Day hiking trails in Los Angeles area that kids will love

Malibu Creek and the Goat Buttes at Malibu Creek
State Park. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

Are there any good day hiking trails for kids in Los Angeles? There are more trails than you know ... despite being a sprawling an urban area, nature areas with hiking trails actually abound. This no doubt is due to the many mountains in the area. My three favorite L.A. hikes for kids include:
g El Dorado Nature Center - The Long Beach park boasts two miles of dirt trails that wind around two lakes, over a stream and through a forest.
g Malibu Creek State Park - Try the Rock Pool trails, where a path of shaded oaks lead you to a pool with volcanic rock walls.
g Upper Franklin Canyon Park - In Beverly Hills, this is Andy Griffith's famed fishing hole. A great nature center sits nearby.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Geologic wonders await on punchbowl loop

Devil's Punchbowl County Park, Calif.

Route heads through deep, boulder-strewn depression

There’s a bit of Yosemite just a few miles from Los Angeles: Devil's Punchbowl County Park. On the back side of the Angeles National Forest, let's just say it makes the better known Vasquez Rocks – which is a fairly fantastic area in its own right – look like a cheap “Star Trek” planet set.

Snow melt flowing from the higher San Gabriel Mountains, standing about 8,000 feet above sea level over the park, cut the deep canyon that is the punchbowl. Uplift and pinching from nearby fault lines have turned the sediment layers up to 80 degrees on their sides.

As late as May, snow still caps the San Gabriels, even though temperatures on the desert floor below usually are in the 80s-90s this week. At 4,440-4,740 feet above sea level, the punchbowl is a comfortable 70-something during a spring hike.

To reach the punchbowl, get on Hwy. 138, also known as the famous Pearblossom Highway of David Hockney fame, from either I-15 to its south or the Antelope Valley Freeway from the north. Turn toward the San Gabriels onto County Road N6, which winds through desert and foothills into the park.

The Pinyon Trail, a short loop through an aromatic pinyon-juniper forest, sits next to the nature center and is worth the brief stroll. About midway through the trail is a gem of a vista, looking north into the park. Beyond the formation are sandstone arches, like those common in eastern Utah, but you have to bushwack to reach them.

Rare lizard
The must-do hike is the Loop Trail. Descending into the punchbowl, the badlands feel of the rock formations becomes even more evident. The trail consists of cliff edges and switchbacks that go down 300 feet to the punchbowl's bottom and then rise 300 feet again to the park's nature center.

Weathered granite blocks northeast of the punchbowl have been uplifted nearly 90 degrees thanks to tectonic activity. The Punchbowl Fault sits to the south of the punchbowl while the Pinyon and San Andreas faults are to the north.

A variety of ecosystems exist in the park, not to mention the punchbowl itself. The Loop Trail mainly runs through a pinyon and juniper forest, but at the wetter bottom willows and cottonwoods can be found. White firs line the San Gabriel Mountains in the distance.

If lucky, you might spot a California side-blotched lizard climbing up a yucca trunk along the Loop Trail. The desert collared lizard and alligator lizards are quite common. If hiking during the day, you probably won’t see any rattlesnakes until you get back to the nature center to view the caged ones.

Punchbowl Creek
Rocks are the real show here, though. The Loop Trail also runs through many sets of car-sized boulders that have rolled off the punchbowl's northern side. Granite rocks also rise out of the punchbowl. The entire formation was created during about 5-10 million years ago. Geologists estimate that more than a million years was needed to raise these rocks to their present position in the punchbowl.

As nearing the trail’s bottom you’ll begin to hear the gentle rush of Punchbowl Creek, fed by snow melt off the San Gabriels. To reach the creek, you have to hike about 20 feet down a steep embankment off the Loop Trail.

From the creek, it’s all back uphill. Along the way, you’ll get a good view of Punchbowl Creek spilling out of granite rocks into the canyon.

The punchbowl's features likely will become even more dramatic in centuries to come. Thanks to tectonic activity, the San Gabriel Mountains and the punchbowl's southern edge are continuing to rise while the creek continues to erode the sandstone on the canyon floor.

Read more about day hiking with children in my Hikes with Tykes guidebooks.

