Customer Reviews

The 100 Mile Route hiking the Length of the Santa Monica Mountains

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The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area is one of the largest urban parklands in the country. Day hiking, camping, horseback riding and spending time on the beach are some of the more popular activities in this area. Backpacking should also be a popular pursuit, but conflicting regulations and a lack of trail camps on the well known Backbone Trail (BBT) have severely limited the sport. This is unfortunate because these mountains are ideal for off season treks when the High Sierra is still snowbound. Hal Margolis, author of a previous guidebook to the 60+ mile BBT, has attempted to rectify the situation with his new book 'The 100 Mile Route.' Covering the Santa Monica Mountains from one end to the other, he has pieced together a challenging trail option for backpackers.

This book has a lot to recommend it. Among other things, it is ring bound, making it easy to add and remove pages. This is helpful for section hikers and can reduce weight for distance backpackers. Margolis has also divided the route into logical sections and listed all feasible re-supply points, campgrounds (or other overnight accomodations), and water locations. The route descriptions themselves are solid, but some of the maps difficult to read. Readers should supplement the maps in the book with the Tom Harrison maps to the Santa Monica Mountains.

The route Margolis describes has a number of advantages over the BBT. For one thing, hikers will summit many more peaks on the 100 mile route. In addition to that, Margolis has worked hard to insure that the grade of his route is gentler than portions of the BBT. Nonetheless, the BBT and the 100 mile route share the same tread for a large part of the hike.

In the final analysis, this is a decent trail. I would avoid it during the summer. Water sources will also be hard to come by in fall of dry years. Winter and spring would be the best times to hike. The other major "problem" with the route is that some parts, notably sections A and B, are perhaps too urban. And, of course, the many government agencies and their conflicting regulations will be daunting to some hikers. In addition, you will want to make reservations in advance for lodging at Calamigos Ranch and perhaps at several of the state park campgrounds as well. On the other hand, public transportation options, which Margolis describes in each chapter, makes section hiking parts of the route an easy option. So, if you are looking to experience some of southern California's native Mediterranean climate up close and personal, the 100 mile route and this guide to it is a nice place to start.