 28 at 3 p.m. Meet ranger in the lower parking lot for an informative, two-hour hike that covers the park’s history and that of the adobe. To get to Malibu Creek State Park, take the Ventura Freeway to Las Virgenes Road and exit south. Park entrance is about three miles from freeway. Hike is free and parking is $5. Information: (818) 457-8142.