Elsmere canyon hike

The Missus and I went for a hike today in the new open space preserve near our happy little town (which I hear is now the third largest in Los Angeles county!).  The day was sunny and 70F and very windy.  Unfortunately we didn't bring a camera so no pictures this time.  We joined the Elsmere canyon loop trail about half way through and went clockwise on it, hoping to in fact loop all the way around back to where we started.  Unfortunately for us because the trail is relatively new the signage was pretty sparse and when we got to a decision point of which way to go, the trail was not marked and we ended up reversing course to go back the way we came.  The trail is a mix of broken up pavement, dirt path, sand path, rocky path, steep narrow path....This isn't a trail for the old and infirm for sure!   Along the section we walked are rusting artifacts of the oil fields that used to be active in the area along with the solidified mounds of crude oil that leaked from pipes and turned to rock hard tar boulders. 

The hike was nice but strenuous and it would have been good to actually make the complete circuit of the loop trail.   Subsequently we determined where we went wrong and are ready to try it again on our next long weekend.  Our mileage was a bit over 4 miles for the walk.

http://hikesantaclarita.com/where-to-go/elsmere-canyon/