Mountain Highs

Looking for a fall leg-stretcher, something with a view, perhaps? You’ve got your pick of peaks in the Santa Monica Mountains this weekend, with some companionship thrown in for good measure.

For the unattached, the Conejo Recreation and Park District is offering an early evening, singles-only hike Saturday on the Los Robles Trail, overlooking Thousand Oaks and urban points beyond.

If it’s a coastal experience you’re after, you can join a California Department of Parks and Recreation guide Sunday morning for a trek up to Mugu Peak in Point Mugu State Park.

This one is free and open to anyone--anyone who doesn’t mind a steep, sweaty workout first thing in the morning. It starts at 8 a.m., with hikers meeting interpretive guide Jim Holt in the parking lot west of Mugu Rock at Point Mugu, on the Pacific Coast Highway.

Tagging along with someone like Holt will not only save you from getting lost, but also will fill you with historical tidbits about the area. In case you’ve always wondered what’s in a name like Mugu, it comes from the Chumash word muwu, which means beach.

As for Mugu Rock, that towering oceanside hulk, it didn’t always look as it does today. In the 1920s, road builders originally routed the highway around the rocky point, but the surf battered it to pieces. You can still see its remains. Ever determined, builders blasted the present road through the rock in the 1930s.

Holt’s group will walk up the coast highway about half a mile, cross the road at the Seabee rifle range and begin the hike at the trail head. Don’t look for a trail sign though, except for the one warning hikers about mountain lions. (Mosquitoes are more likely, so wear bug repellent.) Technically, it’s the old Chumash Trail, and in Indian fashion it’s a direct route--which means straight up, so don’t expect any comfortable, level walking until about the 900-foot elevation.

As you climb past scads of prickly pear cactus, take a breather occasionally to look back at the spectacular ocean view below. Even high up you can hear the waves pounding on the beach. From this vantage point you can see Mugu Lagoon, a large wetlands refuge for birds, migratory and resident. Farther up the coast is the U.S. Navy’s Point Mugu Pacific Missile Test Center. Atop nearby Laguna Peak, you’ll get a glimpse of the Naval Air Weapons Station, with its stark white radio equipment.

Holt’s group will follow a 3.5- to 4-mile route that encircles Mugu Peak, returning about noon. If he has any takers, he’ll take a steep but quick side trip to the top of the 1,266-foot peak. If it’s a clear day, the extra effort will offer awesome views to the Channel Islands. At the top, you can add your name and impressions to those of the countless others who have found a notebook for that purpose in a waterproof container on a mound of rocks.

During this hike, you’ll get a look at the vast La Jolla Valley with its miles of tall grasses. Holt will fill you in on the history of the area from its Chumash roots to its Spanish land-grant days to the ranching era of William R. Broome, who bought it in 1873 to run cattle on. If you can’t make this Mugu Peak hike, Holt is leading similar ones Nov. 9 at 1:30 p.m. and Dec. 7 at 12:30 p.m.

If you prefer hiking during the cooler evening hours, you can join naturalist Jim Lux on Saturday for a leisurely amble along Los Robles Trail on the southern edge of Thousand Oaks.

Lux leads these singles-only hikes once a month, meeting hikers at the trail head at the south end of Moorpark Road in the dirt parking lot. This one runs from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and costs $5 per car.

Heading for an unnamed peak in the Santa Monica Mountains, Lux will lead the moderately difficult 2 1/2- to 3-mile hike on the east portion of the trail, which actually stretches 10 miles from a trail head at Foothill Road on the east to Rancho Sierra Vista Park on the west, just off West Potrero Road. At the west end it switchbacks up Rasnow Peak, so named for the family that owns land in the area. For hikers who want quick, easy access to the wilds, Los Robles Trail is a gem, but be on the lookout for mountain bikers.

Lux also passes on nuggets about the plants, geology and history of the area. The wild mustard that borders the trail was planted by the Spanish to mark the routes. It flourished well enough at one point to be a cash crop.

Like the trek up Mugu Peak, a jaunt on Los Robles Trail offers little shade. But hikers here get an added bonus: They can watch the lights of the Conejo Valley start to twinkle on as the sun sets.

BE THERE

Mugu Peak Loop hike, Sunday, 8 a.m. to noon, free, no preregistration. Meet state parks guide in the parking lot west of Mugu Rock on the Pacific Coast Highway, by the pay phone. (310) 457-8142.

Saturday Singles Los Robles hike, Saturday, 5 to 7:30 p.m., $5 per car, no preregistration. Meet naturalist at trail head in the parking lot at the south end of Moorpark Road. (805) 495-2163.