Santa Monica Mtn - Backbone Trail

Shouee

I started hiking with Southbay Hikers in early 2015. We have always hiked in San Gabriel Mtn. One day I read the news below and have been asking our captain to hike Santa Monica Mtn to see where the piano was. “The hills were alive with the sound of music this week after hikers in search of sweeping views of Southern California were surprised to find a piano on a lookout in the Santa Monica Mountains.The piano was discovered on top of Topanga Lookout, near Stunt Road in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area.” Close up of the piano At first Capitan Sean is not so fond of Santa Monica Mtn because it’s only about 3000 feet high comparing to San Gabriel Mtn where the trailhead often starts at 5000-6000 feet and the summit can be 8000-10,000 feet high. So we hiked the Backbone trails in Santa Monica Mtn only once a year in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019.When Pandemic hits, Southbay Hikers stopped hiking for a few months. I had two surgeries in 12/2019 and 5/2020, so I couldn’t hike until 9/2020. Meanwhile most trails in the San Gabriel Mountains were closed until April 2022 due to 2020 Bobcat fire. Capitan Sean decided that it’s time to complete hiking Backbone Trails in 2021. “The Backbone Trail is a long distance trail extending 68 miles (109 km) across the length of the Santa Monica Mountains in the U.S. state of California. Its western terminus is Point Mugu State Park and its eastern terminus is Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades. The trail is open to hikers throughout its length; dogs, mountain bicyclists and horseback riders are allowed on portions of the trail as posted.” Although the Backbone Trails is considered a recreational trails unlike the famous John Muir trails (JMT), Pacific Crest Trails (PCT), Appalachian Trails, etc., I think it’ll be nice to document our Backbone hiking journey, so I started summarizing highlights of each hike as follows: 12/5/2015 Tri peaks and Sandstone Peak (Highest peak in Santa Monica Mtn) Rock climbers’ paradise Split rock My cousin Lily visited US for the first time, she is a natural beauty. Love the 360° views of sea and mountains Always have lunch at the highest point Capitan Sean always captured the moments and shared with us his organized and memorable hiking albums. 3/25/2017 Calabasas Peak and Saddle Peak Spring blooms everywhere Frog Frog eating a bug More challenge, more fun Done one Peak, going for the next Peak No small hill James, our co-capitan and sweeper, always had my back. He had an eye stroke in 2/2020, didn’t get the treatment timely due to pandemic, he hasn’t been hiking with us since. Looking at our team hikers across the hill, mm.. how far was I behind them? This was the highlight of the day. We were climbing on steep rocks which reminded us about our wild Great Wall hikes in China. I took this “million dollars view” and handsome Captain Sean picture. Enjoying the open space and beautiful view Corpse wall, excellent for rock climbing https://www.mountainproject.com/area/106396557/corpse-wall 2/24/2018 Saddle Peak and Topanca Ridge The wild rock ridge Pat is always the first to the top It may be easy for you, but it’s hard for me. Sliding down the rocks Pat, walking toward to the Catalina island 1/26/2019 My cousin Lily was visiting again from China. My 3rd climb of this steep rocky ridge. The Tapanga Outlook, the piano is no longer here. James and his one big apple lunch Traffic jam, everyone was waiting for me to get through. 10/17/2020 Eagle Rock Deers in this woods Eagle Rock east view Eagle Rock West view Music playing on the rock 10/31/2020 Red Rock Canyon We left home about 6 am on 10/31/2020, last night’s gigantic blue moon was still hanging on the western sky. As we were traveling west we saw the moon turning from silver to gold as the sun was rising behind us. It’s the most stunning view of the moon we had ever seen, we regretted that we didn’t stop to take pictures. I found this picture on the internet which’s close to what we saw with different foreground. Frog eating a bug? It’s the same bug that’s in a previous picture. Soaring Eagle (Shirt) Two cakes for a birthday boy and a birthday girl A small maze Sleeping or screaming monkey? A perfect shell fossil 11/28/2020 Lois Owen Overlook Looking at the Catalina Island across the Pacific Ocean Panda bear? 12/26/2020 Malibu Canyon Stunt Road The day after big Christmas meal, definitely need to hike it off. I like the feeling of being on top of the world! 1/9/2021 Mesa Peak / Malibu Canyon Here’s today’s peak Looking at the hills that we did a few weeks ago Hikers, Covid style 1/23/2021 Wills Rodger Historic State Park It’s forecasted to be a rainy day so three ladies back out but our capitan did the hike by himself. Of course the three ladies had to make up this hike. 2/6/2021 Rivas Canyon One of the tough sections of the trails We were enjoying the tequila Ying brought back from Mexico. A mountain biker rode by and took our picture. He was happy to enjoy the tequila too. Goat mountain is for goats, too steep and rocky for humans. Do you see the house on the hill which has 365° view of Los Angeles? Close-up of my dream house 3/6/2021 Tapanga CanyonI just returned from a winter road trip two days before this hike; my left thigh was hurting pretty bad, besides I have hiked this section before, therefore I passed this hike, nonetheless I am sharing my hiking friends’ pictures. Eagle Rock At the top of Eagle Rock This bench was installed to remember a group of 7 experienced hikers from this area, unfortunately they were drown in Zion National Park. Here’s