View West Toward Boney Mountain from the Phantom Trail

Following last weekend's Holcomb Valley 33 and yesterday's trail work, today I was looking to do something moderate. Without thinking too much about the condition of the Phantom Trail when I was on it a month ago, I decided to do the Phantom loop in Malibu Creek State Park. The eight mile loop is normally a favorite recovery run. The 1000' of elevation gain/loss is kind to tired legs, and the loop has varied terrain and great scenery.

The first five miles (Cistern, Lookout, Cage Creek, Crags Rd., Grassland and Liberty Canyon trails) are in decent shape, but portions of the Phantom Trail are really overgrown. The growth of the noxious invasive plant milk thistle in the Liberty Canyon area is the worst I've seen in years. At one point near Liberty Canyon the spiraling winds of a strong thermal picked up a countless number of the thistle's plumed seeds and carried them to who-knows-where!

The middle section of the Phantom Trail climbs up a shaded side canyon to a prominent ridge line. It isn't as overgrown. There is some very healthy poison oak that is sometimes difficult to avoid, but it's a pretty section of trail with a lot of green and a variety of wildflowers.

Once up on the ridge and for about the last 1.5 miles of the loop, the issue isn't with an noxious invasive, but with the native plant deerweed. It's so thick and brushy it's often difficult to see the trail -- or your footfalls, or ruts or rocks, or anything else on the trail.

While I wouldn't recommend this loop right now as a trail run, it was interesting to see (once again) how our wet rainy season has affected this area.

Some related posts: Invasive Thistle on the Phantom Trail, Milk Thistle Seed Heads

Goat Buttes and Century Lake from the Lookout Trail.

From Sunday's run in Malibu Creek State Park.

Some related posts: Century Lake, Dam and Gorge on Malibu Creek, Malibu Creek State Park Shadow & Sun, Century Lake Morning

Benefiting from the cool ocean air that flows into Malibu Canyon, the afternoon shadows of Goat Buttes, their north-facing aspect, and the sustaining waters of Malibu Creek and Century Lake, the 100 year old coast redwoods in Malibu Creek State Park appear to be thriving.

Coast redwoods are not endemic to Southern California. According to Los Padres Forestwatch, the southernmost stand of naturally-occurring coast redwoods is on the coast about 200 miles north of Malibu Creek State Park in an area of Los Padres National Forest designated the Southern Redwood Botanical Area.

Numerous redwoods have been planted in Southern California, and not all of them are doing well. A reprint of the 2004 article "What's up with the redwoods?" by James Downer, available as a resource link on the Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute website, discusses a dramatic decline in coast redwoods planted in Ventura County and describes some of the problems facing this wonderful tree.

Perhaps the Malibu Creek State Park redwoods have a better chance of surviving, and naturally-occurring or not, will be enjoyed by Park visitors for centuries to come.

From this morning's trail run in Malibu Creek State Park.

Weather models were forecasting anywhere from 3.5 to 5.5 inches of rain at Van Nuys for the storm coming in tonight, so this afternoon seemed like a good time to get in a run.

I hadn't run the Bulldog loop since the Bulldog 50K last August, and needed to catch up on trail conditions, what was blooming, and re-familiarize myself with the difficulties of the Bulldog Climb.

The short version is that the trail along Malibu Creek near the M*A*S*H site wasn't flooded, but would be in the next 24 hours. Tree poppy, nightshade, hummingbird sage, woolly blue curls, ceanothus and paintbrush were blooming. And the Bulldog Climb was still hard.

It looked and felt like the day before a big storm. Temps were cool, and there was a thick deck of high clouds. Along the crest between the Castro "T" and the Malibu Bowl landslide the wind was blowing in strong gusts from the ESE, and it looked like the clouds might lower, thicken, and unleash a torrent at any time.

Near the end of the run, descending to Tapia Park, I was surprised to see my shadow and some blue sky. That didn't last for long. By 7:00 the first drops of what would be a record-setting storm started to dot the driveway.

