Where we are in the world
Starting from the Will Rogers State Historic Park in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, the Backbone Trail stretches just under 68 miles throughout the Santa Monica Mountains through 6 state parks, national recreation areas and preserves. The trailhead is located just 20 miles from Downtown LA.
Many people only hike portions of the trail, often splitting up the 68 miles into smaller sections accessible by canyon roads that run from US Highway 1 along the coast to the San Fernando Valley (such as Topanga Canyon Blvd, Kanan Rd and Las Virgenes Rd).
See the interactive Google Map at the bottom of the post!
Three key facts
It took 40 years to finally create the “largest urban park in the world”
Back in 1978, US Congress passed an act enabling the creation of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, mentioning the idea of the “Backbone Trail” by name. The recreation area contains only a portion of the Backbone Trail – the rest of the space was either state owned or privately owned. Over the course of the next 40 years, around 70 government agencies (both local, state and federal) worked to create a continuous route across multiple plots of land including:
- Will Rogers State Historic Park – governed by the State of California
- Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area – governed by the National Park Service
- Topanga State Park – governed by the State of California
- Cold Creek Canyon Preserve – governed by the non-profit TreePeople Land Trust
- Malibu Creek State Park – governed by the State of California
- Zuma and Trancas Canyons – governed by the National Park Service
- Point Mugu State Park – governed by the State of California
The trail officially opened in 2016, almost 40 years since it was originally planned. The Backbone Trail and the series of federal and state lands that it runs through from start to finish is considered the “largest urban national park” in the world.
The ecosystem of this trail is found in only 4 other parts of the world
The climate of the Backbone Trail, and other trails around the coastal region of Southern California, is considered to be a “Mediterranean-type ecosystem” that outside of the Mediterranean region is only found in 3 other parts of the world: Central Chile, Western Cape of South Africa, and South/Southwest Australia.
Within 2 years of opening, the Backbone trail was closed again due to forest fires
Partially due to its Mediterranean climate, the parks that the Backbone Trail runs through become very dry in the summer creating significant risk for forest fires. In 2018, large portions of the trail were closed due to the Woolsey Fire that destroyed more than 1,500 buildings.
The last 6 miles from about Kanan Rd to the terminus at Point Mugu State Park were impacted, and some say that it will take 10-20 years before the environment around the Backbone Trail will look like they did prior to the 2018 fire.
Additional links and sources
- Official website of the Backbone Trail from the NPS (link)
- Article about the impact of the Woolsey/Thomas Fire to the Backbone Trail (link, published in 2019)
- More information about “Mediterranean-type ecosystems” such as the parks that the Backbone Trail runs through (link)
See other places around the world Globe Charting has featured!
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