Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Santa Monica Mountains
Hidden in plain sight just outside of Los Angeles, California, the Santa Monica Mountains offer easy access to surprisingly wild places. Experience the famous beaches of Malibu or explore more than 500 miles of trails. The park abounds with historical and cultural sites.

Discover Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area

Just outside Los Angeles, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area offers a rare blend of rugged wilderness and coastal beauty. Stretching from the Pacific Ocean to rolling inland hills, this vast park features scenic hiking trails, historic ranches, and diverse ecosystems teeming with wildlife. Visitors can explore canyons, waterfalls, and oak woodlands, or relax on beaches with breathtaking ocean views. Whether hiking to panoramic summits, spotting wildflowers in spring, or exploring Native American history, the Santa Monica Mountains provide an escape into nature without leaving Southern California.

Explore 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.

Explore Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
Visit Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
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Over $162 million

Since our founding in 1938, WNP has provided more than $162 million in aid to our partner parks to fund educational programs, initiatives, and scientific research.

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