Читать книгу 101 Hikes in Southern California - Jerry Schad - Страница 20

HIKE 7

Zuma Canyon

Location: Santa Monica Mountains

Highlights: Spectacular, wild canyon trek and ocean views on the return

Distance: 9 miles (loop)

Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 1700'/1700'

Hiking Time: 6 hours

Optional Maps: Trails Illustrated Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area or USGS 7.5-minute Point Dume

Best Times: 8 a.m.–sunset, October–June

Agency: SMMNRA

Difficulty: Strenuous

Although it slices only 6 miles inland from the Pacific shoreline, Zuma Canyon harbors one of the deepest gorges in the Santa Monica Mountains. Easily on a par with nearby Malibu and Topanga Canyons in scenic wealth but much less known, Zuma Canyon holds the further distinction of never having suffered the invasion of a major road. Under cover of junglelike growths of willow, sycamore, oak, and bay, the canyon’s small stream cascades over sculpted sandstone boulders and gathers in limpid pools adorned with ferns. These natural treasures yield their secrets begrudgingly, as they should, only to those willing to scramble over boulders, plow through sucking mud and cattails, and thrash through scratchy undergrowth.

On this challenging trek, you’ll proceed straight up the canyon’s scenic mid-section, climb out of the canyon depths via a powerline service road, and loop back to your starting point on the ridge-running Zuma Ridge Trail (a fire road). The roads are shadeless, yet they offer great vistas of the canyon, the ocean, and the seemingly interminable east-west sweep of the Santa Monica Mountains.

Hiking the canyon bottom is least problematic in the fall season before the heavy rains set in. The stream may have shrunk to isolated pools by then, and you’ll step mostly on dry rocks with good traction. Winter flooding can render the canyon impassable, but such episodes are rare and short-lived. During spring, the stream flows heartily and there’s plenty of greenery and wildflowers; at the same time there’s an increased threat of exposure to poison oak (which grows in fair abundance along the banks), and you’re likely to surprise a rattlesnake. Summer days are usually too oppressively warm and humid for such a difficult hike. Whatever the season, take along plenty of water; the water in the canyon is not potable. Expect to get your feet wet, and bring sandals or a change of socks.

To Reach the Trailhead: A good starting place is the north end of Bonsall Drive, in the Point Dume area of Malibu. From the intersection of Kanan Dume Road and Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1) at mile marker 001 LA 54.00, drive 0.9 mile west on the highway to Bonsall Drive, turn right, and continue 1 mile to where Bonsall Drive ends at a trailhead for the Zuma Canyon trail system.

Description: From the end of Bonsall Drive, walk north on the Zuma Canyon Trail following the canyon’s winter-wet, summer-dry creek. Several trails branch off along either side, but stay on the mail trail up the canyon bottom. You pass statuesque sycamores, tall laurel sumac bushes, and scattered wildflowers in season. This is a promising area for spotting wildlife anytime—squirrels, rabbits, and coyotes are commonly seen, deer and bobcats less so.

After about a mile’s walk along the creek or dry canyon bottom, the canyon walls close in tighter, oaks appear in greater numbers, and you notice a small grove of eucalyptus trees on a little terrace. The path abruptly ends at a pile of sandstone boulders, 1.3 miles from the start. During the dry months, surface water may get only this far down the canyon. Often, however, the water trickles or tumbles past here, disappearing at some point downstream into the porous substrate of the canyon floor.

Now you begin a nearly 2-mile stretch of boulder-hopping (and possibly wading), 2 or 3 hours’ worth depending on the conditions. Other than a few rusting pieces of pipeline from an old dam and irrigation system, you may find that the canyon is completely litter-free; please keep it that way.

The great variety of rocks that have been washed down the stream or have fallen from the canyon walls says a lot about the geologic complexity of the Santa Monicas. You’ll scramble over finegrained siltstones and sandstones, conglomerates that look like poorly mixed aggregate concrete, and volcanic rocks of the sort that make up Saddle Rock (a local landmark near the head of Zuma Canyon) and the Goat Buttes of nearby Malibu Creek State Park. Some of the larger boulders attain the dimensions of mid-sized trucks, presenting an obstacle course that you must negotiate by moderate climbing with your hands and feet.

In another 1.3 miles, pass directly under a set of high-voltage transmission lines—so high they’re hard to spot. These lines, plus the graded road built to give access to the towers, represent the major incursion of civilization into Zuma Canyon. If you can ignore them, however, it’s easy to imagine what all the large canyons in the Santa Monicas were like only a century ago.

When you finally reach the Zuma Edison Road, turn left and follow it 2 miles to the top of the west ridge. From there, turn left on the Zuma Ridge Trail (another dirt road) and follow its lazily curving, downhill course toward the coastal plain, enjoying clear-air vistas of the vast Pacific Ocean much of the way. On a fine day, you can see all the way from San Jacinto, Santiago Peak, and the Palos Verdes Hills to Catalina, San Clemente, Anacapa, and Santa Cruz Islands. This and many other utility service roads in the Santa Monicas are closed to unauthorized motorized vehicles and are popular among hikers and mountain bikers.

Pool in Zuma Canyon

When you reach the bottom of the Zuma Ridge Trail in 2.6 miles, where Busch Drive and Cuthbert Road meet, take the path across the hillside to your left (east). You lose about 300 feet of elevation over 0.6 mile as you zigzag down to the bottom of the Zuma Canyon floodplain. Turn right when you reach the main Zuma Canyon Trail, and walk the final 0.2 mile over to where you began your hike.