If you only take one hiking trip in 2012, make your destination Sandstone Peak, the highest summit in the Santa Monica Mountains. If you are a veteran hiker, Sandstone Peak is likely to rank among your favorite trips, and if you’ve never been on a hike, this is one that’s worth training for. more ›

Saturday's fatal bicycle accident in Malibu may spark concern about the effectiveness of bicycle helmets. Despite wearing a helmet, a man suffered head injuries after being thrown from his bicycle and died shortly after the incident. more ›

California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) is investigating the suspicious death of one of the last remaining male mountain lions in an important National Park Service (NPS) wildlife study. The 7-year-old animal, dubbed P-15, was discovered on September 11. Officials say he did not die of natural causes. more ›

Angelenos are infamous for their failure to come to a complete stop at stop signs, often practicing the lazy California roll. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority is well-aware of L.A.'s poor driving habits and has taken measures in three Santa Monica Mountains parks to put a stop to vehicles. more ›

If it isn't the most popular attraction at Disney California Adventure in Anaheim and EPCOT in Florida -- wow, those lines are intensely long -- "Soarin' over California" is most definitely one of the most exciting. For those who haven't had the chance to ride, it's a hang glider simulation in an IMAX theatre, complete with redwood forest smells and wind. more ›

Sheriff authorities and the coroner’s office have announced an emergency press conference this morning about Mitrice Richardson, the woman who has been missing for about a year after being released from the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station in Agoura Hills. Although there will be no on-the-record comment until the 9:30 a.m. event, remains found earlier this week in a steep canyon have been confirmed as Richardson's, according to various news sources. Park rangers found her while checking for marijuana plants in a former grow field. more ›

Authorities may be closer than ever to finding Mitrice's Richardson, the 25-year-old woman missing since the day she was released from custody close to a year ago. Richardson's father, Michael, said he was told there's been around 80 possible sightings of her in Las Vegas, according to the LA Times. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Departemnt would't confirm that number, but spokesperson Steve Whitmore told the LA Times that "they wouldn't be doing this if they didn't believe they had credible information of her whereabouts. They want to prove or disprove beyond a shadow of a doubt that these sightings are indeed fact or indeed not fact." more ›

Tucked in a more rural section of Mulholland Drive on the northern side of the Santa Monica Mountains is a fairly large property where people gather daily. Whether they're just getting off from a hike or bicycle ride or just wanted to get out of the city without traveling too far, the outdoor Malibu Family Wines tasting room is one relaxing spot, especially in the summer. more ›

Millions of people live around the Santa Monica Mountains yet few know the range and the surrounding beaches -- even as far as the Santa Monica Pier -- are included in a federal designated National Recreation Area that is administrated by the National Park Service. One of their more fun outreach tools has been Facebook, where Ranger Mike posts mystery photos from field and asks fans to identify them before he chimes in to confirm or correct guesses. For fun, below are a handful from the past year. more ›

A litter of three mountain lion kittens were born late last month and a new adult mountain lion living locally has been discovered, the National Park Service has announced. Since 2002, biologists having been tracking and studying the movements of mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains to better understand how they live surrounded by development. more ›

The Los Angeles Fire Department began receiving 911 calls from all over the city early this morning. In Universal City, a fire station said they could see a blaze to the west. A caller driving on the 101 Freeway reported a fire on the Santa Monica Mountains. From the air, a LAPD helicopter called it in. more ›

Take a hike with Tony Valois in the Santa Monica Mountains and you're likely to see things much differently than the average hiker. For Valois, a volunteer with the National Park Service, the mountains are a living, breathing and ever-changing landscape of beauty, wonder and excitement. What's this flower? He has the answer. How about this grass? Yeah, he knows it. What can be said about this tree? Nothing gets beyond him and if he doesn't know, he'll be quick to figure it out. more ›

Tonight through Sunday are a few events to take you far enough away from the city to make you feel like you're on a trip without the Coachella traffic experience. more ›

Now here's a reason for L.A. politicians to finally pay attention to the unfinished Core Trail plan, which would giver hikers and equestrians the right-of-way along Mulholland Drive through the city (are you listening Sierra Club member Paul Koretz?). A report released today by the National Parks Conservation Association says visitors drawn to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area--it spans 153,000 acres from Runyon Canyon to the Santa Monica Pier and Point Mugu--spent more than $17 million in 2008. more ›

Definitely one of our favorite afternoon get-aways of last year, King Gillette Ranch is a fun and historic piece of land that's fun to explore. Next Saturday, weather permitting, enjoy "Walking on the Razor's Edge," a tour of a unique location that brings together the seemingly disparate worlds of a razor mogul, a famous movie director, and one of the largest Chumash Villages. Learn about the home, the garden, and the landscape in the Santa Monica Mountains on this 1.5 hour excursion. Put on shoes and clothes appropriate to the weather and for some moderate hiking, leave your dog at home (sorry!) and don't forget to bring $7 for the parking fee. more ›

