Afoot & Afield: Los Angeles County: 259 Spectacular Outings in Southern California

chapter 1

Malibu Coast

Fabled Malibu stretches 25 miles from the edge of the Los Angeles Basin at Santa Monica upcoast toward the Ventura County line. This odd, ribbonlike community—the home of many of L.A.’s rich and famous—doggedly follows the course of the narrow, curvy Pacific Coast Highway, itself confined to a precariously unstable coastal terrace at the foot of the Santa Monica Mountains. Parts of Malibu consist of unbroken rows of townhouses perilously jammed between the highway and the surf. Just back of the coastal strip, stilted houses have gained airy footholds on precipitous slopes overlooking the coast. Periodic wildfires sweeping over the mountains and the erosive battering of the ocean waves have done little to discourage urban-style growth. But a rising antigrowth sentiment among residents may well accomplish what nature has failed to do.

If you like strolling on crowded public beaches, or ogling fancy houses, the Malibu coastline has plenty of both. Quieter stretches of coastline, removed from the sight of houses and the roar of traffic, are a little harder to find but are well worth seeking out. These include (in the middle section of Malibu) Malibu Lagoon State Beach, which has a saltwater lagoon favored by migrating birds, a surfing beach, and a pier, as well as Malibu Bluffs Park.

If you’re an avid hiker, though, you’ll head a little farther west to a stretch of coastline wrapping around the flat-topped headlands of Point Dume. This southward-pointing promontory, jutting into the Pacific Ocean some 20 miles west of Santa Monica, is a widely visible landmark. Just east of the point itself, an unbroken cliff wall shelters a secluded beach from the sights and sounds of the civilized world. On this beach, you can forget about whatever else may lie just over the cliff rim; your world is simply one of crashing surf, tangy salt spray, pearly sand, and fascinating tide pools.

Sea star and sand-coated anemones hang out in Dume Cove tide pools.

trip 1.1 Point Dume to Paradise Cove

DIRECTIONS From Santa Monica drive west (up the coast) on Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) about 25 miles to Westward Beach Road (0.4 mile west of mile marker 001 LA 54.5). Turn south and follow Westward Beach Road to its end, where there is a spacious pay parking lot. Alternatively, park free on the roadside before you reach the pay station, and then stroll 0.7 mile southeast along the beach to Point Dume.

To make this a one-way trip, park your getaway car or bike on the shoulder of the highway near the intersection with Paradise Cove Road, 2 miles east of Westward Beach Road. You can also park at the private resort of Paradise Cove, but expect a hefty parking fee unless you patronize the restaurant.

A pleasant walk anytime the tide is low, this trip is doubly rewarding when the tide dips as low as –2 feet. The rocky coastline below the cliffs of Point Dume harbors a mind-boggling array of marine plant and animal life, much of it under water most of the time. That includes, based on what I (Jerry) have seen myself: limpets, periwinkles, chitons, tube snails, sandcastle worms, sculpins, mussels, shore and hermit crabs, green and aggregate anemones, three kinds of barnacles, and two kinds of sea stars. Extreme low tides occur during the afternoon two or three times each month from October through March. Consult tide tables to find out exactly when. Captain George Vancouver named Point Dume in 1793 in misspelled honor of Padre Francisco Dumetz of Mission San Buenaventura.

From the parking lot at Westward Beach, you have two choices. The shorter, much easier route profiled here (and the only practical alternative during all but extremely low tides) is the trail slanting left up the cliff. Stay right at a junction onto a path hugging the top of the cliffs. On top you’ll come to an area popular for sighting gray whales during their southward migration in winter. You’ll also discover a state historic monument. Point Dume was christened by the British naval commander George Vancouver, who sailed by in 1793. As you stand on Point Dume’s apex, note the marked contrast between the lighter sedimentary rock exposed on the cliff faces both east and west, and the darker volcanic rock just below. Like the armored bow of an ice-breaker, this unusually tough mass of volcanic rock has thus far resisted the onslaught of the ocean swells. You may see (and smell) a colony of sea lions on the rocks below. After you descend from the high point, some metal stairs will take you down to crescent-shaped Dume Cove.

