There will be signs, you can’t miss it.ĥ Day Itinerary: For the glampers like us! If you want to spend 5 days on the trail, but don’t want to pay to stay at Great Spirit Ranch, you can switch out Great Spirit Ranch for Circle X Group Camp. Make sure you take Dead Horse Trail to Musch Trail, not Eagles Springs Fire Road. The National Parks Service pamphlet shows the Musch Trail Camp on trail. The National Geographic map for the Santa Monica Mountains shows the official trail bypassing the Musch Trail Camp.
#BACKBONE TRAIL SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS PLUS#
Great Spirits Ranch (Private Property): Off trail, bathrooms, hot showers, water, Yurt, Tipi, coffee, bonfire, $200 per night plus $50 cleaning fee.This is also a drive up campsite so you could coordinate a friend to bring resupplies. The website states there is a minimum of 10 people required although I’m not sure how they would enforce that. Circle X Ranch Group Camp: Off trail, bathrooms, water, picnic tables, $35 per night.He told us we’d have to pay $250, no exceptions, and recommeded the La Jolla Valley Backcountry Camp. All he did was forward an email I’m guessing his boss sent him when he got his current position. We reached out to and explained our situation hoping he would accommodate two thru hikers. Danielson Ranch Group Camp: On trail, bathrooms, water, picnic tables, $100 reservation fee plus $150 per night, employee residence within site.This campsite is only 4 miles from the start of the trail and 4 miles from Danielson Ranch. I’m guessing you can leave it as long as you pay for the camp site. No information was listed on how long you can leave your car there. Vehicle fees at the trailhead are $3 per hour and $8 per day. La Jolla Valley Backcountry Camp: On trail, no amenities, requires a walk-up permit ($10/ per person per night) at Ray Miller Trailhead.They will definitely work with you to help with the logistics of your thru hike. If you are interested in keeping your pack weight down, hot showers, wine, and lets face it, a little bit of glamping in the middle of your trip, then contact Debbie at Great Spirits Ranch. The ranch offered a hot shower, a pot of amazing corn chowder, and coffee. We even left a resupply drop at the ranch with the rest of our food and other essentials like a bottle of wine and my foam roller to help our sore legs. It also gave us peace of mind knowing that our car was safe.
We were able to leave our car at the ranch, which made it easy and inexpensive to Uber to and from the start and finish. This ranch turned out to be a hidden gem and really improved our experience on the BBT. Luckily, we found a private ranch just one mile off trail up Mulholland that Airbnbs a Yurt and a Tipi in the Santa Monica Mountains. We wanted to take it a bit easier and not do more than 20 miles a day. If you feel comfortable with a 30 mile day in the middle of your trip, more power to you. There is a 30 mile section between Circle X Group Camp and the Malibu Creek Campgrounds. And, it is illegal to camp outside of designated camp sites. While we were researching this trail, we were told that it is impossible to backpack the entire trail in one go because the campsites are spread too far apart. Note that every day will either have one large climb or will have rolling hills for a total of 13,000FT of elevation gain. You could even backpack the trail over 2 weekends. The trail can be completed in sections since the trail crosses so many roads. And the furthest point is only an hour from LA, which means you can spend less time traveling and more time hiking. The last section of trail was connected in 2016. The Santa Monica Backbone Trail is a newly connected point to point thru hike. Point Mugu State Park to Will Rogers State Park (67 miles, 13,000FT elevation gain, 4-5 day backpacking trip)
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