#Backbone trail hike manual#

pack on during a 17 mile hike at elevation, and I thought that was a GREAT day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m big on challenges and pushing my body to see what it can do. Unless you’re a pro trail runner or a masochist (quietly raises hand), I would seriously suggest doing this as a 4 or even a 5 day thru-hike. Don’t try to hike the whole thing in a 3 day weekend.

#Backbone trail hike manual#

So, I felt it only fitting to write a how-to manual in reverse for what not to do on The Backbone Trail!ġ. Even with a TON of planning and back ups in case of things going wrong, the trek decided to take a left turn in a hilarious assortment of unexpected ways, leaving me to bail on night two and return to complete the last 24 miles of trail the following weekend. Oh, and the gods decided to grace me with a massive rainstorm in the middle of day two that left me sliding down the side of a mountain in the pitched black, hiking through multi-million dollar Malibu estates, and finally befriending a valet at a 4 star restaurant who let me charge my phone and call a ride home. For those of you who aren’t LA local, that’s 70 miles of peaks and valleys, traversing along the Santa Monica Mountains, just spitting distance from Los Angeles! It promised to be relatively waterless, 40 degrees at night, difficult to navigate, and illegal to camp on (technically).

In one of my grandest schemes to date, I decided to push several self-limits at once and hike the entirety of Malibu’s recently completed Backbone Trail System in only 3 days.