A family walks along Westward Beach toward Point Dume as rock climbers belay from the summit.

The alternative route is for skilled climbers only—it's definitely not appropriate for small children. During the lowest or low tides, you can edge around the point itself, making your way by hand-and-toe climbing in a couple of spots over huge, angular shards of volcanic rock along the base of the cliffs. The tide pools here and also to the east along Dume Cove’s shoreline harbor some of the best displays of intertidal marine life in Southern California. This visual feast will remain for others to enjoy if you refrain from taking or disturbing in any way the organisms that live there (this hike is part of Point Dume Natural Preserve, where all features are protected). Be aware that exploring the lower intertidal zones can be hazardous. Be very cautious when traveling over slippery rocks, and always be aware of the incoming swells. Don’t let a rogue wave catch you by surprise.

The going is easy once you’re on Dume Cove’s ribbon of sand. When you reach the northeast end of Dume Cove, swing left around a lesser point and continue another mile over a somewhat wider beach. You can travel as far as Paradise Cove, the site of an elegant beachside restaurant and private pier, 2.9 miles from your starting point.

If you left a getaway vehicle at Paradise Cove Road, you’ll find it by walking up the Paradise Cove Road for 0.3 mile to the highway. Otherwise, return the way you came.

chapter 2

Palos Verdes Peninsula

Forged by local uplift of the seafloor roughly 2 million years ago, Palos Verdes lay surrounded by the ocean for hundreds of thousands of years. Today the vast sheet of alluvium filling the L.A. Basin connects Palos Verdes to the mainland—yet in a figurative sense Palos Verdes has never really lost its identity as an island.

When the South Bay cities of Torrance and Long Beach are cloaked by fog or brown haze, the adjoining cities of Palos Verdes Estates and Rancho Palos Verdes often stand head and shoulders above the murk. Sometimes you can stand on top, enjoying views of far-off Santa Catalina Island and Old Baldy but failing to make out L.A. Harbor just a few miles away.

Palos Verdes is a distinct economic and cultural island as well. Rimmed by oil refineries, gritty industrial neighborhoods, and wall-to-wall people, the peninsula itself is dominated almost exclusively by opulent ranch-style homes and sprawling, lavishly landscaped estates. The contrast is startling.

Fortunately, Palos Verdes offers miles of near-pristine coastline and big patches of hillside open space within Palos Verdes Nature Preserve for explorers on foot to enjoy. Start with Trip 2.1, below, for an easy overview of the area and later graduate to one of the tougher scrambles (Trips 2.2–2.4) along the base of the coastal cliffs. Contact the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy (pvplc.org) for information about other open spaces in the area.

trip 2.1 Top of the Peninsula

DIRECTIONS From Highway 1 in Torrance, drive south on Crenshaw Boulevard, one of L.A.’s longest and busiest thoroughfares, all the way to its southern end. Park on the shoulder before the dead-end of the road (observing parking restrictions).

At Del Cerro Park, on top of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, you need only climb a small, grassy hill to take in one of L.A.’s truly great ocean views. With a little bit more ambition, you can hoof it less than a mile to an even more panoramic view spot. Ideally, you could be here when a chilly north wind (which usually follows the passage of major winter storms) cleanses the Southland of polluted air. But don’t neglect the early spring. During March and April the sages, native wildflowers, and weedy grasses magically transform the normally drab-colored hillsides into tapestries of velvet green. Even with hazy skies, however, the view seems ethereal.

This trip lies within the 399-acre Portuguese Bend Reserve, established in 2005 as part of the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve. The place-name derives from Portuguese whalers who hunted along this bend in the coastline in the 1870s.

