Backbone Trail Captures the Essence of the Santa Monicas

• Ridgeline Route Was a More than 50-Year Labor of Love for Outdoors Community

BY SUZANNE GULDIMANN

For more than 50 years, conservationists have envisioned a ridgeline trail along the entire length of the Santa Monica Mountains. There have been times when it seemed the plan was an impossible dream. But today, seemingly against all odds, the Backbone Trail stretches for 63 miles, across a checkerboard of public and private lands, through the most remote and spectacular landscape of the Santa Monica Mountains.
A standing-room-only crowd at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Headquarters received good news about the future of the Backbone Trail, at a recent event offering a “virtual tour” of the trail.
Created by an Act of Congress in 1978, the SMMNRA is the nation’s largest urban national park, according to the NPS. In addition to preserving some of the most spectacular scenery in the state, the 153,000 acres of mountains and coastline are designated an area of global biodiversity concern, and home to 25 threatened and endangered species, 50 candidate species and more than 1000 documented significant archeological sites.
The City of Malibu is almost entirely surrounded by the SMMNRA, and most of the Backbone Trail, which attracts visitors from all over the world, is located right in Malibu’s backyard.
Only three gaps still exist—less than two miles—in the network of trails from Point Mugu State Park in Ventura County, to Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades that make up the Backbone Trail.
SMMNRA outdoor recreation planner Melanie Beck informed the audience that the NPS is optimistic that two of those gaps will soon be filled.
Etz Meloy Motorway, in the highest and most remote part of the mountains, near Little Sycamore Canyon, is the biggest gap, Beck said. “It’s two gaps really, two pieces of property. One of them looks very promising.”
Beck later told the Malibu Surfside News that, while nothing is definite, she believes that the NPS is “almost there.” She indicated that the NPS is confident that the entire route can be completed in two years time, although the final and smallest gap, three-tenths of a mile in upper Trancas Canyon, remains elusive. Popular rumor has it that the land is jointly owned by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is reportedly willing to grant a public easement, and a partner, who isn’t.
“We’re trying to work something out,” Beck said, “Maybe a five-year agreement.”
Currently, Backbone Trail users have to detour around the gaps, which adds about six miles and, at least in one area, can subject hikers and bikers to dangerous vehicular traffic on mountain roads with limited shoulder room.
Improvements to the existing trail segments are also planned. An interagency trail management plan that stalled from lack of funding under the Bush Administration has been revitalized.
According to Beck, funding is now in place for the NPS, as the lead agency, to begin the Environmental Impact Review process for the plan, which includes improvements to trails, access and the addition of several new trailheads. It also proposes eight new backcountry campsites, some specially geared to equestrians, to augment the park system’s three existing campgrounds.
Unlike the camping facilities proposed recently as part of a Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy plan, the proposed Backbone Trail campsites, which would be administered by the NPS, have not garnered extensive criticism from local residents.
Beck told The News that patrol management is an integral part of the trail plan and that the camp network would be managed through a permit reservation system. Campfires would be prohibited, and all of the proposed sites would provide sanitation facilities with what she described as “sustainable technology,” such as composting.
According to Beck, all equestrian camps would have a water source, although hike-in campsites may require hikers to pack their own water. Back-country camps would be small, potentially accommodating up to 12 persons at three or four campsites per location.
Backpacking advocates say they anticipate the day when trail users can travel the entire trail in a week-long uninterrupted pilgrimage. Until then, most trail-users opt to tackle the Backbone in a serious of hikes, ranging from short stretches easy enough for young children to grueling marches that involve hundreds of feet of elevation loss and gain.
Remarkably, much of the backbone trail system has been constructed and is maintained by volunteers, although the California Conservation Corps, and professional staff from various parkland agencies are also involved. Beck says that volunteers have also worked to gather baseline data, such as GPS coordinates and trail grade, and up-to-date information on conditions and obstacles.
Because the trail network has been pieced together gradually from old animal paths, single track and fire roads, only the newer sections have been built to modern trail standards.
Improved signage and a number of trail realignments are part of the planned improvements. Currently only hikers can transverse the entire length of the trail. Some areas are not suitable for either mountain bikers or equestrians. NPS representatives advise all potential trail users to check with rangers before heading out. Conditions, they say, can change.
Sheila Braden, who coordinates an annual group walk compriseed mostly of people in their sixties and older that covers the entire Backbone Trail for the National Park Service-Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council, remembers the early days of the Backbone project.
“I started in 1990, the trail was 43 miles, then. I read about middle-aged people walking the Backbone Trail, and I said, ‘Other people have walked it, all kinds of people, why not us?’” That was just the first of many treks. “There is no way you can really understand [the Backbone Trail] from books, You have to do it.” Braden said.