TOPANGA TALES

Scott Regberg
Mirror contributing writer

   Topanga State Park is a sprawling resource that gerrymanders around the Santa Monica Mountains like flowering kudzu. Just within the past few months, the Los Liones road, near Sunset and PCH, has blossomed with a newly reclaimed park grounds -– a long sliver of picnic benches, restrooms and a seasonal stream.
   Near the top of the Los Liones cul de sac a neat little mini-bridge has been built that leads hikers deeper into the canyon floor and eventually up to the Paseo trail. The trails around the cul de sac have been freshly and carefully groomed. In fact, they are about the cleanest and best-looking trails our group has ever hiked, short of a wide fire road.
   Just to give you a sense of the overall terrain, the Paseo fire road is like a large upside down U running along the mountain ridge-line. Los Liones is on the canyon floor nestled inside the U. The question is how does one get from the floor to the upper U? There are lots of ways to do it, some easy, some moderate, and one that we all call the “backdoor” or mountaineering route.
   Traditionally, hikers would drive up into the Palisades neighborhood to the trailhead and then walk the Paseo trail around the U to the overlook, a fire road all the way. The Los Liones routes add a good twenty minutes each way and provides a more advanced switchback experience.
   Trail leader Jerry H. is a master at finding alternative routes, keeping the experience diverse and still getting us back in two hours, even in the dark.
   On our recent exploration, we started out on the floor of the westside of the U and zigzagged our way to the eastside, emerging on Paseo just before twilight. Our group split into three sub-troops, one taking the side-bumps just for fun, another going on further to the saddle near the Wirebreak connection, and us lazy folks who were so enamored with the view that we just stood there talking for twenty minutes. The dense low-lying fog rolled in and out of the coastal cliffs like bright gray water –- a blanket of white framing the jutting hillside homes.
   We each took slightly different sidetrails back and, remarkably, re-united at 8:30 p.m. at the dul de sac for a perfectly timed two hour adventure.
   Fearless readers who are interested in free Monday and Wednesday night hikes should contact Scott Regberg at (310) 475-5735.