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Hiking Los Angeles: The Temescal Canyon Loop Hike
By MudslideMama | April 24, 2008
Having the travel bug, yet living in a tourist destination, can be a weird phenomenon. For example, a few weeks ago my family and I took a road trip north of Los Angeles, and stayed at the San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito (well, its mailing address is Santa Barbara, but it’s really just south of that town, in Montecito - nothing to be ashamed of). I love hiking in the region, and on one of several hikes there, I noticed my spouse was cracking up. What? What’d I do this time?
He explained that I was amusing him because all the flowers and plants (and lizards) I was carefully photographing - as if they were rare specimens, rarely seen - were exactly the same types of flowers and plants that live back home in our neighborhood. It was only the act of being on vacation that made them seem special. And you know? He was right.
I just came back from a morning hike with two other moms, good friends of mine, and this hike is practically in our own backyard. It’s a solid trail called the Temescal Canyon loop trail, in Los Angeles, and it is a pretty scenic route through part of the Santa Monica Mountain Range. I drive right by the entranceway almost daily, seeing tourists and travelers with their maps and cameras, but my friends and I
have hardly ever availed of it personally…I guess that this is because it’s just part of the background scenery of our lives. It’s an easy, child-friendly hike with only moderate climbs and a well-defined path with trail markers. I recommend it for any able-bodied person ages 6 and up.
The trail head is in Temescal Canyon: Take the Pacific Coast Highway to Temescal Canyon Road, or Sunset Blvd. to where Sunset intersects with Temescal. Parking is free on Temescal Canyon Road, or five dollars in the state park. The Temescal Canyon ranger station of 
Topanga State Park provides trail maps. While the Temescal Canyon loop hike is not a special challenge, there are some other trails for experienced hikers who want a workout. After a slow climb, the views start to get pretty fantastic; mountain range on one side, Pacific Ocean on the other. Not to mention all the flowers, plants, and lizards that seemed so fascinating up in Montecito! We cut out early on this loop hike because a smaller, scrubby and underused trail (Rivas Canon) leads almost directly to our homes, but hikers who continue on the main path will loop around and end up back in Temescal Canyon. An well-defined alternate on your map will be to continue on to the Will Rogers State Park; this is a 2.8 mile hike, start to finish.
When people think of Los Angeles geography, they usually get images of smog, miles of ugly strip miles, and
untrammeled urban sprawl. Well, those things are here. But wide open spaces, state parks and mountain ranges are right here too; it’s nice to be reminded of that once in a while. A well-rounded family vacation in LA, California would be enhanced by a morning of easy hiking in this part of the Topanga State Park.
Topics: Destinations, Family Travel, Girlfriend Getaways, Luxury Travel |
May 21st, 2008 at
[...] - Even Los Angeles, with its sad reputation as a faceless city of strip malls, has some challenging hiking trails. I’d also suggest a drive north to Santa Barbara, my favorite spot along the Central Coast. [...]