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trip 4.4 Big Bend Loop

Distance 3.9 miles (loop)

Hiking Time 2½ hours

Elevation Gain 1,100’

Difficulty Moderate

Trail Use Hiking only

Best Times November–May

Agency OC Parks: LCWP

Permit OC Parks parking fee required

DIRECTIONS Park at Laguna Coast Wilderness Park’s Big Bend parking lot on the west side of Laguna Canyon Road, 2 miles north of Laguna Beach and 2 miles south of the 73 Toll Road.

Both the beginning section on Big Bend Trail and the ending section on Laguna Ridge Trail will test the mettle of any hiker due to their combination of steepness and roughness. Although mountain bikes are technically allowed on the route, much of your effort would go into slinging your bike over your shoulder and slip-sliding down the steepest grades. You might as well walk!

The low-growing coastal sage scrub and grassland vegetation on the slopes and ridges hereabouts does little to block views of the ocean, hills, and distant mountains. This is a hike best taken, then, whenever the air is beautifully transparent.

From the Big Bend staging area, head south and start climbing immediately on the Big Bend Trail, a wide fire road. At 0.2 mile, just as you cross under some power lines, note the obscure path to the left. You will arrive at this spot again near the end of the hike. Turn right and head straight up the hill. Stay right at an immediate fork where a powerline road veers left.

Laguna Ridge Trail

The Big Bend Trail takes you ever upward along a ridgeline on a course absolutely committed to gaining elevation as quickly as possible. A couple of flat stretches along the way allow you to catch your breath and look around. Before long, cars and buildings in Laguna Canyon below begin to look toylike. You may spot scallop fossils near your feet if your eyes are glued to the ground.

At 1.6 miles, you come to an intersection with the wide Bommer Ridge Road. Turn left and proceed south on a gently falling, then gently rising course to the intersection of Boat Canyon Road on the right (2.5 miles from the start). On the left, just past Boat Canyon Road but before the next intersecting road on the right, take the narrow Laguna Ridge Trail, which goes briefly up a 912-foot knoll, then suddenly and precipitously plunges down to Laguna Canyon.

Rough and worn deeply into the sandstone bedrock, it approaches a 40% grade in a couple of spots. It, too, sticks to a plunging ridgeline. Near the bottom of that plunge, the trail veers left (east), almost reaching the pavement of Laguna Canyon Road (3.3 miles). The final leg goes up and down a couple of times, staying parallel to but decently clear of the busy roadway. At 3.7 miles, you meet Big Bend Trail, which leads 0.2 mile down to the starting point.