DOWNHILL FROM HERE; SHUTTLING BETWEEN TRAILHEADS OFFERS EASY DESCENTS.Byline: BRETTY PAULY What goes down must come up. It's the hiker's anthem. Unless, of course, you have the luxury of two cars with which to travel to separate trailheads. Drive both cars to the bottom of the grade, a spot we'll call Point B. Park one. Pile all the gear - don't forget all the hikers - into the second, and motor to the upper trailhead, Point A in this case. Park. Unload. Begin hoofing. At the lower trailhead, pack into the first car and drive back up to the second. The maneuver is called a shuttle trip, the recreationist's car pool. And it's the perfect recipe for downhill hiking - the fastest, most effortless way to get from Point A to Point B. Some grizzled griz·zled adj. 1. Partly gray or streaked with gray: a grizzled beard. 2. Having fur or hair streaked or tipped with gray. wafflestompers call it cheating. I prefer ``fudging,'' especially if you have feasted on fudge all winter and are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. an outdoors answer to cabin fever cabin fever Relapsing fever, see there but want an easy go of it for your annual spring breakout. The ingredients call for a topographic map and a mind for reading elevations and trail-access points. If a footpath runs between two roads you know to be open, well maintained and not far apart and the map's contours indicate a descending course, voila voi·là interj. Used to call attention to or express satisfaction with a thing shown or accomplished: Mix the ingredients, chill, and , you've found your downhill hike. Don't have all the ingredients? Not to fret. Get a recommendation, and I'm just the guy to ask - someone who can sniff out a pathway with a major loss in elevation like a foxhound foxhound: see American foxhound; English foxhound. foxhound Either of two breeds of dogs traditionally kept in packs for fox hunting. The English foxhound stands 21–25 in. (53–64 cm) high and weighs 60–70 lbs (27–32 kg). on the game's scent. Let's start - and end - with the Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains are a low transverse range in southern California in the United States. Geography They run for approximately 40 mi (64 km) east-west from the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles to Point Mugu in Ventura County. , home to some of closest elevations needed to pull off the downhill shuttle trip. Two are described below, and, unlike the economic gap between this generation and the last, these downward spirals are a good thing: Saddle Creek Trail: Length: 3.4 miles. Elevation loss: 1,185 feet between trailheads. Maps: Malibu Beach 7.5-minute series topographic map; Tom Harrison's ``Trail Map of the Santa Monica Mountains Central.'' Time to allow: 3 hours, 30 minutes (2 hours hiking; 1 hour, 30 minutes driving - round-trip from Woodland Hills). Shuttle directions: With both cars, take Topanga Canyon Boulevard south to Mulholland Drive and turn right. Turn left on Mulholland Highway, which meanders to the junction of Stunt Road - where road work has squeezed the highway into a single lane. Remember this point - for you'll be back in awhile - and continue on the highway taking the sharp right. At the third Cold Canyon Road sign, turn left and drive to the community of Monte Nido, making a left at Woodbluff Road to Piuma Road. Turn left and park near the first hairpin turn. The ending trailhead is on the left. In the second car, retrace your route to Stunt Road and turn right. Park after the second hairpin turn, opposite the sign that reads ``Backbone Trail to Piuma Road.'' On the trail: This section of the Backbone Trail features strangely twisted sandstone outcroppings, dense thickets of chaparral, canopies of brush that engulf en·gulf tr.v. en·gulfed, en·gulf·ing, en·gulfs To swallow up or overwhelm by or as if by overflowing and enclosing: The spring tide engulfed the beach houses. portions of the track like a tightly cropped labyrinth, a handful of creek crossings culminating with the runoff from lush Dark Canyon and tremendous view of the wildly vertical striations of Calabasas Peak to the northeast and the wrinkled hills of the Malibu Creek watershed to the west. The starting trailhead sign at Stunt Road (elevation: 1,925 feet) reads 3.2 miles, but maps suggest 3.4 miles and it's always best to assume the greater distance. Veer right and follow the mostly flat course for .2 miles to the junction with the Backbone Trail on the northern shoulder of 2,805-foot Saddle Peak. (If you go left to start, it also hooks up with the Backbone Trail.) Very few trails immediately accessed by roads are completely downhill, and this one built in 1987 is no exception. The slow roller coaster actually gains 100 or so feet as it moves to the west for about a mile, passing Saddle Creek that flows into a ranch that takes its name. Then it begins dropping elevation at a rate of about 500 feet a mile as it travels to the southwest. At points the vantage looks like a badlands badlands, area of severe erosion, usually found in semiarid climates and characterized by countless gullies, steep ridges, and sparse vegetation. Badland topography is formed on poorly cemented sediments that have few deep-rooted plants because short, heavy showers scene from a Western flick, then a field of lupine lupine or lupin (l  `pĭn), any species of the genus Lupinus, annual or perennial herbs or shrubs of the family Leguminosae (pulse family). , pockets of purple prickly phlox phlox, common name for plants of the genus Phlox and for members of the Polemoniaceae, a family of herbs (and some shrubs and