A Few More Along the BBT

Inspired by Saturday’s hike in Topanga State Park, I decided to return to the Backbone Trail for a few more finds.  After I took care of some business in West Los Angeles, I drove up PCH to Topanga Canyon and parked at the parking area listed in Free TSP.  It was the first time on this spur trail that connects with the BBT.

I accidentally walked by Free TSP, figured I’d grab it on the way out. and continued on to Marvelous Manzanita.  The manzanita was looking good today.  I really enjoyed its shiny, smooth red bark.   It was then on to Low Bone.  With that in the Found column, I have all the BBT caches in the immediate area.

The photo above is of a shrub oak.  I’ve never seen this stage of the plant.  I thought it looked pretty cool.

The area is extremely dry, but there are still some ferns doing OK in the shadows.

Saturday, I noticed that a lot of poison oak is either in the “Fall” stage or just plain dead.  I saw the same thing today.

After picking up Free TSP, I returned to the truck and drove to the trail head near Gateway to Topanga Ridge Motorway GC3BQPF at the intersection of Stunt Rd/Saddle Peak Rd/Schueren Road.

The original plan was to do the 3 BBT caches that I needed along the Fossil Ridge Trail, then cross the road and get 4 more along the BBT that are west of the trail head.  As you can see from the photo, it was very clear today and a lot warmer (read HOT) that I had figured for a trail so close to the ocean.  What looks like a dark cloud on the horizon is Santa Catalina Island.

If you want to hike the BBT east from this trail head, walk along the Topanga Ridge Motorway until you see this sign.  From the parking area, it looks like the trail heads steeply up the ridge.  That’s the way I went in, but then spotted the correct trail once I got to it.

The first stop was “Hid It By Some Fossil Shells”.  The cache is hidden close to these very nice fossils.  Each shell is about the size of my open hand.  It was then on to The Backbone Triangle and Tiny Treetop Temptress, both nicely done caches.  I then returned to the trail head.  Because of the heat, I decided to skip the BBT caches on the Saddle Peak section of the trail.  Instead, I hiked up the Topanga Ridge Trail for a few caches.

There was a lot of poison oak on the shady side of the road that looks more like what I would expect for this time of the year.  Just hoping that I stayed far enough away from it.

Here are the two tracks for today’s hiking.  I got 5 BBT caches and 4 others.  I was a nice morning of hiking, in spite of the heat.