Since I love to take pictures I have been creating photo guides for some of the more amazing hikes in California. Check out the ones I did on Mt Whitney, Half Dome and Telescope Peak if interested. This one is for the Mishe Mokwa trail in Malibu as the trail itself is very unlike others in SoCal and it has a lot of great attractions that you can see along the way. We took the trailhead straight to Sandstone Peak then winded down the 5 miles back to the car on the Mishe Mokwa trail. Here are my favorite parts of the trail.
Trailhead
This is the parking lot for the trailhead and where the trail actually starts if you are heading up to the peak first. It provides some nice views of the surrounding mountains and a bathroom.
Switchbacks
Since you climb 1000 feet in 1.5 miles this trail just starts to immediately go up. As it goes up though, the views get better and the peak itself gets closer. I actually enjoyed this area as it was challenging but overwhelmingly beautiful.
Sandstone Peak
Approach
After 1.5 tough miles you will top out at the tallest point in the Santa Monica Mountains, Sandstone Peak at 3,100 feet. The approach has a series of steps that take you up to the small scramble that will get you on the summit of the peak.
Views
It provides a lot of beautiful views in all directions, unfortunately when we were there the ocean had a marine layer so you could not see very far out.
Register and Plaque
There is also a plaque dedicated to Herbet Allen. Mr Allen was very influential with the Boy Scouts and gave the area and Circle X Ranch to them so that is why his plaque is there.
Boney Peak
While there is not a good trail to get to this peak we saw it from both the front and the back side. Here is as close as we could easily get.
Here is the peak from Inspiration Point.
Inspiration Point
This stop is another beautiful place to take in the views. The views here are almost as good as from the top of Sandstone Peak itself.
Views
Plaque
It has a plaque that shows you all the islands and mountains you can see from up here, unfortunately on the day we were there it was mostly marine layer over the ocean so we could not see the islands that it mentions.
Exchange Peak
This peak, right above the water towers, is one of the bigger in the area. We didn’t climb this one either but it seemed like a cool peak to explore more of.
Water Towers
Honestly, I am not sure what these are doing up here but they are on the map so I figured I would take a picture of them.
The Plateau
This area is the start of the decent back down to the trailhead. It is about 4 miles away so plan accordingly. There is lots of beauty in this area though with plants and foliage and big rock mountains with caves.
Split Rock
After walking about 2 miles you will reach Split Rock. Split rock is exactly what you would expect, a massive rock about 15 feet high with two big splits in it. It has some nice picnic benches and lots of shade though to relax in
Balancing Rock
This rock literally balances above the floor below. There is a path to it right before Split Rock, but we did not get closer then this on the path as we had time constraints.
It looks like something that would fall in a second if pushed but it is massive and has been there for a long time so that is not the case. For the next mile you will be getting closer to this, albeit on the other side of the canyon, but it will give you a lot of great views like the below pictures.
Make sure to watch out for poison oak as you walk up the balancing rock trail in this area as we saw a lot.
After that you simply walk back down to where you parked. If you are hungry, consider a lunch at Neptunes Net. Right when you hit Pacific Coast Highway it will be on the left. Feel free to leave me a comment below.
About JoshMc