vines) found chiefly in the W United States. and an occasional butterfly will pop up and squash the dusty image. As the track opens up and the descent begins, hikers are rewarded after 20-some switchbacks - and several passable trail blowouts and deeply rutted portions from storm runoff - with several white alders at the ford of Dark Creek. Gain about 100 feet over the final ridge, and Piuma Road (740 feet) is not far ahead. Nicholas Flat Trail: Length: 3.9 miles. Elevation loss: 1,475 feet between trailheads. Maps: State parks map of Leo Carrillo State Beach (available at the state beach kiosk); Triunfo Pass 7.5-minute series topographic map; Tom Harrison's ``Trail Map of the Santa Monica Mountains West.'' Time to allow: 4 hours, 30 minutes (2 hours, 30 minutes hiking; 2 hours driving - round-trip from Woodland Hills). Shuttle directions: Take Ventura Freeway (101) north, exit at Kanan Road and turn left. At Mulholland Highway turn right and follow the detour signs along Encinal Canyon Road to Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to:
In the other car, return to Decker Road (Highway 23) and turn left. Turn left at Decker School Road (not to be confused with Decker School Lane that lies less than a mile to the northeast) and park at its terminus. On the trail: Visitors will enjoy the verdant ver·dant adj. 1. Green with vegetation; covered with green growth. 2. Green. 3. Lacking experience or sophistication; naive. meadow from which Nicholas Flat Trail takes it name, a quaint if muddy tule- and cat-tail-lined pond that once produced catfish and bass, a sense of spirit rich with the echoes of Chumash Indians and a panorama that includes everything from Boney Mountain and 3,111-foot Sandstone Peak to Saddle Peak, Santa Monica Bay Santa Monica Bay is an arm of the Pacific Ocean in southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume and Point Dume to most of the eight Channel Islands. From the parking area (elevation: 1,490 feet), it's a slow, sloping stroll to the beachside beach·side adj. Situated on or along a beach. park just above sea level. A paved, gated roadway in serious disrepair leads hikers south from Decker School Road in .3 miles to a crossroad. Veer right, then turn left at the trail to the meadow that opens up to the reservoir, which apparently was built with federal funds Federal Funds Funds deposited to regional Federal Reserve Banks by commercial banks, including funds in excess of reserve requirements. Notes: These non-interest bearing deposits are lent out at the Fed funds rate to other banks unable to meet overnight reserve in the 1950s to control runoff and create watershed. At the southwest end of the pond, a trail veers right and uphill. (A short side trip around the lake reveals huge boulders perched above expansive San Nicholas Canyon.) At the next junction, bear left following the sign to Nicholas Flat Trail, which was built in 1981 by Sierra Club volunteers, according to Milt McAuley's definitive guidebook ``Hiking Trails of the Santa Monica Mountains.'' Here you spy another of the meadows thought to be created by indigenous Chumash, who burned off areas to eradicate chaparral and expose grasses and shoots. Nearby oaks yielded acorns that were gathered, grinded, boiled into mush (MultiUser Shared Hallucination) See MUD. 1. (games) MUSH - Multi-User Shared Hallucination. 2. (messaging) MUSH - Mail Users' Shell. and brought down from the foothills to seaside camps. From here, the trail proceeds south for .3 miles to a dry lake and west for a like distance past two more trail junctions to a 1,737-foot vista point, the first of many that offer stellar shots of the Pacific Ocean and its lovely isles. The guilt you're feeling about grabbing all those tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. views without exerting a lot of energy only becomes worse as the trek starts its downhill course in earnest, passing deerbrush, violet-flowered hairy ceanothus ce·a·no·thus n. Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Ceanothus, native mostly to western North America and having showy clusters of usually blue or whitish flowers. Also called redroot. , blue dicks, lupine, prickly phlox, prickly pear cactus, Indian paint brush, nightshade nightshade, common name for the Solanaceae, a family of herbs, shrubs, and a few trees of warm regions, chiefly tropical America. Many are climbing or creeping types, and rank-smelling foliage is typical of many species. , canyon sunflowers, Mariposa-lilies and California poppies. After 1-1/2 miles, the trails split with equidistant e·qui·dis·tant adj. Equally distant. e  qui·dis tance n. mile-long options ending at the beach parking lot. I suggest the left one, which parallels Willow Creek and avoids the inevitable - shots of blacktop and highway - the longest. CAPTION(S): 5 Photos, 3 Maps PHOTO (1--Color) A trekker approaches a field of lupine descending Saddle Creek Trail iFn the Santa Monica Mountains. By using two cars, hikers can find easy paths down the trails. (2--Color) California poppies line Nicholas Flat Trail above Leo Carrillo State Beach campground. (3--Color) Runoff from Saddle Peak flows across Saddle Creek Trail. (4--Color) A hairy ceanothus overlooks the Pacific along Nicholas Flat Trail. (5--Color) Don Harmon of Malibu rides Cash as his pooch, Chew, looks on from the lake at Nicholas Flat in the Santa Monica Mountains. Brett Pauly / Daily News MAP: (1) SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS (2) NICHOLAS FLAT TRAIL (3) SADDLE CREEK TRAIL Dionisio Munoz / Daily News |
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