Having dispensed our duties to our mothers earlier in the day or week, Jason and I pondered our hike options for Mother's Day. He suggested Malibu Creek, which he had fond childhood memories of. The last time he'd taken me was well into the drought in California (and thus a little hot and underwhelming), but we've had a healthy smattering of rain in the past six months so we were optimistic.
Our optimism was rewarded. The creek was lively, if not at its full capacity. We were afforded an already lovely view just a few moments away from the trail head, with lots of children playing.
Besides the creek being healthily flush, the surrounding landscape was also pleasantly spotted with green. There were lots of people out to enjoy it.
The nearby mountains were interesting, too. I say mountains, but the one above at least just sort of looked like one big volcanic rock. Further along I think I have some closer photos of the rock formations that were all over the area.
The trail was MOSTLY level and delightful, but one section sort of in the middle featured a slightly significant incline. The photo does not capture it well, but I tried.
This was a trail we did not follow. We still had maybe 3/4 of the trail to get through, and weren't feeling up to adding another incline to the work we already had ahead of us.
At the far end of the reservoir was a concrete dam/bridge. There was plenty to have along the lines of lovely water views, and my first glimpse of fauna beyond your standard birds and bees.
The opposite side of the reservoir was almost plain-like. Lots of tramping through grass on a narrow trail.
My second interesting wildlife sighting of the day. I'll need to look up what kind of critter it will become.
We found a little hidden make-shift staircase behind a big rock. It didn't really go much of anywhere beyond a small ledge. I suppose one could have climbed higher if they were a bit more adventurous.
Finally hit the far end of the trail at the dam at the southern tip of the reservoir. We had hoped, as had a few groups before us, that the trail would complete a loop around the reservoir, but in the end we had to retrace our steps. On the upside, we caught another glimpse of this guy....
Below you can see the dam from two pictures ago from the other side!
We took a side trip from our prescribed trail to visit the famed Rock Pool (which I somehow failed to take a picture of--I was pretty pooped by that point). I did take a picture of the daring rock climbers along that part of the trail, though.
And the nice little spot where we rested for a bit.
All told, it ended up being about 5.18 miles as the husband's FitBit tracks. This hike was a bit more ambitious than we are used to, but hopefully we can get these kind in occasionally.
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