Backbone Trail to Echo Cliffs

We headed up to Ventura County yesterday to scope out Echo Cliffs. Partner-in-Climb (PIC) wanted to see how Big Old Dog would handle the trail before committing to a full day of climbing, and frankly, I am not quite ready to shove my nail-less toe back into climbing shoes just yet. (Yes, I know, that is not very hard-core outdoor-sy of me, but whatever. Unless I’m in some kind of competition, I don’t engage in personal discomfort unless it is an absolute emergency. :P)

But I was really up for a hike, and we had the perfect day for it. We parked at the Mishe Mokwa trail head parking lot and headed up the connector trail, then down into the canyon. The view from the trail is amazing. There were a couple of climbing parties set up on along the large wall, and another party on Balance Rock. I found this close up of Balance Rock online:

You can see it above Echo Cliffs in the first picture, but this close up gives a better idea of the kind of precarious perch the rock balances on.

PIC has climbed at Echo Cliffs before, but usually turned down a side trail to head straight to the climbing spots. We attempted to take the side trail, but Big Old Dog was struggling to keep his footing, so we returned to the main trail and followed it down to Split Rock. The main trail is incredibly accessible and easy to hike. There were a few trail runners, and we encountered several groups of older hikers who were doing fine with just a little help from trekking poles. After some scrambling on Split Rock and a quick snack, we headed back to the car. Big Old Dog seemed to make it back with no problems and was moving around pretty well today, so I think we’ll be heading back to Echo Cliffs in the very near future.

I also found a couple of cool sites while I was looking for info on Echo Cliffs and the Mishe Mokwa Trail, which I will be adding to my blogroll, but you can check them out here in the meantime:

• Rockgrrl.com
• GetBeta.com
• The (Single) GeekHiker

Related posts:

1. Get Your Hike On - California Coastal Trail
2. Santa Monica Hiking - Gardenland Trail
3. Lost in Santa Barbara
4. Kitesurfing 101
5. Rock Climbing at Stoney Point

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