Backbone Trail Run-Topanga State Park

This morning, before the heat set in, my daughter and I set off to Topanga State Park to clock some running time in the Santa Monica Mountains. Using the gateway at Will Rogers State Historical Park, we were on the Backbone Trail in no time. Wednesday is not one of the popular days in this park and as expected, we ran into less than a dozen other people. This trail is always preferable to Griffith Park during the frequent summer heatwaves. It is at least 10 degrees cooler here than in Hollywood. The Backbone trail runs from Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu. While I have been to the park over one hundred times this year, I have never run the entire length of the Backbone Trail. It is on my short list. I saw a couple of people with dogs this morning, and while I understand that people love their dogs, and truly, for many people, their dogs are their children. I empathize with you, but it is pretty arrogant to think the rules don't apply to you. I am not the Ranger, and I loathe law enforcement, but seriously, fuck you people who go on this trail with dogs. The highlight of the trip today was a giant black raven sitting on top of a yucca plant. This guy must have tipped the scales at 3lbs. An awesome sight. The photo was taken with an I-Phone Camera at a distance of approximately 15 feet.

The oppressive heat is no excuse to weasel your way out of exercising!

Get on the trail and stop making excuses. Drink plenty of water, and eat a couple of bananas. Take at least an additional liter of water per person. Today, I decided to tackle Griffith Park from the Western end of Ferndell. Just walk a couple of hundred yards past the kid's playground and keep to the left. There are several ways to speed this section up the best was is to just start running slowly and bear right past the sycamores to a little trail that will take you straight up the ridge and finish up at those picnic tables just below the road. Cross the street, and head up the hill and soon you will be at the bridge. Keep on going up, breathe through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Keep hydrated. Take a look at the panoramic views and the inevitable pair of raven soaring overhead.

Once you get to the top take a look around and start heading down at once Pick up the pace a little bit and scan the trail ten feet in front of you. Let gravity carry you down the hill, and do not stop. Breathe and keep hydrated. Run at 3/4 speed until you get to the picnic area. Stretch for at least 15 minutes before heading to your car. Face it, it must have taken you a couple of years to get into bad shape, and it will probably take you at least a year to start seeing good results. You have to eat whole foods also! Working out alone is not enough. It is a lot of work. If you want to keep fit, you are going to need to do this run at least five days a week pushing yourself each and every time. You can go in the morning, or in the evening, it does not matter as long as you do it. It does not get easier, ever. Park your car across Los Feliz Blvd. so you don't get a parking ticket, and so that you don't cut any corners like a cheating bastard. There is another way to get a really good workout and that is by going up the steep hill to the right of the ever popular fire road leading up to the Observatory out of Ferndell. Run up this hill if you want to work your body the fuck out and fill each and every cell in your body with rich oxygen and nutrients. When you get to the top of the first steep hill, run like hell down the slope until you can barely take it anymore. Try to make yourself run up the next hill. Then the next one. And so on. After running this trail every day, I feel like 98% of my problems have been solved. I feel great, and look 10 years younger. Trail running even makes my hair grow back in a lush and shiny manner. I suspect that you will probably get the same results. I did it, and you can, too!

Rivas Canyon

The Rivas Canyon Trail stretches from Will Rogers State park to Temescal Gateway Park and is about 2.5 miles long. You catch it just to the left of the sign at the front of the park behind the Ranger's houses. When you get down the first wooden stair case, walk across the parking lot. The trail goes through a shaded oak grove for the first mile. Some of those beautiful trees are at least 200 years old. There are several side trails that are accessible from Rivas Canyon, such as the Temescal Peak Trail that eventually runs into the Backbone Trail about a half a mile from the lone oak tree in Topanga State Park. The Temescal Peak hike loop (about 12 miles) is pretty strenuous, but the Rivas Canyon Trail is easy to moderate and is a nice place to take small children. The views from the Rivas Canyon Trail are fantastic, especially when you get to the top of the brief switchbacks at about the middle of the trail. The Pacific and the entire Santa Monica Bay are visible as well as Temescal and Santa Monica canyons. This trail is a great introduction to the Santa Monica Mountains. The Temescal Peak loop took my wife and I a little over two hours running. The rain started in earnest once we got to the top of Temescal Peak and continued until we finished. The dynamics of the clouds and the rain along with the abundant red, yellow, purple, and blue wildflowers made for an unforgettable run. While the end of the Persian New Year brought more guests to Will Rogers Park than I have ever seen in my life, we only saw four other people on the trail. I was touched that a kind woman took the time to tell us about her New Year celebration and how in happier times she hiked for miles and miles in the mountains surrounding Terhan. Happy Easter. Happy Norwuz. Happy Passover. Happy Trails.

