Backbone Trail Is 4 Miles Longer After Ceremony

With sweeping ocean views and rugged peaks as backdrops, national park officials and lawmakers dedicated the latest stretch of the Backbone Trail on Thursday, saying they expect the vast, 69-mile ribbon of footpaths to be finished next year.

“This trail has to be the crowning achievement of the park,” said Woody Smeck, acting superintendent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “It will be the longest trail in the mountains.”

The new four-mile segment leaves just 1.5 miles of trail left for development in the 30-year effort to join Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County and Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades by footpath.

Sitting in a remote spot 2,100 feet above the Pacific Ocean, the latest trail addition is an easy, level hike with minimal elevation gain along the way.

“At this height, there is little evidence of development, so you really feel you are in a wilderness,” Smeck said.

On clear days, the trail offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean and the Channel Islands, along with a wide array of volcanic rock formations, colorful lichens and rare red shank chaparral. Sandstone Peak looks down on the broad, winding path as it links with the rest of the Backbone Trail.

The new trail, which took eight months to build, will open in September.

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) peered into the steep canyons and up at the jagged peaks, describing the view as like being in Sequoia National Park “without having to make motel reservations.”

“We are celebrating the fact that those in much better shape than I can hike from Tarzana to Point Mugu up the longest trail that starts in an urban area,” he said.

Sherman said he has secured $22 million in federal funds since 1996 for trail and land acquisitions in the park. The latest four miles were obtained after paying $950,000 for 11 parcels of land from private owners.

“Not only do we have tremendous complexity of ecosystems here, but we have the legal complexities of acquiring land in the Los Angeles metropolitan area,” Sherman said.

Officials say the entire project could be completed in a year, with negotiations underway to buy the last five parcels of land needed or create public rights of way through them.

The Santa Monica Mountains, believed to be the world’s largest urban national park, encompass 150,050 acres and attract 35 million visitors a year. About 60 miles of the Backbone Trail are already in use.

Milt McAuley, 83, knows the mountains better than most. He has written seven guidebooks to the area, including “Guide to the Backbone Trail” and “Hiking Trails of the Santa Monica Mountains.”

The bushy-browed Canoga Park man watched Thursday’s ceremonies from beneath his Panama hat.

“A hundred years ago, they called this the Devil’s Backbone Trail,” he said.

McAuley has walked the trail 12 times, hikes twice a week and has twice stumbled upon mountain lions. He is also a bit of a skeptic and recalls laughing heartily when he first heard of plans for connecting the Backbone Trail’s segments. Now he thinks it might actually happen.

“We are getting much closer, and we have a politician who is interested and able to get money,” he said, walking down the new trail. “I think this is going to be one of the major trails in the Santa Monica Mountains. It will be the trail of the mountains.”