The Backbone Trail is a

long-distance trail A long-distance trail (or long-distance footpath, track, way, greenway) is a longer recreational trail mainly through rural areas used for hiking, backpacking, cycling, horse riding or cross-country skiing. They exist on all continents excep ...

extending 67.79 miles (109.10 km) across the length of the

Santa Monica Mountains The Santa Monica Mountains is a coastal mountain range in Southern California, next to the Pacific Ocean. It is part of the Transverse Ranges. Because of its proximity to densely populated regions, it is one of the most visited natural areas in ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Its western terminus is

Point Mugu State Park Point Mugu State Park is a state park located in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Southern California. The rugged, nearly impassible shoreline of the western Santa Monica Mountains gives way to tidal lagoons and coastal sand ...

, and its eastern terminus is

Will Rogers State Historic Park Will Rogers State Historic Park is the former estate of American humorist Will Rogers. It lies in the Santa Monica Mountains in Los Angeles, in the Pacific Palisades area. Geography In what is now the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisade ...

in Pacific Palisades. The trail is open to

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Hist ...

throughout its length. Dogs, mountain bicyclists and horseback riders are only allowed on portions of the trail as posted.

History

Construction on the backbone trail began in the early 1980s and involved the cooperation of the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

, the

California Department of Parks and Recreation The California Department of Parks and Recreation, more commonly known as California State Parks, manages the California state parks system. The system administers 279 separate park units on 1.4 million acres (570,000 hectares), with over 280 ...

, and private parties interested in connecting existing trails within the Santa Monica Mountains NRA into a single trail spanning the length of the park. The range of conditions found on the trail - ranging from flat, wide fire roads to narrow single-track trails - reflects the trail's origin as a series of unconnected paths and backcountry roads, connected to form the Backbone Trail System. In 2016, the National Park Service completed land acquisitions from former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and fitness pioneer Betty Weider to enable right-of-way for the trail. In May 2016, a new section of the trail was completed on the east side of Yerba Buena Road in support of these acquisitions. Upon its 2016 opening, the Backbone Trail was designated a

National Recreation Trail The National Trails System is a series of trails in the United States designated "to promote the preservation of, public access to, travel within, and enjoyment and appreciation of the open-air, outdoor areas and historic resources of the Nati ...

. The official opening ceremony for the Backbone Trail was held on Saturday, June 4, 2016, at Will Rogers State Park, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony held at 10:00 am. Portions of the trail were closed after the

Woolsey Fire The Woolsey Fire was a wildfire that burned in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties of the U.S. state of California. The fire ignited on November 8, 2018, and burned of land. The fire destroyed 1,643 structures, killed three people, and prompted th ...

in 2018. Other trails and several parks were also closed as 88% of the federal parkland within the Santa Monica Mountains burned in the fast-moving fire. The Backbone Trail fully reopened in July 2019.

Topography and geography

As the Backbone Trail passes over the peaks and through the canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains, it climbs and falls in elevation nearly constantly. From its lowest point, the sea-level Ray Miller Trailhead at Point Mugu State Park, to its highest point,

Sandstone Peak Sandstone Peak, also known as Mount Allen, is a mountain in Ventura County, California. It is the highest summit in the Santa Monica Mountains, with an elevation of . Located near the western edge of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreatio ...

(which, at , is the highest peak in the Santa Monica Mountains), the trail is more frequently graded than level. Scenic views of Ventura County are seen from the six-mile loop trail, starting at the trailhead off Yerba Buena road. The Mishe Mokwa Trail in Circle X Ranch follows Carlisle Canyon along Boney Mountain past weathered red volcanic formations. There are views of the sculpted caves and crevices of Echo Cliffs and a forested streamside picnic area by a huge split boulder known as Split Rock. The return route on the Backbone Trail leads to Inspiration Point and culminates at Sandstone Peak, the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. Both points overlook the Pacific Ocean, the Channel Islands, and the surrounding mountains. Parts of the trail lie within the city limits of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Malibu, California Malibu ( ; es, Malibú; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu ...

; the rest sits in unincorporated areas of

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

and

Ventura County Ventura County () is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura. Ventura County comprises the Oxnar ...

. The following national, state, and privately administered wilderness areas are traversed by the Backbone Trail: *

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is a United States national recreation area containing many individual parks and open space preserves, located primarily in the Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. The SMMNRA is in t ...

