Backbone Trail

The Backbone Trail is a long distance trail which extends 67.79 miles across the Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles, California. The trail is available for visitors to hike, mountain bike or horseback riding.

The trail was established in the early 1980s by the National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation and private residents who wanted to connect with existing trail in the Santa Monica Mountain. The trails conditions range from flat, wide fire roads to single-track trails.

Many different varieties of flora and fauna can be found along the trail. Along the majority of the trail is covered with bushes and shrubs that are part of the coastal sage scrub and chaparral ecosystems. There are few trees along the trail, but those there do provide sufficient shade for hikers. Over 450 vertebrate species have been observed in the mountains; this includes over 380 bird species. There are many lizards, rattlesnakes and even mountain lions.

As the trail has been pieced together, several sections of the trail are known by different names, and not all sections are open to all users. Mountain bikers are unable to use all the fire roads, and are not permitted on the single-track trails. Equestrian users need to be aware of the width of the trails as they may be to narrow for the animals to pass through.