Griffith Park Observatory Hike

You can turn your life around on this trail. You can turn your un-healthy body into a toned, well oiled machine in about a year's time. It only requires that you do this hike five to seven days a week and some modification of your diet. Almost anyone can do it. My wife and I are living proof. Since 4/11, we have lost a total of 60 pounds between us by following this simple program. We had some major motivation to begin after my wife had a tumor removed from her abdomen 1/11 which we attributed to our unhealthy lifestyle. In the beginning, I felt like I was about to die by the time I got up the first hill. By the time I got to the observatory, my body was stinging, and my lungs were heaving up mucus. I had to hit the albuterol inhaler to continue, as sweat poured from my body. By week three, I was feeling better. It helped that I stopped eating most dairy, meat, narcotic painkillers, and processed foods. I also stopped drinking alcohol and began to curtail the large amount of marijuana that I had been smoking on a daily basis for the last fifteen years. I switched to edibles and vastly increased my lung capacity and my capacity to do this hike. Fast. I have found that the feeling I get from regular exercise has solved 85% of my problems. I am only sorry that it took me 45 years to figure it out. Your results may vary, but not by much I suspect. Eventually, I started to seek out other places to hike. I re-discovered all of these wonderful places from my childhood such as Will Rogers, Topanga, Brand Park, Baldy, and San Gorgonio. My brother Paul convinced me to run down the hill on the Sam Merrill Trail in Altadena 2/12. I ran down every hill I hiked up thereafter and then started to run up. I am now running about 60 miles a week and sometimes many more. If you would have told me I would have been trail running 3 years ago, I would have taken another sip of beer and laughed my ass off. Since I began, I have gone out rain or shine, and have missed less than a dozen days. I have missed work more that I ever had in the past because the shittiest day hiking is better than the best day working. I notice several ads for fitness centers this January, and can say with a great deal of happiness that these places have nothing on this beautiful hike. Taking one or two hours to run on this trail will make the other 22 hours in your day run much more smoothly. I can't promise that you will get the same results, but face it, you have nothing to lose by trying. And you can't beat the price.

Will Rogers State Historical Park

This park and adjoining Topanga State Park contain some of the finest scenery in California. Yosemite it is not, but the subtle beauty of the mountains and the animals and plants that live and grow here more than compensate for the lack of landmarks like Half Dome. Your experience will be enhanced if you come here during the week, or are willing to hike a few miles into the back country on one of the fantastic trails contained therein. I would encourage everyone to hike at least as far as Lone Oak to get a sense of what I am talking about. It should take approximately an hour and a half to get there. Part of the trail is shaded. There are tons of hidden, unmarked trails crossing the Backbone Trail to provide you with countless hours of wonder and amusement. If you like birds, you are in for a treat, because this place is a fucking aviary. Seabirds, starlings, hawks, hummingbirds, kites and ravens are abundant. I saw a very large rattlesnake last time I came here, one of the largest I have ever seen. Please observe front and back country guidelines and remove your trash.

Topanga State Park

Topanga State Park encompasses nearly 40 square miles, and is the largest wilderness park inside of a major city. There are dozens of entrances, and to properly explore the Park, one would need at least a full year. I recommend getting a Tom Harrison Topographical Map of the Park if you are truly interested, even though it does not have a comprehensive list of all the trails. The park stretches across the Santa Monica Mountains from the Pacific Ocean, all the way down Sunset Blvd. past Will Rogers State Park and clear up to Encino. There are mountain lion in the park which you will probably never see, but what you will see are a hell of a lot of raptors. Primarily Red Tailed Hawk and White Tailed Kite. Additionally, there are hundreds of pair of beautiful ravens, crows, swifts, and scrub jays. There is a healthy rodent population, and during the summer, you are almost guaranteed a rattlesnake sighting if you go to the right places. Deer abound in the park and are not the slightest bit timid. The chaparral, oaks, wildflowers and other native plants are subtly beautiful during all four seasons. I like Winter the best, because this Park gets pretty hot during the Summer and if you are running long distances, the heat will surely sap your endurance. I recommend accessing Topanga State Park either through the gateway at Will Rogers via the Backbone Trail or from Topanga State Beach. In any event, I am sure you will appreciate the views of the Pacific Ocean, Catalina and Anacapa Islands, the Los Angeles Basin and Mt. San Antonio and San Gorgonio on a clear day. A true five star gem.