| Statistics: |
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| Difficulty: 2
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Route Finding: 1.5
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| Distance One Way
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0.65
miles |
| Trailhead Elev
981 feet |
Elev Gain 359 feet |
| Avg Time One Way
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20 minutes |
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| Waypoints: |
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| Trailhead |
N 34° 09.255 W 118° 51.457
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Los Robles Trail South Ridgeline
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N 34° 09.407 W 118° 51.783
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Trailhead/End of trail
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N 34° 09.407 W 118° 51.783
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Topographic Route Map |
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Elevation Profile |
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By Scott Legal
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As of March, 2010, this trail does not appear on the official COSCA trail map. I stumbled onto it a few months ago, but didn’t hike it of map it because it appeared to go straight down to a gated community with no outlet – unless you want to walk through the gated community.
Then geocaches were hidden on this trail. What’s more, the trail suddenly has a name and a familiar one at that. Well, the name was given by Steve Clark, the owner of the geocaches on the trail. But the name is good enough for me, so I’ll go with it.
Between the time I first observed the trail and March 14, 2010, the day I mapped the trail, the trail has deteriorated. Much of that is weather related. The rest is significant vegetation growth. The question is will the trail be brought back to life? The problem as I see it is that it still has a trailhead at a gated community. I for one do not feel that I am welcome in that community. So I chose to hike the trail from above, starting my hike this time on the Brookview Trail. The round trip is only 4 miles, so we’re not talking about a big hike.
When I first observe this trail it looked like a trail that we well used. Granted it was early in the rainy and the vegetation growth was minimal. By March 14, 2010 the trail was getting pretty over grown in spots. It appeared to me that I was the first person on this trail in about a month. Near the bottom, the trail was suffering from some pretty severe erosion. There was a three foot deep erosion ditch near the bottom. There used to be a fire road that went straight down the canyon from a trailhead almost directly across from the top of the White Horse Trail to Los Robles South Ridgeline Short Cut. When that trail stopped being maintained it only took one or two rainy seasons for the trail to be swallowed by vegetation. The point is that the vegetation grows quickly in this protected canyon, so a lack of use will surely shorten the life of this trail.
That’s the bad. The good is that the trail is actually nice. There are lots of little folds in the topography of this canyon and the trail weaves in and out of these folds. Until the trail flattens out at the bottom of the canyon the trail is quite pretty. Unfortunately, the bottom of the trail shows what money can buy. The canyon was pretty before the million dollar plus homes were built. I’m sure the owners think their homes are an improvement, but I don’t share their view. Each and every canyon in Westlake has now fallen to development, leaving nothing for nature. So my recommendation for this trail is that as soon as the trail flattens out, just turn around and head back up the hill. Why ruin a nice little hike by walking up to the homes that ruined the bottom of the canyon?
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The top of the trail as views from above. |
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Wildflowers along the trail. |
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Vegetation is swallowing the trail. |
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Rock formation near the bottom of the trail. |
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