My Quest for 1000 Hikes: Day 42: Malibu Creek State Park

Day# 42: Malibu Creek State Park
Cistern Trail/Lookout Trail/Yearling Trail/Deerleg Trail/Crag Road/Forest Trail
Malibu Creek State Park - Calabasas, CA
Thursday, August 6th 2015
Time: 3 hours, 35 minutes
Pace: 49:34/mile
Distance: 4.35 miles
Elevation Gain: 533 Feet
Dogs Allowed?: No

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills:
Exit Kanan Rd and head south for 0.4 miles to Cornell Way
Turn Left onto Cornell Way and drive 2.3 miles to Mulholland Hwy
Turn Left onto Mulholland Hwy and continue 1.4 miles to a dirt turnout on the right side. Trail starts from the turnout. Be sure you are all the way off the road.

Looking into the canyon from the top

Today I headed out on a loop of Malibu Creek State Park to grab a bunch of geocaches I was missing. I started on the Cistern Trail that begins on Mulholland Hwy to avoid having to pay the parking fee when you park inside the actual park. I headed down the trail and made a right on the Lookout Trail, this takes you into a grassy meadow area where you connect to the Yearling Trail. I then connected onto the Deer Leg trail that takes you into a nice oak forest area. After finding the final cache on this trail, I headed back to the Yearling trail and took it down into the canyon.

Along the Deer Leg Trail

At the bottom, I headed left on Crag Road to connect to the Forest Trail. Crag is the main trail through the park and is the jumping off point for several good hikes in this area. I took the forest trail to the very end where it dead ends into the Century Dam. There where several people enjoying the day swimming in the lake here. I really enjoyed this trail as it is true to its name and takes you through a redwood forest, not something you would normally do in Southern California.

Heading into the forest

Redwood Tree

More redwoods

Trail runs right along Century Lake

Shaded trail with views of the lake, what more can you ask for?

The forest trail is a dead end, so from here I retraced my steps to Crag Road and headed back toward the car. I took the Lookout Trail back to the Cistern trail and finally back to Mulholland to my car. Nice little loop and no parking fees!