At Crenshaw’s dead end, step around the steel gate and follow Burma Road, the dirt fire road beyond, into Portuguese Bend Reserve. Soon you’re in a rare patch of open space surrounded by, but largely removed from, the curving avenues and palatial estates of Rancho Palos Verdes. Since the mid-1950s, when more than 100 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged by landslides in the Portuguese Bend area, most of the steep area above the Bend has remained off-limits to development.

At 0.6 mile stay on the main road as the Peacock Flats and Ishibashi Trails fork off. Continue a curving descent until you reach a flat area about 0.3 mile farther. Leave the road there and take the Eagle’s Nest Trail to the top of a 950-foot knoll, dotted with planted pines, on the left. Atop this serene little overlook, you’ll enjoy a 150° view of the ocean, with Santa Catalina Island sprawling at center stage in the south. If the air is very clear, try to spot San Nicolas Island, some 70 miles away to the southwest.

The knoll you’re standing on is a remnant of one of the 13 marine terraces that have made the Palos Verdes hills a textbook example familiar to geology students. The terraces, rising like rounded and broken stairs from sea level to 1,300 feet, are the result of wave erosion modified by uplift and fluctuating sea levels during the past 2 million years. From this spot (despite the effects of decades of grading and construction on some of the adjacent ridges) you will probably recognize at least seven of the terraces in the topography around you.

The Pacific Ocean lies beyond the Eagle’s Nest Viewpoint in Portuguese Bend Reserve.

VARIATION

With some extra time, you can explore the spiderweb of trails that lace the hills located between Del Cerro Park and Palos Verdes Drive South. Following the paths downhill will eventually get you to the Ishibashi Farm Trailhead near Palos Verdes Drive in 2–2.5 miles. For a change of scenery, turn right on Palos Verdes Drive, and then walk past the South Bay Archery Club to the signed Sacred Cove Trail to Inspiration Point. A spur called the Bow and Arrow Trail drops to the east side of Inspiration Point, where you can explore tide pools and visit a sea cave at the end of the point, roughly 3 miles. Another branch of the Sacred Cove Trail departs the road a bit farther west and leads you down to the shore in the beautiful cove. Slightly farther west, the Smugglers Trail brings you out to Portuguese Point and to the Olmsted Trail into Abalone Cove. If the 1,200-foot climb back to Del Cerro Park looks daunting, you can hail a ride-sharing service back up instead.

trip 2.2 Malaga Cove to Bluff Cove

DIRECTIONS From the 110 Freeway, exit west on the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1). In 0.6 mile turn left on Normandie. Then, in 0.5 mile, veer right onto Palos Verdes Drive North. Follow this scenic winding road for 6.7 miles; then keep left onto Palos Verdes Drive West. In 0.2 mile turn right onto Via Almar. In 0.6 mile turn right again onto Via Arroyo and, in 0.1 mile, turn right yet again onto Paseo del Mar, where you will find a large parking area in front of Malaga Cove Intermediate School.

If dancing across wave-rounded boulders is your cup of tea, you’ll enjoy this moderately difficult rock-hop in the Palos Verdes Estates Shoreline Preserve, along the northernmost edge of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. With near-vertical cliffs on one side and foamy surf on the other, you’ll truly feel that you’re treading the edge of the continent. Shoes or boots with good ankle support are recommended to deal with the uneven terrain.

Cormorants claim this rock along the Palos Verdes coastline.

Walk to the east end of the parking lot, where you’ll find a trail just beyond a gazebo overlooking the Pacific. Follow the trail down to Malaga Cove. This hike leads left (southwest) along the rocks beneath the sea cliffs. If the tide looks too high or the surf is excessive, consider diverting right instead and taking a stroll along Torrance Beach.

Otherwise, pick a path over the sedimentary rocks. Surfers flock to the cove to test their skills on the waves. Look carefully for small sea anemones, snails, and hermit crabs in the tide pools. In 0.3 mile watch (and sniff) for a natural mineral spring emerging from rocks near the ocean’s edge. Continuing along the rocks, watch for rusted metal debris from an unknown wreck.

