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Available Reviews
Malibu Creek State Park Topanga State Park |
Date of Review
04/10. 04/09 & 02/02. |
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| Malibu Creek State Park |
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04/10/2024 |
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I hiked from the Lower Parking Lot down the trail marked “To All Backcountry Trails”. This took me down Crags Road. Immediately on the right was a hillside completely covered in blooming chia, globe gilia, fern leaf phacelia, miniature sun cups, dove lupine and wild morning glory. These flowers are all small and low, it would be easy to walk by them. But if you look down and pay attention you will find a wonderland of flowers.
On the left is Malibu Creek, the waterway, and oak trees dripping their yellow catkins. I continued down the road seeing California poppies and the occasional bush poppy. I crossed the creek on the pedestrian bridge and turned left on the far bank onto Mott Rd. Just a little way on I turned right onto the marked Chaparral Trail that winds up and around the hill until returning to Mott Rd. a little further on. On the Chaparral Trail I saw purple nightshade, wild cucumber, prickly phlox, flowering ash trees, virgin’s bower and lemonadeberry. There were several varieties of ceanothus and a hillside covered in owl’s clover. It was the best part of the hike. The trail returned me to Mott Rd. and I walked back to the bridge and retraced my steps. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Topanga State Park |
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04/09/2024 |
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In Topanga State Park right now, many of the trails have large patches of deep mud. One of the few that is easily passable is The Dead Horse trail. It connects the Dead Horse parking lot off Entrada Road with the Trippet Ranch area. I took the trail from the Trippet parking lot, walking mostly downhill and then returned. One could also start in the Dead Horse parking lot and thus save the downhill for the return.
From the Trippet parking lot walk on the paved road/trail by the pond. Just past the pond turn left onto the Dead Horse Trail. For the first bit you will have woods on your left and meadow on your right. The oak trees are covered in dangling yellow catkins, these are their flowers. There are a lot of lovely spring flowers in bloom: big clumps of blue eyed grass, buttercups, hummingbird sage, miner’s lettuce, dove lupine, Pacific sanicle and blue dicks. Soon you enter chaparral where there is blooming black sage, sticky monkey flower, wild cucumber, deerweed, popcorn flower, chamise and California everlasting. Some of the most spectacular sights are the large clumps of blooming Eastwood manzanita, large shrubs covered in tiny, white, bell-shaped flowers. The day that I hiked, these shrubs were alive with bees and great quantities of painted lady butterflies. For the length of the trail the ecosystems will alternate between woodland and chaparral. In the woodland areas there is purple nightshade, canyon sunflower, fiesta flower, elderberry, fuchsia flowering gooseberry and a lot of greenbark ceanothus. This is a very nice walk for viewing flowers. — Dorothy Steinicke 
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| Topanga State Park |
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02/02/2024 |
There had been a big rain and then a beautifully clear day. I thought I would take the opportunity to hike the Musch Loop. The pond that is at the beginning of the trail is full of water and a group of mallards have taken up residence there. Leaving the pavement and walking on the dirt trail I came to realize that the recent rains had made the trail muddy, quite muddy in some places. But I persisted and was rewarded by the sight of many big pod ceanothus bushes that are coming into bloom. More are still in bud, but many are in full bloom and are really lovely. The wild cucumber is also getting started, shooting up vines that climb sturdier vegetation and opening clusters of white flowers. The hummingbird sage are just getting started. I saw a few other flowers in bloom but really, the big pod ceanothus own the trail.
— Dorothy Steinicke
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Contact Information:
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Santa Monica Mountains NRA 401 West Hillcrest Drive Thousand Oaks, CA 91360 805-370-2301 www.nps.gov/samo |
If you would like to contribute a wildflower report you can e-mail the editor at: SMMWildFlowers@gmail.com |
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What's Blooming
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click on
Plan Your Visit > Things to Do > Look for Wildflowers > What's Blooming newsletter
