Solstice Canyon Hike

The Solstice Canyon hike is in the area of the Santa Monica mountains that stretches into Malibu. It was the first trail I hiked in that area and was one of my favorite hikes during my time in Southern California. Many of the trails I hiked in Malibu were only accessible via narrow, winding roads along enormous canyon walls and within extremely small towns. Can a place even be considered a town if it’s population only consist of 12 people? The answer is yes, and it’s located in a Malibu Canyon. Thankfully for this hike, the trail head was right off the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and actually provided two paved parking lots, but a late arrival will most likely lead to you driving a little farther up the mountain and parking on the side of the road.

There are a few different trails you can take depending on how long you want your hike

to be and what you want to see. The Solstice Canyon Trail is 3.2 miles out and back. It leads to the ruins of a burnt down house and a waterfall that’s really a trickling stream due to the drought. At the ‘waterfall’, you can choose to keep going and take a left onto the Deer Valley Loop Trail or you can take a right and go up the Rising Sun Trail. They both take you up the sides of mountains, but are on opposite sides of the canyon. If you are looking for a hike that’s over 6 miles long you should ignore the Solstice Canyon Trail and follow the steps to the right of the parking lot. They lead to the end of the Rising Sun Trail and can be followed until reaching the ‘waterfall’, where you can continue on to the Deer Valley Loop Trail.

My friend and I decided to hike the Solstice Canyon Trail and then continue on to the Rising Sun Trail. The first half of the walk to the ‘waterfall’ was nicely paved and flat, but it began to steepen when it turned to dirt about a half a mile in. There were a few unmarked junctions that caused people to double back whenever they went to the right instead of the left. We witnessed a few people do this because they were attracted to a small stream, but my friend and I were able to suppress our inner Odysseus and remain on route. Right before the ‘waterfall’ was a burnt down house called the Tropic Terrace. There were some remaining fireplaces and brick walls, which makes the site sound cool…but it had more of a creepy vibe to it. It could just be me, but I never really feel the urge to linger in a dead man’s fireplace. I went along with it nonetheless and after pretending like it was totally normal to be lurking among the ruins of a dead man’s house, we arrived at the ‘waterfall’, which was taken over by children climbing up the rocks trying to touch the stream.

We spent approximately two seconds at the falls and then went in search of the Rising Sun trail head. I’m not going to lie, it took a little bit of time to find it. It’s not marked and you have to go over a big pile of mud and through some trees to get to it. My friend had already started walking back to the parking lot by the time I finally found it and even then I had just made a lucky guess as to it’s location. The trail starts off steep and very narrow. A single file line is the only way to go up it. Whenever there was someone coming down the path, it got very tricky, but this was when the trail really started getting good.

The Solstice Canyon Trail was more of a nature walk, but the Rising Sun Trail was definitely a trek as we made our way up the side of the canyon. It remained steep for a mile or two, but the experience was worth it. There were beautiful wildflowers all along the side of the hill and there were little lizards that scurried along with us. It was all great company. As we got higher and higher up, the ocean came into view. It’s a beautiful thing when you can stand at a distance, overlooking a beautiful ocean on a clear day, and become unable to figure out where the ocean ends and the sky begins. That was what this trail gave me. See, this hike was not about how much elevation I could gain within a certain amount of miles or having that one beautiful view at the top. This was the type of trail that gave me the opportunity to appreciate the mountains around me and the sea that boarders them. It was definitely a journey and not a destination hike.

We made our way over one hill and then over another until the trail took us around a bend that showed off some large secluded mansions. One in particular stood out to me. It was all glass with a blue trim along it and was a very strange shape. I swear it looked like a spaceship ready to take off. Half of it was even hanging off the side of a cliff! I don’t know Malibu very well so maybe this is not out of the ordinary. For all I know there could be an entire hill filled with spaceship houses readying for takeoff buried somewhere deep within the Malibu hills. A few minutes after passing the mansions, I noticed that two hawks were circling us. Anyone who knows me would understand the fear that I felt when I noticed that the hawks were following us. For some reason, birds do not like me. I don’t know what I did to get on their bad side, but I have been attacked by so many birds in my life and am therefore now convinced that I am on the bird mafia hit list. So knowing this terrible track record, I think it’s understandable that after a half a mile of being followed by them, I broke out into a sprint.

It took some time, but I finally lost them when I came to a road crossing. There was a small sign that said ‘trail’ with an arrow on it so my friend and I made our way across the street and continued onto the dirt path. Very quickly this path took us to the parking lot. Right before we went down the stone stairs that would end our hike, a little boy climbed up them and greeted me. He was adorable and asked where the bathroom was. I talked with him until his parents came and then I helped him down the steps because his little legs were to small to handle them. We waved goodbye and my friend and I walked back to our car. It was an adorable end to a beautiful hike.

I ended up doing this hike twice while in California. The first time I hiked it was in the winter and the second time was in the spring. The difference between these two was startling. In New England it’s extremely obvious how different the seasons are. Everything is dead in the winter and bursting with life in the spring, but since California is warm year round, I expected it to constantly be teeming with life. It seemed that way in the winter, but it wasn’t until the spring hit that I saw what I had been missing. The second time I did this hike, there were so many more wildflowers in bloom and the insects and wildlife were abuzz all around us. It wasn’t in a bothersome way, but in a way that allowed me to really see nature come to life. Sometimes you think you know nature and what it’s about, but then you’re hit with this unexpected contrast of your original experience and it throws your sense of knowing out the door. I love that about it. It reminds me just how complex the world is and how much more I have to learn about it. I don’t think I’ll ever become an expert on the wilderness and that’s okay. You don’t have to conquer to explore.