Tag Archives: Malibu Creek State Park

June 21, 2015 · 3:10 pm

No Doubt A Drought.

For those who might be wondering if the talk of a drought in Southern California is overblown, I submit these photos of Mailbu Creek State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains near my home in Woodland Hills.

Malibu Creek State Park is named, of course, after the rather large creek that flows through it. Or, rather, that used to flow through it. At this moment, there is NO Malibu Creek.

I have seen the creek bed at low water in previous years – when the stream was reduced to a few feet across during the hottest days of late summer. But I have never beheld this parched, arid landscape — especially just a few months removed from Spring.For reference – check out this footage I shot this January, showing winter rainwater pouring down into Malibu Creek from the mountains above, churning up foam as it falls.

Now? Not a trickle.

I don’t know what’s going to happen with this drought. I applaud Governor Brown for getting serious about it. Perhaps, as my very creative wife suggests, we Southern Californians should get together for a big rain dance.

We could hold our Grand Rain Dance in Malibu Creek State Park.

We could dance right in the creek. And nobody’s shoes would get wet.

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Filed under Adventure, Politics, Random Commentary

Tagged as California, drought, Governor Brown, hiking, Malibu Creek, Malibu Creek State Park, rain, Southern California

February 20, 2014 · 12:19 am

A Dry Season: Malibu Creek State Park & Sycamore Canyon

Last month, as California experienced its driest year on record, Governor Jerry Brown declared a drought emergency in our glorious Golden State. (Which is currently more burnt umber than gold.)

At a news conference held to make his case for the severity of the drought, Governor Brown used charts to show that this drought is historic — and that it’s time for Californians to conserve our precious water.

But most of us Californians didn’t need Jerry Brown’s earnest show and tell to inform us that we’re going through a shockingly dry season.

We have the clear evidence of our own experience.

My wife and I took two hikes in the Los Angeles area this past weekend – and our state’s dire drought conditions were dramatically evident on both hikes.

On Saturday we went, as we often do, to nearby Malibu Creek State Park. However, right now there’s no creek.

Here’s a photo of the creek from one of our hikes in the spring of last year.

Here’s a photo of the creek as it appears now. All that’s missing is the creek.

On Sunday, we took our second trip to The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Rancho Sierra Vista – Satwiwa — just south of the 101 Freeway on the eastern edge of Ventura County.

This wonderful park encompasses the area where the old Chumash Indian village Satwiwa once stood, as well as 8 miles of winding trail through Sycamore Canyon that the Chumash used as a path to the Pacific Ocean shore.

Victoria explores a traditional Chumash dwelling at the Satwiwa Native American Indian Cultural Center.

Victoria explores a Chumash dwelling at the Satwiwa Native American Indian Culture Center.

Last year, in May 2013, a wildfire raged across much of this parkland – and the devastation from that conflagration is evident in the charred, blackened landscape.

Wildfires can happen in any season, in any year in Southern California, but drought conditions increase the danger of fire exponentially.

Fire is a natural part of the cycle of life in the Santa Monica Mountains. For ages, coastal Southern California chaparral land like that in the Santa Monicas has experienced infrequent but intense wild fires. These fires usually blaze in the fall, driven by dry conditions and hot Santa Ana winds. Unfortunately, the frequency of fires has increased due to human activity. And the drought doesn’t help.

But, while the ravages of the fire can seem almost apocalyptic as you gaze in awe at the darkened, denuded hillsides – you can also see signs of bright green life creeping back into view.

Within a few years, these hills surrounding Sycamore Canyon will be covered in greenery once again. Of course, a little rain would help that process of regeneration along.

Here we are at the fire line: the place where the fire stopped. On one side, you can see Victoria walking under a canopy of live oaks: a sylvan heaven.

But when you turn around 180 degrees – there’s no canopy of trees anymore: just a charred hillside.

Victoria and I hiked the trail that leads to what, in a normal, rainy winter, is a dramatic waterfall. But our hike along the waterfall trail brought home the deadly dry nature of this year’s drought. What follows are shots of the small pools of water that linger below the tiny trickle that, at this time of year, should be a dramatic cascade.

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Filed under Adventure, Beauty

Tagged as California, Chumash, drought, drought conditions, Golden State, Governor Brown, hiking, Jerry Brown, Malibu, Malibu Creek State Park, nature, outdoors, Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Satwiwa, state parks, Sycamore Canyon

January 22, 2014 · 1:49 am

The Backbone Trail: A View To A Thrill

One of the great joys of life in Southern California – and especially here in Woodland Hills, situated in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains at the southwestern end of the San Fernando Valley — is our proximity to some of the best day hiking opportunities in the entire world.

No kidding.

Where else could you leave your house, drive for 20 minutes – and wind up at a dusty trailhead that will soon take you up to a chaparral covered mountain ridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean to the south and, to the north, the entire San Fernando Valley, the Santa Susana Mountains and beyond.

My hearty, vivacious wife Victoria and I have dedicated ourselves to hiking every weekend that we possibly can – and we were delighted to make our first ascent of the Backbone Trail late last year.

