By: Toni Momberger for Community Forward Redlands News
Trail Snapshot 🥾
- Point Dume Cove Trail, Malibu
- 1.4 mile loop, 347 feet of gain
- Dogs allowed: no
- Parking fee: yes
- Paired with Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. in Westlake Village
- Travel read: Natchez Burning trilogy by Greg Iles
This was the kick-off hike for this project.
Doug and I went to the Point Dume Cove Trail in Point Dume State Beach. This meant at least two and a half hours of driving each direction for a 1.4-mile bluff hike, but it was worth it.
We went in April, and the hottest point of the day was in the low 60s.
We parked in the lot on the beach and ascended to the bluff on a nicely maintained trail amid yellow flowers and succulents.
There were lots of people on the trails but it didn't feel crowded or otherwise un-great.
On the top of the bluff we were hundreds of feet up looking down on the ocean. I am terrified of heights, so when I've previously been almost 400 feet in the air, I've been flat on the ground with my eyelids all squished tight, but the panoramic views of the ocean on this bluff were awe inspiring. I kept on my feet and kept my eyes open.
In fact I was searching like crazy for gray whales, which are supposed to be visible there from February through April. I did not see any, but there were dolphins and sea lions playing in the waves. We just stood there for a while, not just out in the world after the pandemic shutdown and then, for me, years of working remotely, but feeling like we were on top of that world, breathing it, smelling it, listening to it.
I said, "No one will believe I went up so high. Let's get a picture," which would become part of our hiking ritual, a selfie on the overlook.
You cannot at all tell that we are up high, which gives me the freedom to exaggerate how high up and brave I was, which I am certainly doing.
There is a whole series of short loop trails, so we meandered through a few to lengthen the walk. Calling most of it a hike is plain silly. Many stretches were just a leisurely walk. We held hands and chatted about random things, or just enjoyed the sounds of the ocean and gulls.
Back at the bottom, before we went to the car, we took off our shoes and explored the tide pools until we got hungry. We didn't know then that the ritual of these hikes would include hitting a local brew pub for lunch, but one of us said the words "nachos and beer" out loud and the next thing we knew we were at Figueroa Mountain, which we knew about because our daughter lived in Westlake Village for a year after college.
We know this place to be great, so let me say first that I recommend it and have gone back, but this particular day our service was awful. We were neglected badly, when we finally got beer it was the wrong beer and our food order was messed up. Our server had some kind of stress going on in his head and we both relate to that.
I only mention this because we got in the car to go home and still we said at the same time, "This was the best day ever."
Doug started the car, I opened the book I was reading out loud to us (Mississippi Blood, a legal thriller set in the south -- we couldn’t put it down) and we headed home looking forward to the next hike day and the rest of them.
Next time: Torrey Pines in La Jolla
