Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

For more than ten thousand years, the Chumash and Tongva people lived in the region that would become Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Located just outside Los Angeles, the area covers more than 153,000 acres of mountains, canyons, chaparral, and ocean surf, including 46 miles of California coastline. The area also features stunning mountains, with volcanic Sandstone Peak as its highest point, at 3,111 feet above sea level. The famous Backbone Trail offers a 67-mile hike along the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains. Part of a Mediterranean ecosystem found in only five locations worldwide, the area is home to 450 vertebrate species and 380 species of bird. Santa Monica Mountains’ natural beauty has made it a popular location for filming movies and TV. Twenty thousand acres in the recreation area burned in the Woolsey Fire, in 2018, including a significant portion of Paramount Ranch.