There’s no better way to prep for a long trip than a short shake down trip. My good friend Dixie and I did the eastern section of the Backbone trail in the Santa Monica Mountains over 3 days.

Here are some pictures and notes from our trip!

Backbone Trail Day 1

Doug gives us a ride to the Latigo trail head, the road is super windy and I get really car sick.

Once we arrive, I take a beat to lie down in the parking lot. Dixie gives me some ginger candies and I start to feel much better. 

Doug is the best. The last time I was here he was rescuing me when Covid shut everything down. I was attempting to thru hike this trail in 2020, but that’s a different story for another time. It feels nice to be back here.

We say goodbye and head out down the trail.

There are so many flowers! It’s stunning.

We cross a small stream several times before breaking for lunch near some rock formations. We even find some fossilized sea shells! It’s fun imagining this patch of stone under water at one point in time.

As we descend towards Malibu Creak Canyon the marine layer spills over the edge of the backbone. It’s breathtaking.

There are so many interesting plants from all the rain! Dixie and I try to take pictures of each one to identify later. We keep spotting pairs of quail hanging out in the middle of the trail. Their little head bobble feathers are so entertaining to watch as they hurry out of the way haha

We come to a larger stream crossing and bust out the sandals. The water feels so nice!

We’re so close to camp, we hike the rest of the way in our sandals and my feet get filthy haha. We find our reserved site at the Malibu Creak State Park and set up our tents. A very kind neighbor, maybe 6 years of age asks if we would like to borrow some of his fire wood. So cute haha

His mom explains that it’s his first time camping, how fun! Thank you for the fire wood friend! I don’t think we’ll be able to give it back though…. Haha

All my gear is working great, though I might swap my plastic spoon back to my metal one (it doesn’t melt like the plastic one does haha)

This concludes day one on the backbone trail!