Topanga State Park Topanga State Park () is a California state park located in the Santa Monica Mountains, within Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The park is located adjacent to the community of ...

*Cold Creek Canyon Preserve ''- owned by th
Mountains Restoration Trust
'' *

Malibu Creek State Park Malibu Creek State Park is a state park of California, United States, preserving the Malibu Creek canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains. The park was established in 1974. Opened to the public in 1976, the park is also a component of Santa Monic ...

Zuma and Trancas Canyons Zuma and Trancas Canyons are an area of Federal parkland to the west of Malibu, California. It lies within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and is the largest piece of Federal parkland in the NRA. Zuma Canyon contains a number of ...

Environment

Chumash Chumash may refer to: *Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism *Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California *Chumashan languages, indigenous languages of California See also *Chumash traditional n ...

villages once stood throughout the Santa Monica Mountains. The

California chaparral and woodlands The California chaparral and woodlands is a terrestrial ecoregion of southwestern Oregon, northern, central, and southern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico), located on the west coast of North America. It is a ...

and

California coastal sage and chaparral ecoregion The California coastal sage and chaparral ( es, Salvia y chaparral costero de California) is a Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecoregion located in southwestern California (United States) and northwestern Baja California (Mexico). It ...

s supported

Indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

for tens of thousands of years. A wide range of flora and fauna can be observed from the trail.

Flora

For the majority of its length, the Backbone Trail passes through terrain occupied by the ground-hugging bushes and shrubs that characterize the

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is w ...

and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

ecosystems. Relatively few trees line the trail, an essential consideration for travelers looking for shade.

Fauna

More than 450 vertebrate species have been observed within the Santa Monica Mountains NRA, including more than 380 species of birds. Lizards, seven species of which inhabit areas surrounding the trail, are particularly numerous, and can be easily found on or alongside the trail. Southern Pacific rattlesnakes can be numerous in early spring, particularly along Temescal Ridge in the eastern section of the trail. Mountain lions have been observed in the western section near Sandstone Peak trailhead in June 2008. At least eight mountain lions are believed to remain from Pt. Mugu to Topanga State Park. Notable species that can found along the Backbone trail include: *

Bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

California Kingsnake The California kingsnake (''Lampropeltis californiae'') is a nonvenomous colubrid snake endemic to the western United States and northern Mexico, and is found in a variety of habitats. Due to ease of care and a wide range of color variations, the ...

Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...

Mountain lion The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

* Pacific treefrog *

Peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...

Red-tailed hawk The red-tailed hawk (''Buteo jamaicensis'') is a bird of prey that breeds throughout most of North America, from the interior of Alaska and northern Canada to as far south as Panama and the West Indies. It is one of the most common members with ...

Southern Pacific rattlesnake ''Crotalus helleri'', known as the Southern Pacific rattlesnake, black diamond rattlesnake,Albert Hazen WWright AH, Wright AA (1957). ''Handbook of Snakes of the United States and Canada''. Ithaca and London: Comstock Publishing Associates, a div ...

Hiking

The Backbone Trail follows a well-maintained, single-track path with some dirt roads along the route. The trail is very well designed with climbs and descents occurring on well-graded trails full of switchbacks. The trail can be hiked in either the westbound or eastbound direction. There are no major differences between the two directions. Hiking westbound, you will progress towards more remote territory and can end your hike at the Pacific Ocean, but transportation may be more difficult from the Ray Miller Trailhead. There is no permit required for hiking the BBT. Camping along the Backbone Trail is restricted to established campgrounds. These include group campsites that can be reserved in advance and walk-in campsites that are available on a

first-come, first-served Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines, or queues. A queueing model is constructed so that queue lengths and waiting time can be predicted. Queueing theory is generally considered a branch of operations research because the ...

basis. There are still relatively few established campgrounds right on the BBT, and they are not evenly spaced out, posing a logistical challenge for an end-to-end hike. Backpacking the full length of the BBT with reasonable daily mileages may require the use of off-trail camping and lodging options, which are available within a reasonable distance from the trail.

References

External links

Official Backbone Trail WebsiteBackbone Trail Mountain Biking Reviews from MTBR.com
{{authority control Hiking trails in California Long-distance trails in the United States Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Parks in Los Angeles County, California Parks in Ventura County, California Regional parks in California Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Trails in California