After a slow mile you arrive at Flat Rock Point, another popular area for tide pooling when the tide is low. Wide, curving Bluff Cove lies just ahead. Your goal is to reach Paseo del Mar above. An extremely steep and potentially hazardous trail leads straight up from Flat Rock Point. A safer choice is to continue along the cove to find a graded path on the left. In either event, once you reach Paseo del Mar, turn left and walk half a mile back to your vehicle, enjoying the elaborately landscaped mansions along the way.

trip 2.3 Bluff Cove to Point Vicente

DIRECTIONS This trip requires a car or bike shuttle or ride-sharing service. If you plan a shuttle, leave your getaway vehicle at Pelican Cove Park on Palos Verdes Drive South, 0.8 mile south of Hawthorne Boulevard (accessible only from the eastbound lane).

To reach the northern trailhead, go east on Palos Verdes Drive until you can make a U-turn; then drive west and north on Palos Verdes Drive for 5.8 miles. Turn left onto Via del Puente, then immediately left again onto Via Almar. In 0.4 mile turn right on Via Arroyo, then left onto Paseo Del Mar. Continue 0.7 mile to park on the street by the Flat Rock Point Trail, a dirt road/trail descending to Bluff Cove.

This long trek down Palos Verdes’ wild west side visits crescent-shaped Lunada Bay, plus a half-dozen mini-coves, and traverses the wave-torn base of the sea cliffs below Point Vicente. Time your hike so that low tide occurs when you’re below the lighthouse at Point Vicente, which is one of the tighter spots along the coastline. If you’re out during the late morning or noon hour on a sunny day, you may want to reverse the route from that described here in order to avoid facing the sun the whole way. Shoes or boots with good ankle support are recommended to deal with the uneven terrain, but do realize that exposure to salt water may shorten their life. The loose rocks demand constant concentration, making the hike substantially more demanding than the distance might suggest.

On the Flat Rock Point Trail, you descend quickly to Bluff Cove. Onward to Lunada Bay, the going is easy—as long as you stay close to the base of the cliffs. Often there are occasions where you can walk out farther to tide pools that are well exposed during tides of –1 foot or lower. These moderately rich pools contain green anemones, crabs, and sometimes purple sea urchins—but probably not too many of the more interesting creatures such as sea stars.

At around 2 miles, short of Palos Verdes Point (aka Rocky Point) you’ll come upon the dismembered remains of the Greek freighter Dominator, which ran aground in 1961. Rusting pieces of the ship now litter a stretch of coastline nearly a half mile long.

Once around the point, the beautiful, semicircular Lunada Bay lies before you. The beige-tinted sedimentary cliffs encircling the bay are of Monterey shale, a thinly bedded and easily eroded formation that composes about 90% of the exposed rock on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The formation consists of former seafloor rich in diatoms, the skeletons of microscopic single-celled plants that float about in the ocean. A steep trail leads up the cliff at Lunada Bay to connect with Paseo del Mar. The first two of the half dozen indentations pocking the coastline beyond Lunada Bay also have steep paths going up to Paseo del Mar. Keep this in mind if you want to bail out and avoid the more rugged and rocky shoreline ahead.

Rock-hopping becomes de rigueur in the last mile before Point Vicente. Some hand and foot work will get you over the piles of broken rocks just below the whale-watching overlook and lighthouse. A short way ahead, you’ll come to a steep path slanting up the cliff to the Point Vicente Fishing Access parking lot at the end of the traverse. The point was named by Captain George Vancouver in 1790 for Friar Vicente of Mission Buenaventura and the spelling was changed by the Pacific Geographical Society in 1933.

Before or after your hike, consider visiting nearby Point Vicente Lighthouse. Open daily, the park features an interpretive center, which includes a nice relief map of the peninsula and offers great views of the winter-migrating gray whales from the brink of the sea cliffs.

