Eagle Rock Trail – Topanga State Park

Long Video

Short Video

Map

Trail Description
DISTANCE 4.5 miles
ELEVATION GAIN 900 feet.
PARKING $10 in the lot. Free in the dirt.
SPF 50 spf 50% of the time.
CHANCE OF INJURY Stuck in cave - 50%. Maimed by earth mover - 15%.
WEIRD SMELLS Cannabis Sativa.
TIME 3 hours.
FEATURES Picnic areas, Cadillac restroom facilities, caves, wheelbarrows."
ANIMALS Deer and sabertooth tigers.
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS Lady Gaga (not nude).
DOG SHIT Zero.
ANYTHING ELSE? Views and Alan Sherman's grave bench.
Directions
Driving Directions
Get to the 101, get on the 101, and get to The Valley. When you begin to smell a gigantic mall complex, turn left (South) on Topanga Canyon Blvd. You're going to go over a large mountain and a few miles down the other side look for the Entrada Rd and Topanga State Park signs. If you drive into the ocean, you've gone too far. Turn left and Entrada winds through some upscale hippie neighborhood. Stay on Entrada until… you see the Topanga State Park sign, and turn left there. You'll see some cars parked on the berm before the park to save $10. It's not Fryman Canyon, so it's pretty safe to do that if you don't mind the extra walking.
Hiking Directions
We're going up the Musch trail from the parking lot. It starts near the bathroom. If you're a crazy map person who just has to look at a map, you will have to start walking up the fire road for 50 yards to see the first good map. You wanna do that? Go ahead. Now come back. Happy? So now we are walking up the paved Musch trail and you may think this is the stupid way because, you know, asphalt, but quickly to the right, the Musch trail becomes cool. You'll walk through meadows and the Musch campsite, and up a gluteus maximus working hillside until you reach the fireroad at the top of the ridge. Don't listen to your crybaby butt, continue uphill on the fireroad and a couple hundred yards later - Eagle Rock! Climb around up there and look for caves. There are some cool ones. Now head down the fire road. There are a couple of smaller trails that split off of the fireroad so if you're ever in doubt, turn right. Remember that map you just "had to see?" Well you'll see it again at the bottom of the fireroad. There you go.
The Story
Before the white man destroyed all of the Native American's cool magic, Indians would regularly fly on the backs of eagles. Eagle Rock was like LaGuardia for the Pomo people. Catching connecting eagles to Phoenix, commuter hawks to San Diego, taking a falcon out for some sight-seeing. Chief Red Bull even sponsored some aerobatic Condor racing. Well whitey showed up with electricity and airplanes and Doritos and that was the end of flying on hawks. Thanks again, whitey.