101 Hikes in Southern California. Jerry Schad

      HIKE 3

      La Jolla Valley Loop

      Location: Point Mugu State Park

      Highlights: Spectacular ocean views and rare native vegetation

      Distance: 11 miles (loop)

      Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 1,950'/1,950'

      Hiking Time: 6 hours

      Optional Maps: Trails Illustrated Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, Point Mugu State Park map, or USGS 7.5-minute Point Mugu

      Best Times: 8 a.m.–sunset, October–June

      Agency: PMSP

      Difficulty: Moderately strenuous

      Trail Use: Suitable for backpacking

      Permit: Required for overnight use

      Lazily curving up the rumpled slopes of the western Santa Monica Mountains, the Ray Miller Trail takes in sweeping views of the Point Mugu coastline and the distant Channel Islands. This is the westernmost link in the nearly completed Backbone Trail, which skims along the crest of the Santa Monicas for some 65 miles. The Ray Miller Trail offers a well-graded and scenic approach to the rounded ridge that divides the two largest canyons in Point Mugu State Park: La Jolla and Big Sycamore. The trail was named after California’s first official State Park Campground Host, who served here from 1979 until his death in 1989.

      The Ray Miller Trail is just the start of the big loop we’re suggesting here: a comprehensive trek through the western quadrant of Point Mugu State Park. If this is too big a chunk to bite off for a single day, there are shortcuts, as our map suggests. You could also extend your trip by staying overnight at La Jolla Valley Walk-In Camp. For that, you must register with a park ranger across the highway at Thornhill Broome Beach Campground.

      The May 2013 Springs Fire, driven by unseasonably high temperatures, strong winds, and dry conditions, swept from Thousand Oaks to the Pacific and damaged the state park. Check if the park is open before paying a visit, and stay on trail to protect regenerating vegetation.

      To Reach the Trailhead: Point Mugu State Park lies some 32 miles west of Santa Monica via Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1). Immediately west of the Thornhill Broome Beach Campground, turn north onto a poorly marked road, and follow it to the end for the Ray Miller Trailhead parking. If you haven’t registered for overnight camping, pay your day-use fee at the parking area.

      Description: Two trails diverge from the parking lot. The wide one going up along the dry canyon bottom ahead is the La Jolla Canyon Trail, your return route. To begin, take the narrower Ray Miller Trail to your right. It doggedly climbs 2.7 miles to a junction with the Overlook Trail, a wide fire road. This is the major ascent along the loop—better to get it over with at the beginning. Ever-widening views of the ocean and fine, springtime wildflower displays keep your mind off the effort.

      Turn left when you reach the Overlook Trail, and wend your way around several bumps on the undulating ridge. Enjoy the terrific views of Boney Mountain’s eroded volcanic core to the east and La Jolla Valley’s grassy fields to the west. You arrive at a saddle (4.5 miles from the start), where five wide trails diverge. Take the trail to the left (west) that descends into the green-or flaxen-colored (depending on the season) La Jolla Valley.

      The valley is managed by the state park as a natural preserve to protect the native bunchgrasses that flourish there. Because so much of California’s coast ranges have been biologically disturbed by grazing for more than a century, opportunistic, nonnative grasses have taken over just about everywhere. The authentic California tallgrass prairie in parts of La Jolla Valley is a notable exception.

      The La Jolla Valley Walk-In Camp ahead has an outhouse and oak-shaded picnic tables. Bring your own water if you plan to camp; the faucets are not operational at the time of this writing. Just south of there, beside a trail leading directly back to the Ray Miller Trailhead, you’ll find a tule-fringed pond, seasonally dry in some years. Look for chocolate lilies on the slopes around it.

      From the camp, continue west in the direction of a military radar installation on Laguna Peak. Stay right where marked trails diverge to the left, circling the perimeter of the La Jolla Valley grassland and rising sharply on the Chumash Trail to a saddle (7 miles) on the northwest shoulder of the Mugu Peak ridge. At that saddle you’ll have a great view of the Pacific Ocean. The popping noises you may hear below are from a military shooting range, near the Pacific Coast Highway. Up the coast is the Point Mugu Naval Air Station.

      Beyond the saddle, the Chumash Trail descends sharply to the Pacific Coast Highway. You veer left on the Mugu Peak Trail, and contour south and east around the south flank of Mugu Peak. (Alternatively, a use trail on the left just before the saddle shortcuts directly to the peak.) You arrive (8 miles) at another saddle just east of Mugu’s 1,266-foot summit. Five minutes of climbing on a steep path puts you on top, where there’s a dizzying view of the east-west-oriented coastline. You can look down upon The Great Sand Dune (coastal dunes) and the Pacific Coast Highway where it squeezes past some coastal bluffs. On warm days there’s a desertlike feel to this rocky and sparsely vegetated mountain, oddly juxtaposed with the sights and sounds of the surf below.

      Return to the saddle east of the peak, and continue descending to a junction in a wooded recess of La Jolla Canyon. Turn right, proceed east along a hillside, and then hook up with the La Jolla Canyon Trail, where you turn right.