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Hiking in Escondido Canyon Park

Looking for a great place to hike in LA? Look no further than Escondido Canyon Park in Malibu (it even has a waterfall!)

A few Saturdays ago, my girlfriend and I were invited to a party in Orange County. She thought that it was Earth Day (which it wasn’t), so she had conceived a plan to get outdoors, go hiking, and appreciate Mother Earth for a day instead of getting swallowed into a party where we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the nature of our planet. It’s funny because for the past 40 years Earth has had a day to itself when we human beings take notice of the wonderful things that occupy our world and landscape, and try the best we can to preserve it. Meanwhile, the planet has been here for 4.5 billion years and it must be laughing at us humans for thinking that it needs a day gifted by us, a species with a mere 200,000-year history – a blink of an eye in Earth’s timeline.

It might not have actually been Earth day, but we were still in the mood for a good hike. We don’t generally do stuff like this much because we live in the urban infrastructure that is downtown LA. You don’t see much foliage or natural landscape on Main Street or Figueroa. But surprisingly, Los Angeles is really centrally located when it comes to quick, natural escapes. We had many options on where we could hike and I opted for something new and different. She chose something that is close to the ocean and features a waterfall. A freaking waterfall at the end of the journey sounded fantastic to me. We jumped in our car and headed west only to be met by Los Angeles traffic most of the way there. This didn’t dampen our spirits though. We marched on and timed it very nicely so that while driving north on PCH in Malibu, we could really take in the sights and sounds of the coastline on this nice, spring weekend day.

We drove north on PCH for about 10 or so miles and past well-known places like the Getty Villa and Pepperdine University. Eventually, this led us to East Winding Way, directly off of PCH. Using great directions and a trail map that we gathered from the lamountains.com, we parked our car and walked up a paved, winding residential street that reached the beginning of the park trail that was to lead us into Escondido Canyon Park. Many large and expensive homes are in this area and it almost looks like every house is a mansion. We knew we were in the right area when we were greeted by equestrian riders drinking beers and riding large brown horses that didn’t seem that happy to be carrying these spoiled human beings. We let the riders trek in front of us and we were led in their direction with a breadcrumb trail of hoof prints.

The trail started from the street and dipped down onto a dirt path that led into what looked like a forest-covered canyon. Cameras were drawn and we began taking snapshots (FYI: after viewing the movie ONE HOUR PHOTO the night prior, I learned that the term “snapshot” comes from quick single shots that hunters use to shoot animals). My girlfriend was quite photogenic. The trails started to splinter off into different directions but we assured ourselves that they all lead to the same place, so we chose carefully as to which one seemed the safest. Safety plays a big part in this journey as anyone can easily twist their ankle walking up and down these trails mixed with rocks, dirt and debris. A large stream ran parallel to us the whole time, which led us to believe that we were getting closer to a waterfall, the source of all this water.

And finally (the total hike is about 4.2 miles), we reached the waterfall! And who was there waiting for us? The equestrians with their less-than-amused horses. Covered in trees, foliage and sage, this area is really a sight to see. Many other climbers and hikers were there trying to climb the steep grades using careful maneuvers and climbing skills. We tried to go up the higher mountain trail but stopped when we realized that if we went any further we were risking being stuck out in the middle of nowhere past sun down. Instead of going further, we made the decision to come back again another day when we could get an earlier start. Next time we are going to bring a pack full of food and gear and make a whole earthy day out of it. Hopefully, those horse riders won’t be around and maybe we’ll go on actual Earth Day.