We returned to the Backbone Trail after the New Year with our daughter Emilia.

We’ll be returning throughout 2014 to hike as many miles of this wonderful trail as our legs and lungs will allow.

You can access the Backbone Trail from Malibu Creek State Park and several other locations along Pacific Coast Highway – but Victoria and I made our first ascent from the trailhead at Tapia Park off Las Virgenes Road.

We started our trek with a daunting uphill slog – but the payoff was well worth the effort: the brilliant Pacific Ocean to our left and the familiar but still impressive San Fernando Valley and beyond to our right.

It was exhilarating to walk a path astride the western edge of the North American continent.

The Backbone Trail is considered the holy grail of trails in the Santa Monica Mountains – and Victoria and I wholeheartedly concur.

Vic and I have hiked Topanga State Park, Malibu Creek State Park, Solstice Canyon, the Hollyridge Trail and others in the Santa Monicas – but, while each of those hikes have a great deal to recommend them, the view from the Backbone Trail is unique, stunning and thought-provoking.

Hikers on the Backbone Trail experience the wonders of the Mediterranean eco-system, found only in five places in the world, with its unique plant and animal species — traveling through coastal sage scrub, chaparral, oak woodlands, meadows, and streamside areas. (Though we’ll need a hell of a lot more rain – in fact, any rain — before we can experience “streamside areas”.)

So, jump in your car and head to Malibu this weekend to ascend the Backbone Trail.

And, as you enjoy the incredible views on both sides of the mountain ridge, when you encounter other hearty hikers along the way – tell them Vic and Paul sent you. They won’t have any idea what you’re talking about, but you may spark a conversation. And our conversations with hikers on the Backbone Trail have all been interesting and inspirational.

After all, everyone we talked to on the Backbone Trail had the good sense, creativity and imagination to climb up to a path from which they could gaze upon the expanse of the Pacific Ocean on one side — and the magnificent San Fernando, Simi and Antelope Valleys on the other side.

I just love living in this corner of Southern California.

Backbone Trail, Ho!

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Filed under Beauty, History, Sports

Tagged as Backbone Trail, hike, hiking, Las Virgenes, Malibu, Malibu Creek State Park, Pacific Ocean, San Fernando Valley, Simi Valley, Southern California, Tapia Park, Topanga Canyon, trail

April 1, 2013 · 12:45 am

Heaven Next Door: Malibu Creek State Park

One of the glories of life in Southern California is the ability to quickly escape to the wilderness – whether it’s the ocean, the desert, or the mountains.

From our home at the southwestern end of the San Fernando Valley, we can reach the beach in less than a half hour, the high desert in a little more than that. And in about fifteen minutes, my family and I can be exploring the Santa Monica Mountains at Malibu Creek State Park.

We’ve been coming to Malibu Creek since we moved to Woodland Hills twenty years ago. We go several times a year, and we’ve enjoyed it in all seasons. Each season has its own beauty — but of all the seasons, Malibu Creek shows itself best in the spring.

Located just south of the junction of Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway, the place is a nearby paradise. After you paid the $12 vehicle fee and parked the car — within minutes you can hike to vistas where it’s impossible to tell whether you’re anywhere near civilization. You can almost imagine what the Chumash saw when they settled among these live oaks and sycamores 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.

When we first brought our daughters to Malibu Creek State Park, the length of our family hikes were largely determined by our little girls’ enthusiasm for the expedition. We had to carry them along the trail sometimes, but eventually they became just as excited as their parents about spending some quality time at Malibu Creek.

The chaparral-covered mountains that dominate the park are green in the spring and golden by fall – and have been coveted by Hollywood for decades: 4,000 acres of beautiful scenery within an hour of downtown Los Angeles.

They’ve been shooting movies at Malibu Creek since the silent film era — and in 1946, 20th Century Fox bought 2,000 acres of what’s now the park to shoot movies like How Green Was My Valley, Love Me Tender, Viva Zapata, and Planet of the Apes.

But the production for which the park is most famous was shot for the small screen. And that is why, the Barrosse family sets off along the trail to the M*A*S*H site: where from 1972 to 1983, the Santa Monica Mountains stood in for Korea on the classic sitcom, starring Alan Alda. When the girls were young, a couple of rusting Army vehicles were all that indicated you’d reached your destination.

Father Mulcahy at the reunion.

But once you arrived at the M*A*S*H site, if of a certain age, you could easily recognize the jagged hills through which the helicopters passed and the plateau where they landed. You could even see the path that Captain Hawkeye Pierce climbed to meet the incoming wounded.

Since former cast and crew celebrated the 25^th anniversary of the series’ last episode in 2008, the M*A*S*H site has gotten a facelift.

There are now signs that explain various features of the site, markers that lay out where the tents and buildings stood – and a freshly painted vintage ambulance offered up to the ravages of nature.

Along the trail to and from the M*A*S*H site, my wife Victoria, daughter and I were delighted to see the wildflowers starting to bloom. And we kept our eyes and ears alert for wildlife.