Neat rock formations, bubbling oil await Los Angeles-area hikers

Wiley Canyon Trail

Wiley Canyon Trail easily reached
via I-5 north of San Fernando Valley

Greenery amid the desert, unique rock formations and oil naturally seeping out of the ground await hikers on the Wiley Canyon Trail about a half-hour north of Los Angeles.

The trailhead to Wiley Canyon starts at about 1,400 feet above sea level in desert country. Thanks to the seasonal creek and climbing elevation, most of the canyon bottom is green in summer. It’s located in Ed Davis Park, which is nestled between the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys just off Interstate 5.

'Wiley Motorway'
The Wiley Canyon Trail actually is a section of the Towsley View Loop Trail, which zig-zags for 4.5 miles through the park. Canyon View Trail is a smaller, alternative path at the park’s northeast corner that links Wiley and Towsley canyons.

The trail cutting through Wiley Canyon is an old oil road; it’s even listed on some maps as the “Wiley Motorway.” Today, it’s just a walking trail, usually wide enough for two people navigate side by side.

Wiley Canyon is part of the Santa Susana Mountains and sits in a wide swath of land set aside for preservation by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. The canyon boasts mountain lions, black bear, bobcat, fox, mule deer and coyotes (though you’re unlikely to see more than birds and lizards during daylight). Grassland, sage, scrub, oak and walnut woodlands, and chaparral dominate the canyon and surrounding foothills.

A number of interesting geological formations exist in Wiley Canyon, which cuts through the Pico Anticline - an upside-down U fold in the rock layers in which the oldest rocks are at the center (or peak) of the formation. The seasonal creek’s water flow largely is responsible for cutting through and exposing the unique features of the Pico Anticline.

Geology and westerns
Wiley Canyon runs through the north flank of the Pico Anticline. The anticline is made up of thin beds of shale that have been turned up on their sides and in some cases twisted.

Wind and rain runoff combine to create small arches and wind caves in a sandstone wall alongside the trail. In addition, thanks to the geological formations and the erosion caused by Wiley Canyon's dry run, oil seeps run for several yards along the trail. The small of tar permeates the air around the pools.

About 5 million years ago, all of Wiley Canyon was under the Pacific Ocean. Plate tectonics during the past 2 million years shifted and folded most of sediment layers now exposed on the trails.

If Wiley Canyon looks familiar, you’ve probably seen something very similar in movies or television shows. A number of “movie ranches” where old spaghetti westerns were filmed are nearby – and they consist of virtually the same geological features and ecosystems. As hiking, see if you spot Black Bart behind the fourth boulder to the right of some peak.

See photo album of Wiley Canyon Trail.

Find out about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Take children on day hike of Andy Griffith's fishing hole

We’ve all seen the opening credits of “The Andy Griffith Show,” where Andy takes Opie to his favorite fishing hole – Myers Lake, located in Stokes County, N.C. The truth is Myers Lake really is Franklin Canyon Lake, located in Upper Franklin Canyon Park – located in no less than Beverly Hills (Beverly. Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movie stars ... But that's a different TV show).

To reach the park, you’ll wind along some narrow residential streets. Then from Mulholland Drive, take Franklin Canyon Drive. Inside the park, turn left into Sooky Goldman Nature Center and park vehicle in the gravel lot. Walk back down to Franklin Canyon Drive, heading past lake’s east side. You can get onto the footpath (officially named “Chernoff Trail”) that skirts the lake (officially named “Upper Franklin Reservoir”) by accessing one of the entry points. See pictures of the hike.

Franklin Canyon Lake has a surface area of about three acres and sits on nine acres of parkland, consisting mainly of evergreens and oaks. A number of television shows, movies and television commercials have been filmed here, though the “Andy Griffith” opening credits probably is the most famous (or at least memorable) of its uses over the years. Fans of “NCIS,” especially of the 2005-6 and 2008-9 seasons, may find many of the sights familiar, as a few episodes from that series were filmed here.

Upon accessing the trail on the park’s east side, you’ll pass a small wetlands area. Here, kids can play toss the stick into the lake a la Opie. They then can clamber over boulders at the spillway on the lake’s northern end.

Looping to the lake’s west side, you’ll hike to the trail’s highest point and to a paved pathway. This is the area where the “Andy Griffith” opening was filmed. There also are picnic tables here. Gazing across the serene lake, as red-tailed hawks fly overhead and gray squirrels scamper about the shoreline, it’s difficult to believe this is the geographic center of Los Angeles.