After repeated shipwrecks along the treacherous coast, the Point Vicente Lighthouse was built in 1926.

Sea anemone in a Palos Verdes tide pool (see Trip 2.3)

trip 2.4 White Point to Cabrillo Beach

DIRECTIONS This trip requires a 3-mile car shuttle or ride share. Place a vehicle at the end of the trip at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. Near the south end of Pacific Avenue in San Pedro, turn east on Stephen White Drive, then right on Oliver Vickery Circle Way, and then right again on Shoshonean Road.

To reach the start of the hike by White Point/Royal Palms Beach, drive back north on Pacific Avenue; then turn left on 19th Street. In 1.3 miles turn left on Western Avenue. Proceed 0.8 mile on Western to its end at Paseo del Mar, and park on the street.

Pressed hard and fast against the densely populated community of San Pedro, the rocky ribbon of coastline between White Point and Cabrillo Beach looks out over a 20-mile, watery gap separating Santa Catalina Island from the mainland. On clear winter days, the island seems to float like a dusky shadow over the sparkling surf.

From the corner of Western and Paseo del Mar, follow a clifftop path southeast. Soon you’ll arrive at the entry kiosk on the road leading down to White Point/Royal Palms Beach. (You could also park on Paseo del Mar near the kiosk or pay a fee and drive down to park by the beach.) Walk down the road to the beach. At low tide, you’ll find tide pools full of sea anemones and crabs.

Cabrillo Beach commemorates Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, who in 1542–43 became the first European to explore the coastline of present-day California. Point Fermin was named in 1793 by Captain George Vancouver in honor of Father Fermín Francisco de Lasuén, who founded nine Spanish missions in California.

Walk east past White Point, making your way over tilted slabs of sedimentary rock and small boulders. Here and on the bluffs above lie the skimpy remains of early-20th-century resorts and spas that capitulated to the 1933 Long Beach earthquake and decades of pounding surf. The checkered history of this stretch of coastline is interpreted in a display at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, which lies at the end of this hike.

At about 1.5 miles, before the shoreline terrace you’re following narrows to practically nothing at Point Fermin, you’ll reach metal steps going up the bluff. This is your safe ticket to getting past Point Fermin. (If the tide is extremely low and the surf is relatively calm—conditions that are most likely to occur on only a few afternoons during the fall—expert scramblers can try to edge around the point itself and reach the sand of Cabrillo Beach beyond.) Point Fermin’s cliff faces, though not the highest on the peninsula, present the wildest scene in the area. When I (Jerry) scooted over them during a tide of –1 foot, dozens of sleek black cormorants perched on tiny niches above observed my every move.

At the top of the metal stairs, a path leads to the west end of Point Fermin Park, a grassy strip popular among joggers and strollers. Keep heading east along the edge of the cliffs, passing the antique Point Fermin Lighthouse, built in 1874 with materials shipped around Cape Horn. Farther east, the 1929 Sunken City landslide blocks your way. The mysterious-sounding area has been gated and closed to the public since 1987 because at least 18 deaths have occurred at the unstable cliffs.

Turn inland one block to reach Shepard Street; then follow it east to Pacific Avenue, and continue straight ahead on Bluff Place down to Cabrillo Beach. Here you can enjoy the only true beach for miles in either direction and pay a visit to the aquarium, which features some excellent marine and historical exhibits. If you want to stretch your legs further, try walking out to sea atop the San Pedro breakwater, one of several artificial barriers protecting the Los Angeles–Long Beach harbor complex from ocean swells.

Aerial view of the Palos Verdes Peninsula from the south

chapter 3

Thousand Oaks & Moorpark

Interior Ventura County is dominated by long, parallel ridges associated with the Transverse Ranges. Shallow, often wide valleys lie between those ridges. Housing developments have spread far and wide over some of the valleys and hillsides here, but much open land remains.

