Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area - Backbone Trail Background Information (U.S. National Park Service)

The Backbone Trail ties together the individual parks of the Santa Monica Mountains, offering a cross sectional view of this unique National Park unit. To add to your hiking enjoyment, we have put together some background information on each of the segments. After hiking all of the individual hike segments, we hope that you will:

•    Have a clearer understanding that the protection of the recreation area belongs to not one agency but to a complex partnership of public and private agencies, organizations, and individuals.
•    Understand the interactions of the flora and fauna that survive in this unique Mediterranean-type ecosystem.
•    Understand that the Santa Monica Mountains is an ever-changing landscape shaped by geologic and other natural forces. You will also understand how humans have affected the landscape through urbanization.
•    Learn some of the ways humans have used and benefited from the mountains. Native Americans used abundant resources and left little evidence of their presence. Homesteaders adapted the resources for their own use. Visitors today use the resources for escape, recreational and educational opportunities.

BBT#1 Ray Miller Trail to Danielson Ranch

Agencies: This section of the BBT is totally within Pt. Mugu State Park. You start from the Ray Miller trailhead and finish at Danielson Ranch.

Eco-Systems: Starting with the Coastal Sage Scrub community go up and over the ridge & descend to the canyon floor where you walk through the shaded canyon bottom and Sycamore Savannah and end in the Oak Woodland at Danielson Ranch.

Changes: Plant communities change with the topography. The dry Coastal Sage Scrub community is perfectly adapted for its ocean influenced landscape. The shaded canyon and valley floor benefit from seasonal streams and fog.

Human History: Ray Miller was the long time campground host at La Jolla Canyon parking area, and the trail was named in memory of him.

Focus: You’ll smell the Coastal Sage Scrub Community as you walk through it. This community receives very little rainfall, so oils in the leaves help to retain moisture. It is these oils that make the community so fragrant. Other moisture savers are grayish colors, small leaf sizes, smaller shrubs (you can walk between them), light colors on backs of leaves. Characteristic plants are sages, buckwheats, sagebrush, and laurel sumac.

BBT#2 Circle X to Danielson Ranch

Agencies: This section of the Backbone Trail traverses the only wilderness area in the Santa Monica Mountains. Pt. Mugu is a state park; Circle X Ranch is federal property. You’ll notice a difference in trail segments. You will hike partly on the old fire road, partly on multi-use trails, and partly on single track trails. The trails across both areas are maintained by the volunteers of Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council.

Eco-Systems: You will hike through Coastal Sage Scrub, Oak Woodlands and Chaparral.

Changes: You’ll go from just above sea level at Danielson Ranch to the highest point in the Santa Monicas (Sandstone Peak at 3111’). In winter watch for plants starting to bud and maybe even a few blooms, since winter is the beginning of our eco-system’s growing season. In spring or summer, watch for wildflowers. (You’ll learn more about our unique Mediterranean eco-system on our next hike segment). You will see evidence of the geologic changes all around this area, especially at Sandstone Peak, which is not sandstone at all, but volcanic in nature.

Human History: The Chumash Indians used the entire area for hunting and gathering. They hunted deer as well as rabbits, squirrels and birds. Plants and seeds of all kinds were gathered and eaten, including acorns from the oak woodlands and fish and shellfish from the ocean.
Mr. Danielson was a gentlemen rancher who owned ranch locations in California and Florida. He sold (donated) his ranch to the State Parks in the early l970’s in a way that created the blueprint for such donation tax write-offs in California.
Circle X was formerly a Boy Scout camp sponsored by the Los Angeles Exchange Club (a community businessman’s organization) whose logo was a circle with an X inside it, thus the name Circle X.

Focus: Chaparral grows at a higher elevation than Coastal Sage Scrub and requires more water, although chaparral plants are still considered very drought tolerant. The large chaparral shrubs create dense stands that are hard to walk through; they have tough leathery leaves or needle like leaves. There are many characteristic plants: scrub oak, red shanks, chamise, ceanothus and manzanita. On the hike watch for red shanks (bright green feathery leaves) with shredding bark, ceanothus (small dark green leathery leaves), and manzanita (deep red smooth bark).

BBT#3 East from Yerba Buena Rd to Sandstone Peak Parking Lot

Agencies: This is all National Park Service property. Once you pass the Mishe Mokwa parking area, you come to the first sections of trail which conforms to the new trail standards (open to all users, four feet wide, gradual grades). The trail was laid out by the National Park Service Trail Crew and created by the trail crew and the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council in 2004.

Eco-Systems: You’ll hike through chaparral and meadows up to mile marker 9.10 on Yerba Buena Rd.