Continuing on, you can take a side trip on the short Woodoc Nature Trail around Heavenly Pond. Big-bellied frogs and ring-necked ducks abound. While the plants all are clearly native to Southern California, at a distance the landscape has a feel that doesn’t look all that different from most other American wooded rural areas ... so long as you frame the picture right lest a palm tree appear across the way.

Looping around the lake’s south side, you’ll cross over the dam to the eastern shore, where you head through a grove of sycamores, oaks and conifers, and then back to your starting point. Returning to your vehicle, stop at the nature center for its kid-friendly displays. Beware: There is a small gift shop at the center.

The trail is mostly hard packed dirt, with some muddy spots near water. Unfortunately for Andy, fishing actually is not allowed at the lake.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Explore classic box canyon, cultural heritage at Placerita Canyon

CanyonTrail

Botany Trail includes Native house;
Canyon Trail heads along creek

Los Angeles-area residents and visitors can combine two separate routes at the Placerita Canyon Natural Area for a pleasant day hike with children: The Botany and the Canyon trails.

Located close to but nicely tucked away from Calif. Hwy. 14 – the Antelope Valley Freeway – in Santa Clarita, Calif., the natural area sits about 1,550 feet above sea level on the San Gabriel Mountain's western side. Chaparral-covered hillsides, oak woodlands and lush creek beds cutting through vertical granite walls dominate. Parking is available in front of the nature center.

The natural area contains a number of micro ecosystems that range from desert scrub to woodland. The hills along the natural area's southern side rise to more than 3,000 feet above sea level. Beyond them is the Angeles National Forest and its peaks of 8,000-feet and then the sudden drop into the urban Los Angeles Basin.

Two connecting trails
Some 2 million years ago, these foothills lay under the ocean. The natural area sits on the Pacific Plate and has been pushed up by the collision with the North American plate.

A number of trails traverse the natural area with the Botany and the Canyon paths perhaps the easiest.

Start with the short Botany Trail, which begins behind the center and crisscrosses a dry run that flows into Placertia Creek. One of the sights on the trail is this mockup of a house used by natives of the area before Europeans arrived. A number of bridges on the Botany Trail allow hikers to easily traverse a creek that this time of year is a dry run.

The Canyon Trail is to the right of the nature center entrance, requiring a crossing of Placerita Creek into a narrow canyon. It follows the trail for about 2-1/2 miles, but depending on the age and energy level of your kids, you can turn back at anytime you like. My three-year-old was able to handle the Botany Trial and about a quarter mile of the Canyon Trail before we turned back.

Classic Western box canyon
The canyon was formed by the dual forces of uplift from the Pacific and North American plates colliding and from the creek eroding the ground downward. Placerita Creek has formed a classic Western box canyon. A granite wall along the Canyon Trail also shows the power of tectonic movement.

The Canyon Trail leads to the Placerita Creek waterfall at the edge of these foothills. For most of the trail, the creek is dry, especially during late summer through early winter.

Once back at the trailhead, plan a stop at the nature center, where kids can see a live gopher snake, a seashell fossil, and other neat items collected in the canyon.

The trails at the natural area are well maintained, and there's no need for bushwacking (in fact, it's discouraged).

Read more about day hiking with children in my guidebook Hikes with Tykes.

Reason to hike with kids No. 7: These places may not be there when our kids are grown

2009 Station Fire

Continued urbanization, overuse by an expanding population, and climate change all likely mean many wilderness spots will look quite different in a quarter century. Even though most of the places you’ll hike are protected, human activity certainly will change them.

That was never so clear to parent Mike C. of Los Angeles than after the 2009 Station Fire, which destroyed nearly half of the Angeles National Forest: “My son and I had spent the entire summer hiking its trails, from pine-covered mountaintops to desert canyons, from trails that overlook the entire L.A. sprawl to remote fire lookout towers.

"For some reason, I always thought the forest would remain like that forever. In a few short days, a fire swept over every trail we walked that summer, leaving it all a barren, ash-covered wasteland. It’ll take 60 years for the forest to look again like that summer we hiked it.”

Read more about day hiking with children in my guidebook Hikes with Tykes.