Alt Text Park map of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which stretches along a coastline running east-west in southern California. Park areas are indicated with shades of green. The Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Bay below are blue, and terrain to the north is brown. Extended Description More than a hundred parks, beaches, trails, roads, bodies of water, and other sites are labeled within the park and in the surrounding areas. Three visitor centers are spaced across the map, with Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center near the northwest tip of the recreation area, Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center near the middle, and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Visitor Contact Station outside the park to the east, near Downtown Los Angeles. The locations of the state parks, larger natural features, and major trails will be described from west to east before listing the beaches and transcribing the legend along the bottom of the map. Parks and Sites South of Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center, Point Mugu State Park takes up most of the leftmost quarter of the map. Backbone Trail begins in this park near Pacific Coast Highway, which hugs the shoreline across the map. Backbone Trail then cuts across the middle of the recreation area. Moving east, Deer Creek Canyon, Circle X Ranch, Malibu Springs, Leo Carrillo State Park, Charmlee Wilderness Park, and Zuma/Trancas Canyons span the second quarter of the map. Mulholland Highway begins off Pacific Coast Highway in this section and runs northeast and then east across the rest of the recreation area. The next quarter, which surrounds Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center, contains Paramount Ranch, Peter Strauss Ranch, Castro Crest, Malibu Creek State Park, Solstice Canyon, and Corral Canyon. The easternmost quarter encompasses King Gillette Ranch, Tapia Park, Red Rock Canyon Park, Stunt Ranch, Cold Creek Preserve, Topanga State Park, Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park, and San Vicente Mountain Park. The Cheeseboro/Palo Comado Canyons reach like a kicking foot north of the rest of the recreation area. Finally, thin arms reach south to Temescal Gateway Park, Temescal Canyon Park, Pacific Palisades Park, and Palisades Park along the coast, and east to Coldwater Canyon Park, Wilacre Park, Franklin Canyon, Fryman Canyon, Laurel Canyon Park, and Runyon Canyon Park to the east, north of West Hollywood and Los Angeles. Beaches More than a dozen beaches line the shoreline along the southern edge of the recreation area. From west to east are Thornhill Broome Beach, County Line Beach, Nicholas County Beach, El Pescador State Beach, La Piedra State Beach, El Matador State Beach, Zuma Beach County Park, Point Dume State Reserve (also known as Westward Beach), Dan Blocker Beach, Malibu Bluffs, Malibu Lagoon State Beach, Las Flores Beach, Las Tunas Beach, Topanga Beach, Will Rogers Beach, and Santa Monica Beach. Most of the beaches along Pacific Coast Highway offer parking and a few have campgrounds. Parking is also available throughout the park. Campgrounds are available at Sycamore Canyon, Thornhill Broome Beach, Leo Carrillo State Park, Circle X Ranch, near Century Lake, which is not far from the Santa Monica Mountains Visitor Center, and Topanga State Park. Legend A scale gives measurements for 1 and 4 kilometers and 1 and 4 miles. Three symbols represent campgrounds: a white tent on a black square for a campground, a black tent on a white square for a group campground, and a black tent with no background for a backcountry campground. Roads, trails, and areas are indicated as follows: * Wide pinkish-brown line for Primary roads, * Narrow pinkish-brown line for Secondary roads, * Solid brown line for Mulholland Scenic Corridor (paved), * Dashed brown line for Mulholland Scenic Corridor (unpaved), * Green dashes on a bright yellow line for Backbone Trail, * Green dashes alone for other trails, * Green lines separating brown from beige for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area authorized boundary, * Dark green for National Park Service land, * Lighter green for other public land within authorized park boundary, * And light brown for protected land outside the authorized park boundary. A note in the legend reads, “The park boundary extends to the mean high tide line along the coast.”