Changes: Good ocean views show the geologic relationship of the Channel Islands to the mainland. On this new trail you see the phenomena of disturbance following plants. These plants have seeds in the soil and will wait for 30, 40 to 50 years for their opportunity to grow. The plants come up either after a fire or after a disturbance, such as putting in this trail. Plants to watch for here are large flowered phacelia, whispering bells and fire hearts. The plants will gradually be overgrown and less visible in each succeeding year.

Human History: It took years to finally conclude this land purchase and then more time to lay out and complete the trail. Since it is a multi-use trail all users must get along. Bikes yield to hikers & horses, hikers yield to horses.

Focus: Med Eco-systems (coastal California, Mediterranean, southwest Australia, South Africa, Chile) are characterized by cool, mild, rainy winters and long, hot, dry, summers. What factors create these special places? That can be described by the old real estate saying: Location, location, location.
Location on the planet: within 30 to 40 degrees north or south of the equator.
Location on the western edge of the continent: facing a cool ocean current and frequently backed by mountains.
Location within each local area gives more or less sun or water and results in individual plant communities, such as Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, Oak Woodlands, Meadows, and Sycamore Savannahs.

There is an interruption of the Backbone Trail from Yerba Buena mile marker 9.10 until you reach Mulholland Highway. The last half of the interrupted section is currently under construction and should be opened soon. It is not known when the first half will be started.

BBT#4 Mulholland via new trail section to Encinal through Trancas, Zuma to Newton Canyon trailhead.

Agencies: The trail picks up again at Mulholland Hwy. Areas you traverse today are National Park Service owned (except for one parcel). Notice the Los Angeles County Fire Camp 13 for probationers. Some inmates provide help on park trail maintenance projects.

Eco-Systems: The trail crosses brushy chaparral covered slope then dips up and down through shaded stream cut canyons and Oak Woodlands.

Changes: Going up and down canyons gives you the opportunity to see elevation changes first hand. Notice how the slope aspect (north or south facing) of the canyon affects plants and animals as you walk in and out of the shade. If you observe carefully, you can still see the effects of the 2005 record-breaking heavy rainfall.

Human History: The trail was constructed in pieces as lands were purchased by NPS over many years. There has been great difficulty in negotiating with private landholders. This difficulty has created the gap in the trail from Yerba Buena Rd (mile marker 9.10) to Mulholland Highway and a gap in the present trail which will take you back down to Encinal Canyon Road and back up the Zuma Ridge fire road to go around.

Focus: Watch for lichens on the trail. Lichens are a combined relationship of fungus and algae. The fungus provides the structure and many scientists now feel that the fungus apparently captures the algae that makes the food. There are thousands of varieties of lichens and they are classed by the name of the fungus. There are only 2 food producing partners that join with the fungus -- green algae and blue green algae (now called cyanobacteria). The algae can live on its own in many places; the fungus needs the algae/bacterium to survive. There are only 3 main types of lichen: crustose (like a crust), foliose or shrubby (leaf like) and fruticose (hangs down like a fruit).

BBT#5 Newton Canyon parking through Latigo to top of Corral Canyon parking

Agencies: All NPS owned patches and corridors.

Eco-Systems: We travel into an old growth Chaparral forest and Oak woodlands as well as through Streamside communities. Watch for wildflowers.

Changes: Notice the contrast between sunny and shady areas provided by forested areas and slope aspect.

Human History: Urban encroachment will be all around as you traverse the corridors from one preserved area to the next. This is the area of newer individual estate-sized houses.

Focus: Non-native plants. Plants (such as broom plants seen on Kanan Rd) brought in without their control factors can multiply exponentially and crowd out native vegetation and the native insects and animals that depend on those plants. This reduces bio-diversity and is a nation wide and world-wide problem. Monterey pines decimate forest areas in South Africa, calla lilies destroy shaded areas in Australia and California poppies are the scourge of Spanish ranchlands.

BBT#6 Top of Corral Canyon to Malibu Canyon, Piuma Trailhead

Agencies: Starting from NPS property the trail winds through the wind carved Castro Crest area then onto Malibu Creek State Park property, coming down next to Las Virgenes Municipal Water property ending at Malibu Canyon on state park area. Trail is maintained by SMMTC

Eco-Systems: Travel will be through Chaparral, Grassy Meadows and Oak Woodlands

Changes: Geology takes center stage on this hike (see the focus). Watch for spring wildflowers in all areas.

Human History: The first part of the trail leads through the foundations of homes destroyed (probably in fires) many years ago.

