Hiking

Leo Carrillo State Park offers a chance for hikers to explore the undeveloped mountains adjacent to the beach in Malibu. The Santa Monica Mountains are green and covered with wildflowers in the spring and if you find the right trail, you can avoid the feeling that you’re hiking in somebody else’s private neighborhood. The Nicholas Flat trail does just that. It climbs high above Pacific Coast Highway, affording great views of the coast, and explores a grassy  little valley with a small pond. When you return to the bottom of the hill, you can cross under the highway and spend some time at Leo Carrillo State Beach, a favorite location for many hikers, surfers and beach goers.

 When you arrive at the trailhead before 9 a.m., a blanket of coastal fog may still be hanging low upon the hills. Last minute restroom stops should take place inside the nearby campground. The Nicholas Flat Trail, as it is officially called, starts straight up the mountainside to the east of the campground. The trailhead may be lost under a sea of grass, so look for it carefully. Although it might be chilly in the morning, the moist air and the sweat you work up makes wearing a sweatshirt uncomfortable. Eventually you get to the top of a hill and meet the alternate trail coming up from the parking area. Congratulations, you’re one quarter of the way there. After climbing for an hour or more, the trail pulls out of the fog over 1000 feet above the surf, although you can still hear the waves pounding against the shore.

Low coastal fog usually burns off by mid-morning revealing the warm sun, dry air, and colorful hillsides. This transformation is intriguing, and by 11a.m., the muffled quiet grassy slopes open up into panoramic vistas with infinite blue skies. The top permits visitors to take in views from Santa Monica down the Malibu coast and across the ocean to Catalina Island. When hikers reach the summit, the bushes stand ten feet tall and form a tunnel around the trail. Beware of ticks. Remnants of a fire prove that this chaparral (type of vegetation) is highly flammable during the dry season. When you reach Nicholas Flat on the other side, these tunnels of high bushes open up onto meadows of lush grass and wildflowers. A perfect picnic spot can be selected somewhere under the oaks. A small pond can be discovered nearby. This is arguably the ultimate destination for springtime.

The early ranchos of historic California must have appeared like Nicholas Flat centuries ago. It seems a miracle that this remote pocket of the Santa Monica mountains went unmolested by housing developments. You’d really have to go many miles north to find another area where so much open land is adjacent to the beach. Furthermore, the Nicholas Flat Trail is relatively narrow and unused giving hikers the feel of privacy. The trail forks off in various directions and some people have no sense of place, so you’ll need to keep your group together. The Santa Monica Mountains are endless with a great many trailheads that all look very much the same. Don’t get lost!  

Hiking back down the hill is a breeze. What took three hours to climb takes one hour to hike down. The fact that there’s a beach waiting for you at the bottom of the hill is a considerable motivating factor. When you get back to the "alternate route" that forks to the left, take it! It makes the last mile more interesting than looking down onto the campground.