Historical uses such as agriculture, cattle grazing, and oil production are fading in Ventura County, whereas habitat preservation and recreational opportunities are in greater demand. That is why key parcels of this spacious landscape are bit by bit being transferred into public ownership. One goal is to create a Rim of the Valley natural area—a connected patchwork of open spaces stretching around the San Fernando Valley from Ventura County to Glendale.

While the parks described in this chapter are not within Los Angeles County itself, they are located nearby and are easily accessible to San Fernando Valley residents—hence their inclusion here.

trip 3.1 Happy Camp Canyon

DIRECTIONS Follow the 118 Freeway west from Simi Valley or the 23 Freeway north from Thousand Oaks to the New Los Angeles Avenue exit. Go west 1 mile to Moorpark Avenue (signed Highway 23), turn right, and proceed 2.6 miles to where Highway 23 makes a sharp bend to the left. Keep going straight here, but then make an immediate right turn on Broadway. Proceed a short way to the east end of Broadway, where there’s a spacious dirt parking lot and trailhead.

Happy Camp Canyon nuzzles in a crease between the long, rounded ridge called Big Mountain, just north of Simi Valley, and Oak Ridge, a taller parallel ridge to the north. These ridges and plenty more, like the Santa Monica Mountains, are caterpillar-like parallel segments of the Transverse Ranges, which stretch from Santa Barbara County in the west to San Bernardino County to the east.

Oil-bearing shales predominate in this region, evidenced by various oil wells and dirt roads built to access them scattered across the surrounding hillsides. On your ramble through the lower and middle parts of the canyon, keep an eye out for bright red stones, sometimes exhibiting a glassy texture, some right under you feet and others visible in outcrops. These rocks were formed by the slow combustion of organic material trapped in layers of shale.

Happy Camp Canyon itself remains quite pristine. Several groups of Chumash Indians called this place home in past centuries; later it became a part of an immense cattle ranch founded by a pioneer Simi Valley family. Purchased as a future state park in the late 1960s, it was later traded to Ventura County for use as a regional park. Today, save for a few dirt roads and a smattering of artifacts from the days of cattle ranching, the 3,000-acre canyon park serves as prime natural habitat for native plants and animals, and a restful retreat for hikers seeking to escape from the sights and sounds of city and suburban life.

From the trailhead, follow the path heading north and east along gentle, grassy slopes down onto the wide floor of Happy Camp Canyon. As you look down on a golf course at the canyon’s mouth, note the terraced aspect of the landscape on both sides. These are fluvial (streamside) terraces—sedimentary deposits from earlier flows of Happy Camp Canyon’s creek.

Pass two minor side trails on the left (leading up to a maze of equestrian trails on the hill) and then another two on the right. At 1.0 mile you join the dirt Happy Camp Canyon Fire Road in the bottom of the canyon. Turn left and 0.2 mile later you pass through a gate marking the start of the wilderness section of Happy Camp Canyon Park. At a fork just beyond, stay left (north) into the main canyon.

By 2.0 miles the canyon floor has become narrow, you’ve turned decidedly east, and you are strolling through beautiful coast live-oak woods (plus native sycamore and walnut trees), which continue intermittently up the canyon in the next 3 miles. A little stream flows in the bottom of the canyon during, and for some weeks or months after, the winter rains. You’re climbing at a gentle rate of about 200 feet of elevation gain per mile. You pass the ascending Wiley Canyon Road on the left at 4.1 miles, and at 4.7 miles you reach the site of an old well and pump. Large oak trees shade a cluster of picnic tables for a convenient lunch stop. Continue following the graded dirt road about 300 yards past the well. The road ends, but a bulldozed track, eroded and very steep at first, curls 0.7 mile up the south slope of Happy Camp Canyon then joins Middle Range Fire Trail on the crest of Big Mountain. If you are coming in the other direction, the easy-to-miss junction is marked by a cairn on a saddle. Use that ridge-running fire trail to return to lower Happy Camp Canyon at a point just above the gate marking the wilderness-area boundary.