Focus: Along this trail are wind and erosion carved sandstone. Notice the fossils in the rocks and on the trail. You will notice a massive land slide, and the trail restoration work done by the California State Parks and SMMTC.

BBT#7 Saddle Peak to Piuma

Agencies: NPS, Mountains Restoration Trust and Malibu Creek State Park all have properties along this route.

Communities: Old growth Chaparral, Streamside, Oak Woodland

Changes: 1993 fires completely burned this area and natural recovery has restored it, but you can still see some evidences of that great fire. Elevation changes are also strong as well as slope aspects through shaded and sunny areas. Watch for wildflowers.

Human History: This area has many documented Native American sites, but also has many homesteading stories at nearby Cold Creek Canyon and Stunt Ranch.

Focus: Fire is essential to chaparral plants. They are fire prone, fire adapted, and fire dependent. The oils that keep moisture in the plant leaves, make them fire prone. The plants have adapted to this by having several different re-growing strategies. Some seeds need fire to start growing. Some plants only grow after fires. Three days after the 1993 fire, coals were still glowing. All was grey and covered with ash. It seemed impossible to imagine that recovery would occur, and now you have to look closely to see any remnants of fire.

BBT#8 Fossil Trail through Hondo Canyon across Old Topanga to Trippet Ranch

Agencies: You start with gorgeous views from the Mountains Restoration Trust fossil trail, then descend into state park property in Hondo Canyon, eventually crossing Old Topanga and following exceedingly obscure trails to cross Topanga Canyon Blvd to reach Topanga State Park, (be careful crossing Topanga roads)

Communities: Chaparral, Steamside, Meadow, Oak Woodland, Bay Tree Woodland. Watch for wildflowers especially in the meadows..

Changes: Watch for evidence of fire recovery. See how nature is reclaiming areas where burned buildings used to be.
Human history: Paul Bragg home in Hondo Canyon.

Focus: Bragg home in the Bay Tree Woodland. Paul C. Bragg was a pioneer in the health food movement in California. He had a chain of health food stores and popular radio shows in the 30’s and 40’s. He was the inspiration and teacher for later healthy living teachers like Jack LaLanne. His abandoned vacation cabin was here until the early 1990s, but was burned in the 1993 fire.

BBT #9 Trippet Ranch to Will Rogers State Historic Park

Agencies: Topanga State Park, Will Rogers State Historic Park

Communities: Chaparral, Streamside, Meadow, Oak Woodland, Coastal Sage Scrub. You traverse them all in this lengthy hike.

Changes: Watch for seasonal wildflowers. You will see elevation changes in the plant communities. Non-native plants such as eucalyptus grow at Musch Trail Camp in Topanga State Park and at Will Rogers State Historic Park. The effects of urban encroachment are coming closer to both of these State Parks .

Human History: From Native Americans (Topanga – where the mountains run down to the sea) to vacation homes (Oscar Trippet, Will Rogers). Oscar Trippet was an early 20th century circuit court judge who had a ranch at what is now Topanga State Park.

Focus: Early movie hero and humorist, Will Rogers had his family home here. He enjoyed living at his ranch and playing polo. A tragic airplane accident cut short his life. His restored family home is now a State Historic Park open for tours. Some days you can see polo matches played on the polo fields.

Conclusion

You have seen how many public and private agencies, organizations and individuals have joined together to create the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in general and the Backbone Trail in particular and must continue as partners in its management efforts. As individuals you can help support the park agencies in many ways. You can provide monetary support through donations and bequests. You can share your knowledge by telling others about the parks and events. You can increase your knowledge by attending programs and lectures listed in Outdoors, the quarterly calendar of Santa Monica Mountains events published by the National Park Service. You can contribute your time by becoming a State or National park volunteer. You can help maintain the Backbone Trail and other trails by volunteering for trail projects with the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council.

Communities: Our Mediterranean eco-system occurs in only 5 places in the world (remember location, location, location) and has many unique plants and animals in its communities: Coastal Sage Scrub, Chaparral, Oak Woodlands, Meadows, and Streamside areas.

Changes: You have seen first hand how seasons, elevation, slope aspect, bring change in modern times, and have also seen some of the geologic change over time, as well as the negative changes of urban encroachment and non-native plants and animals.

History: As hikers on this trail you will have benefited by being able to escape from city life, enjoy the health benefits of hiking and learned a lot about our own unique area. You have also learned some of the ways others used these resources, from the Native Americans of long ago through the adaptive uses of the Homesteaders and current residents.

We hope you have enjoyed your traverse of the Santa Monica Mountains on the Backbone Trail.