Modern Hiker

A short hike to one of Southern California’s classic hiking destinations. An easy route that can extend as far as you want, with great opportunities for climbing and a wonderful place to refresh your bouldering skills.

As an after-effect of having a bit too much sake last night, my 8AM alarm turned into an actual wake-up time of 10AM. With clouds rolling in and some rain predicted for later in the day, I abandoned my San Gabriels target and instead drove out to the Santa Monica Mountains for a hike a bunch of my friends had done and raved about, but somehow I’d missed until now - The Grotto.

The drive up the coast to the Santa Monica Mountains is one of my favorites. The skies were clear, the surf in the Pacific was choppy, and a steady breeze filled the air with that great salt scent. When I got to the Circle X Ranch, I couldn’t resist grabbing a shot of Exchange and Boney Peaks with the ranch’s flagpole:

From the parking lot on Yerba Buena Road, I could see clear down to the narrowing canyon walls of my destination. I’m so used to heading up when I get to a trailhead that it was more than a bit odd to start off on a descent, but you get used to it. It just means the tougher part of the hike comes at the end.

The Circle X Ranch used to be a Boy Scout Camp, and still sees a lot of action from the pint-sized outdoorsmen. Early on in the trail, I passed a reservation-only Group Campground, notable both for its close proximity to the main road and for having two of the nicest-looking outhouses I’ve seen at any park so far.

Shortly after the group camp, you’re finally off the dirt roads and onto the actual trail - a very well-maintained footpath that starts off through some low brush and chaparral. There’s a bit of shade, but the sun breaks through most of the cover.

Spring was starting to strike the trail, and it was full of beautiful green grasses and all kinds of plant life in bloom. If you can ever catch this part of the Santa Monica Mountains just after it rains, not only will you likely see a great collection of flowers, but you’ll also get the full range of chaparral scents. Something about a fresh rain really gets that sage scent into the air. For me, I was happy with just the scenery.

After a few minutes of painless descent through the brush, I crossed a small, stagnant stream and soon found the trail sweeping up alongside a hillside meadow of the Classic California variety. There are few things as peaceful as watching a grassy meadow swaying in the breeze, then looking up to see coastal mountains and a choppy ocean …

… but for me, turning around and looking back at the Circle X Ranch, surrounded by Boney Mountain and Sandstone Peak, was pretty close. I do love that mountain.

Passing only a single, very winded couple on the way down, I made my way through a few more small meadows and dry creek beds to Happy Hollow, a small streamside clearing completely covered by old, twisted sycamores. These are the kind of trees that have seen a few things in their day … the kind that - in the right light - could very easily become the stuff of an overactive imagination’s nightmares.

But for now, they were just some nice old trees.

Just past the hollow, the streambed fills up with jagged boulders, which grow larger and more angled as you hop across them. It’s still very much Beginners’ Territory, though. I mean, if Boy Scouts can scramble their way over this stuff, you probably can, too.

The actual Grotto itself is a large flat rock in the middle of this formation, just before a short cliff drop-off. There are plenty of cracks and corners to climb around, and if you can get beneath the main slab, you’ll get yourself into a beautiful little cave, with a small waterfall and pool. I apologize for the bad focus on these pics … just assume that everything is a bit sharper than it looks here.

There are also plenty of little skylights, so the cave itself isn’t that dark.

I climbed back out just in time for two large, very loud families to arrive. I took off my shoes and lay out on a sun-soaked rock while they let their kids explore the cave. One of the dads was particularly loud - almost everything he said was a full-on shout. Bad wilderness ethic lesson for the kids. I was going to take off down to the bottom of the Grotto, but they beat me to the trail … and as I didn’t want to put up with hearing shouting for the rest of the day, I let them go on while I sat and read a book I’d packed along.

I could still hear them when they were well out of sight. Man that family was loud.

I was going to wait for the other family to move along, but a few of their members couldn’t make it up the steep trail that bypasses the rocks and leads to the bottom of the Grotto boulder pile.

So instead, I waited for them to leave and sped up the trail myself. If you’re looking down toward the bottom of the Grotto, it’s a thin pathway on the western canyon wall. It looks pretty steep from the Grotto rocks, but if you get your hands dirty it’s really not that tough at all.

At the bottom of the Grotto, the rocks get a bit less interesting, but continue on forever. From there on out, it’s basically a stream bed stuffed chock full of boulders. I hadn’t been scrambling in a while, and enjoyed climbing along and dodging the little patches of poison oak along the way. I climbed up to another flat, sunny boulder, ate a little lunch and read some more, then turned back out — uphill almost the entire way back.

The Basics:

- Distance: A bit under 3 miles to the Grotto and back, although you could easily keep scrambling as far down the streambed as you’d like.
- Elevation Gain: About 600 feet, almost all on the way out.
- Time: About an hour in-and-out, but again - you’ll want to spend more time exploring.
- Trail Condition: Excellent. Very easy to find and easy to follow. After you get to the Grotto, it’s all boulder scrambling and hopping - no established trail.

- Map It

The Notables:

- A Classic Hike, enjoyed by many generations of local Boy Scouts.
- A generally easy trail to a beautiful destination.
- Lots of opportunities to dust off your rock scrambling skills.

More Pictures:

- On Flickr, as usual.