The title photo is a view east along Castro Crest and Mesa Peak Mtwy, and the route of the Bulldog Loop. Saddle Peak is in the distance. Here are a few additional photos. Click for a larger image and description:

Mesa Peak Mtwy Woolly Bluecurls Brents Mountain

Some related posts: Bulldog 50K 2010 Notes, Malibu Creek State Park Scenic Loop, Bulldog Loop and the Corral Fire

Which to do? Both courses start at the intersection of Malibu Canyon Rd. and Piuma Rd., are 13-14 miles in length, and have about 2600-2700' of elevation gain/loss -- but they are very different trail runs.

Much of the Bulldog Loop is on fire roads, while the Saddle Peak Out & Back is 99.9% single track -- much of it rough and technical. A comparison of the elevation profiles shows that the main climb on the Saddle Peak run is steeper than the Bulldog climb, and gains an additional 300 ft. in elevation. The Bulldog Loop has longer stretches of more or less level running.

Either course is a good choice for a strenuous run with great views and scenery. On a long run day, the runs can also be combined to create a difficult 27.5 mile course with your car as the main aid station. The Bulldog 50K used to follow much of this combined course, as well as loop through upper Solstice Canyon on the Backbone Trail. Problems with a property owner on Castro Peak necessitated a change to the current 50K course.

Today I opted for the Saddle Peak Out & Back run. The title photograph is Saddle Peak from the Backbone Trail. The trail switchbacks up the steep sunlit face on the center-left of the photo.

Here are interactive Google Earth browser views of the Saddle Peak Out & Back, and the Bulldog Loop.

According to the Malibu Creek Docents, Century Dam was built more than a century ago (~1903) to create a lake that could be used for trout fishing and duck hunting by the members of the exclusive Crags Country Club.

This late afternoon photograph of Century Lake, Dam and Gorge is from today's run on the Cistern, Lookout and Crags Road trails to the M*A*S*H. site, and start of the Bulldog climb.

Some related posts: Century Lake Morning; Backbone, Bulldog & Beyond

Did a variation of the "Phantom" loop in Malibu Creek State Park this morning. The basic loop links together the Grassland, Liberty Canyon, Phantom, Cistern, Lookout, Yearling, Deer Leg, and Cage Creek Trails, as well as Crags Rd.

The peak in the haze on the left of the photograph in the distance is Saddle Peak. The peak on the right is Brent's Mountain.

Goat Buttes and the Bulldog Climb from Near the Start

The week following the Mt. Disappointment 50K, with the Edison and Kenyon Devore climbs still etched in my mind, I noticed that the Bulldog 50K hadn't filled yet. Hmmm... Could I do it? The little hill on my Wednesday afternoon run hadn't felt bad. Thursday I had done a little longer run, with a little longer hill. It was no Bulldog climb, but it felt OK. I decided that if the 50K didn't fill by Friday, and the weather forecast for the race wasn't crazy hot, I'd give the Bulldog 50K a go.

While running the Phantom Trail a couple weeks ago, it occurred to me that the Grassland, Talepop, Liberty Canyon and Phantom Trails could be combined with the Bulldog Loop to create a challenging -- and very scenic -- twenty-something mile trail run.

Just how much longer than twenty depends on which trails you use to connect the Phantom Trail to Crags Rd. I opted to use the Cistern, Lookout, Yearling, and Deer Leg Trails. This variation works out to a little more than 24 miles. Tack on an out and back to the Mesa Peak overlook and you have a marathon length scenic tour of Malibu Creek State Park!

Here's a Google Earth browser view of a GPS trace of my route.

The title photo is a view west from the Cistern Trail to the former site of the Reagan Ranch.

Note: Check for ticks when running here -- particularly in the Winter & Spring!

Related post: Malibu Creek State Park Shadow & Sun