The largest urban national park is partly within Los Angeles, yet so many don't know it. Perhaps one of the reasons can be blamed on where the National Park Service set up its visitor center and headquarters 11 years ago this week: in Thousand Oaks. Take a look at the over 153,000 acres that make up the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, which basically spans the range from Runyon Canyon in Hollywood to the beaches of Malibu, and you'll see that the suburban Conejo Valley floor is not ideal. more ›

Raise your hand if you had no idea that there over 40 vineyards nearby, mostly found in Malibu and the Santa Monica Mountains. When we talk sustainability and eating locally sourced food, Los Angeles is king, thanks to a plethora of farmers markets, when it comes to urban centers with such offerings. We should start adding local wine to our bragging rights. more ›

Tucked at the southern end of the Franklin Canyon on a dead-end road is Franklin Ranch, home to picnicking area, a small bench area for outdoor classes and a nice 2.3-mile loop trail known as the Hastain Trail. more ›

We're big fans of looking at nature photos taken in and around Los Angeles. We've seen bobcats, mountain lions, waterfalls, scenic views through the lenses of photographers who really haven't traveled that far, sometimes only minutes from Hollywood. It's just some of the best delicious eye candy of Southern California in our opinion. more ›

Joshua Tree, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley. These National Parks have captured the hearts of Californians and millions of others. Channel Islands, Mojave, Pinnacles, Cabrillo. They're lesser known in Southern and Central California, but sometimes just as beautiful, if not equally. And closer to home here in Los Angeles and heading west into Ventura County are a collection of National Park units hardly spoken about by the millions who live here (and will not be talked about in Ken Burns' 12-hour epic documentary, which debuted last night on PBS). more ›

About 30 people gathered yesterday to assist the National Park Service and other regional parks agencies in developing a new interagency headquarters, centrally located in the Santa Monica Mountains at King Gillette Ranch, just outside of Calabasas. more ›

In 2016, the National Park System will enter its second century. With that, come a new set of problems--population, development, global warming--that did not exist when the series of public lands were dedicated nearly 100 years ago. more ›

In 2007, a collaboration of parks agencies--local to federal--purchased King Gillette Ranch (if you're thinking shaving razors, you're on the right track) with plans to open an interagency visitor center for for the Santa Monica Mountains. Currently, the National Park Service, which manages the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, has a visitor center and headquarters in Thousand Oaks, far off the beaten path for many in the immediate Los Angeles region. King Gillette Ranch sits in the heart of the mountain rage, off Las Virgenes Road between Calabasas and Malibu, which is much closer to trails and nature than the suburban mall and sprawl setting of Thousand Oaks. more ›

In less than a months time, rangers with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area area have captured and placed a GPS collar on a second mountain lion. Found Saturday morning in a trap set by National Park Service scientists around Malibu Springs, the approximately 2-year-old lion became the 14th to wear a tracking collar around its neck. At the end of July, a female with a similar age was found and collared. P14 and P13, respectively, have blood samples being analyzed by researchers at UCLA to determine connections, if any, to other lions studied in mountains. more ›

It's no Mount Whitney, but hiking to the top of Sandstone Peak is truly satisfying. Your journey to the top, elevation 3,111 feet, has sights and sounds different than the Santa Monica Mountains we know closer to Los Angeles. Forget the city noise below Runyon Canyon or the families splashing about at Malibu Creek--the trails of Circle X Ranch on the western part of the range are mostly quiet with lone birds heard echoing through the canyons and the sights of sheer cliffs dropping off into deep canyons is exhilarating. more ›

Well, she may not be the newest or youngest in our local mountains, but she is the most recent cougar to be trapped, tagged and released by the National Park Service, who has been conducting a study with them over the past seven years. P-13 (they are named in the order they are caught) was captured on July 31st in the Hidden Valley region, which is the northwest sector of the mountains south of Newbury Park. She is now the third active GPS collar being tracked. more ›

When a bald eagles disappear from the Channel Islands allowing room for Golden Eagles, who eat really cute little foxes, to take over, everyone freaks out (got 20 mins? Watch this amazing short documentary). When a pretty flowering Spanish Broom begins to grow, not many take notice despite it being one of the top invasive and harmful-to-the-ecosystem plants found in the Santa Monica Mountains. Now, that might start to change. more ›

If you didn't know, Los Angeles is placed within quite a rare landscape, biologically speaking that is. There are only six Mediterranean Biomes in the world making up 2% of the world's land area and Southern California's coast and surrounding mountains are part of that. This is one of the reasons why congress in 1978 decided bring in the Santa Monica Mountains and the five northern Channel Islands into the Department of the Interior under the National Park Service. They were named the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Channel Islands National Park. more ›

Since 2002, the National Park Service has been tracking Mountain Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains, studying their movements, pinpointing their ranges and observing how human development impacts their population. Twelve have been tracked in that time with some remarkable finds. more ›