the news about the seven hikers accident. https://graphics.latimes.com/zion-flash-flood/ 3/27/2021 Mesa Peak It’s an easy hike today. As we were hiking back after lunch, I had the worst cramps in both of my legs ever, it was so painful and took me a long time to relax, I was proud of myself that I completed the hike. Pat and her elephant A huge rock maze Capitan Sean was posting for his GQ shot with Pacific Ocean in the background. Walking on steep rocks Finally taking a front view of my hiking buddies 4/24/21 Crest Peak It’s probably the easiest hike of all the hikes we have done. We returned to trailhead to have lunch at the picnic table by the parking lot. Today’s perfect for hiking, cloudy so it wasn’t hot or burning. Spring flowers were all over along the trails or on the hills. Wild flowers all over the hills Burned trees from wild fire vs. spring new growth. Respect Mother Natures! It’s interesting that trees only grow on the south side. Throughout Backbone trails there are many picnic tables, some are donated by groups and some are provided by the Park. Ying is planning to raise funds to donate one from our Southbay Hikers group. 5/22/2021 Castro Peak Today we had 7 hikers, the most since the pandemic. It’s 7.4 miles, 1600 feet elevation gain/loss. I had a good speed, however I felt tired when I got home. Capitan Sean is usually missing in the group picture because he is taking the picture. Usually there aren’t much shade along the Backbone Trails. I’d suggest not to hike Backbone on hot days. 6/19/2021, Mulholland Trail Today is the fastest hike I ever done because we finished in about 3.5 hours before lunch time. This part of the Backbone trails attracted many mountain bikers due to its wider and less steep hills. Morning fog graced the hills Two “S” amigos, Sean and Steve We came across this cornerstone about two bodybuilders: Arnold and Betty, check it out on Google. 7/24/2021 Yerba Buena Road to Muholland Highway We started hiking one way instead of a loop, therefore we will need to park one car at the trailhead and one car at the trail end. By doing this we can complete Backbone in less days, besides the driving distance and time from home is getting longer as the trailheads are further to the west. It’s 9 miles one way today and it’s relatively less hilly. We came across more mountain bikers today than hikers. It has been hot lately and the hills is very dry, we are surprised to see a beautiful Spanish casa on the hills. 9/4/2021 Temescal Ridge Trails and Backbone Trails It’s a hot day today. Although the trails are relatively easy, but I was exhausted due to the heat. I carried a folding chair in my backpack so I took many long breaks throughout the trails to regain my strength. In this hike I finished all my water plus the water Sean gave me which is unusual because I always have water left at the end of hikes. Beautiful blue mountains Century City and downtown LA in the background Santa Monica and southbay beaches 9/19/21 Danielson Multi-use Area via Mishe Mokwa Trail Head It’s a beautiful day and comfortable for hiking except we had to hike an extra 4 uphill miles due to the road to the trailhead is a private road and no public parking is permitted. This massive sandstone wall is climbers heaven. Always enjoy the panoramic views along the backbone trails. A guard dog on duty Capitan Sean is finally in the group picture because we met a fellow hiker Jay from West Lake, he took this picture and hiked with us for half the way. It’s a long hike today, everyone was exhausted at the end. It’s also a long drive to home, I got home around 10 pm. 11/20/2021 Sycamore Canyon to Ray Miller Park I took a vacation in late September through mid October, Pat was out of town visiting her new grandson in early November, therefore Sean waited till today for our final hike to complete the entire Backbone Trails. James was able to join today as I mentioned earlier that he had an eye stroke which prevented him from exercising, luckily James regained about 65% of his sight, so after one year and 8 months James rejoined us and witnessed our accomplishments. We asked the bird if it was from Mexico? Southern California is experiencing a drought, it’s evidenced everywhere in the Santa Monica Mtn. A camp site at Ray Miller Park. Along today’s trails there were many water faucets so you can replenish your water bottle if needed. No other trails have any water faucet like this. The Southbay Hikers rocks! The different colors of lines represents each of our hikes. The link below provides details about the Backbone trails and how to hike it in 8 days.https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2021-03-11/8-backbone-trail-routes-malibu-pacific-palisades You can definitely hike the Backbone Trails in less days/faster speed, but we stop often to smell the roses (actually more of imaging the rocks and starred the dry hills). Here are my thoughts about Backbone trails: it may appear to be easy but there are challenging rock climbing and steep hills at times; it may appear to be boring landscape, but you get a grand view from mountains to sea at each of your step; there’s no water/creek crossing, but the hills can be vibrant bright green in the spring; the rocks can be whatever you can imagine; there aren’t many trees so you can see the trails across the hills that you have hiked before, seeing those trails make you humble and grateful.I enjoyed every Backbone hikes with my hiking buddies, especially our Capitan Sean for being very thoughtful planning each hikes to ensure they are enjoyable and memorable.Now I complete the Backbone Trails I can start bragging about it!