trip 3.2 Paradise Falls

DIRECTIONS From Highway 101 at Exit 45 in Thousand Oaks, take Lynn Road north 2.5 miles to Avenida de los Arboles. Turn left and follow Avenida de los Arboles 1 mile west. At this point traffic goes sharply right on Big Sky Drive—you make a U-turn and park on the right at Wildwood Park’s principal trailhead, open 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Wildwood Park in Thousand Oaks is Ventura County’s most scenic suburban park. The scenery here has been imprinted in the minds of many in the over-60 age group: the area was once an outdoor set for Hollywood movies as well TV’s Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, and Wagon Train. The short but steep hike—down and then up—described here takes you to Wildwood Park’s scenic gem: the Arroyo Conejo gorge and Paradise Falls. The lovingly maintained park offers drinking fountains, picnic tables, interpretive signs, and shady rest spots along this fine loop.

Three trails radiate from the Avenida de los Arboles trailhead. Two of them are wide, relatively bland dirt roads. The third trail—the one that you want, the narrow and scenic Moonridge Trail—descends sharply from the east side of the parking area (that is, the left side of the parking area as you drove into Wildwood Park). Immediately after you start on the trail, come to a T-intersection amid oak woods. Turn right, remaining on the Moonridge Trail.

The trail descends a sunny slope covered with aromatic sage-scrub vegetation. Beware of the prickly pear cactus flanking the trail. There’s a brief passage across a shady ravine using wooden steps and a plank bridge. At 0.5 mile you cross over a dirt road and continue on the narrow Moonridge Trail.

Ahead, the trail curls around a deep ravine, edging into the crumbly sedimentary rock. At 0.9 mile you join another dirt road and use it to descend toward a large wooden tepee structure on a knoll just below. Make a right at the tepee, descending farther into the Arroyo Conejo gorge. As you descend, watch for the narrow side trail on the left that will take you straight down to Paradise Falls—a beautiful, 30-foot-high cascade that makes its presence known by sound before sight. Keep an eye out for poison oak, especially on the far side of the creek.

Paradise Falls is worth getting excited about.

After you’ve admired the falls, continue by climbing back up the slope in the direction you came and taking the fenced, cliff-hanging trail around the left (east) side of the falls. Beyond that fenced stretch, the narrow trail descends a little and sidles up alongside the creek, where large coast live oaks spread their shade.

Soon you’ll find yourself continuing on a path of dirt-road width. Stay with that path until you reach a major crossroads. It’s worth a 0.1 mile detour straight ahead to the walk-through Indian Cave. Then, returning to the junction, cross the bridge. The small Wildwood Nature Center is just around the bend to the right, and your return route up along Indian Canyon is to the left.

On the Indian Creek Trail, you pay your debt to gravity by ascending nearly 300 feet in about 0.7 mile. The beautifully tangled array of live oak and sycamore limbs along this trail keeps your mind off the climb. At one point, you can look down into a deep ravine where an inaccessible mini-waterfall and pool lie practically hidden. When you finally reach Avenida de los Arboles, turn left and return a short distance to the trailhead parking lot.

VARIATION

An extensive network of trails radiates in all directions from Wildwood Park. Regular visitors will want to download the Wildwood Park Trail Map to aid exploration: tinyurl.com/wildwoodtrailmap.

trip 3.3 Los Padres Loop

DIRECTIONS From Highway 101 at Exit 44 in Thousand Oaks, take Moorpark Road south. In 0.3 mile turn left on Los Padres Drive. Proceed 0.1 mile to the signed trailhead on the right and park on the road.

The Scenic Loop Trail along the Los Padres Trail visits oaks, grassland, and chaparral.

The hills in the Conejo Open Space are laced with an intricate network of trails. This appealing loop is just the right length for a moderate workout and thus draws throngs of hikers, dog walkers, and mountain