Charmlee Wilderness Park Hike and Picnic

Charmlee Wilderness Park covers 532 acres of the best of the Santa Monica Mountains Coastal Slope environment. Beautiful grassy meadows, coastal scrub, and live oak are all highlights in this park, which also has some historic ranch ruins and a great little nature center on coastal California wildlife. On a clear day, this hike has spectacular vistas of the Channel Islands, Catalina, and much of the Malibu coast. During the spring, wildflowers abound in the wide open meadowland.

There is about 8 miles of criss-crossing trails ranging from easy to moderate. We'll do some meandering and try to cover most if not all of them. See Park Brochure (https://files.meetup.com/454296/charmlee.pdf)

Since there are no restaurants conveniently close by, lets have a picnic. Park has facilities and picnic tables and we can leave our food/drink in cars until we get back from hike. Bring a dish, etc to share.

Directions:

From the 101, take the exit for CA-23 / Westlake Blvd. Continue south on 23 for 8.2 miles, then bear left onto Encinal Canyon Road. Continue on this road for 1.2 miles, and the park’s entrance will be on your right.

From the 10 and CA-1 in Santa Monica, travel north on the PCH for 24.2 miles, passing Zuma and Robert Meyer Beaches. Turn right onto Encinal Canyon Road. The entrance to the park will be 3.8 miles down the road, on your left.

There is a $5.00 day use fee. Bring exact change and some additional in case of price increase