Afoot & Afield: Los Angeles County

Franklin Canyon

• Distance 1.8 miles (loop)
• Hiking Time 1 hour
• Elevation Gain 400'
• Difficulty Easy
• Trail Use Dogs allowed, good for kids
• Best Times Year-round
• Agencies Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority, National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy
• Optional Map Trails Illustrated Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (253)

DIRECTIONS From the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, go north on Beverly Drive. After 0.7 mile be careful to fork left on the less-traveled north end of Beverly Drive at the intersection where the main road, Coldwater Canon Drive, goes straight. After another 0.8 mile, bear right on narrow Franklin Canyon Drive. Go 1.2 miles farther to Lake Drive. Turn right and backtrack 0.3 mile south to a small parking area with a kiosk and gated dirt road. If you reach a larger parking area with restrooms by a field and ranch house, you’ve gone 0.3 mile too far.

From the north via the 101 Freeway, it’s easier to take Exit 15 for Coldwater Canyon Avenue heading south. In 2.5 miles cross Mulholland Drive, and veer right onto narrow Franklin Canyon Drive. Continue 1.3 miles through the park, passing the lake and nature center; then veer left onto Lake Drive. Go 0.3 mile to the small parking area.

The Franklin Canyon Ranch park site, a part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, belongs to a complex of open-space units straddling the Santa Monica Mountains crest. The other units include Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir, Coldwater Canyon Park, Wilacre Park, and Fryman Canyon Natural Area. The Franklin Ranch itself was owned by the family of pioneering Angeleno Edward Doheny, who discovered oil in Los Angeles in 1892. The 400-acre ranch property was acquired as parkland in 1981.

From the kiosk at the parking area, walk up the gated fire road, which is unsigned but known as the Hastian Trail. Go 0.9 mile along chaparral-covered slopes to a hairpin turn (980 feet elevation) with a panoramic view of the city. Looking over green-mantled Beverly Hills estates and the office towers and condominiums of the Wilshire Corridor, you can sometimes see a blue horizon beyond.

From the hairpin turn, the fire road continues climbing toward Coldwater Canyon Drive. You veer right on the narrow switchback trail, descending a steep half mile to the green lawn and Doheny ranch house below. Somehow the old Doheny spread has managed to retain its rustic, rural charm.

From the ranch house, you can walk back to your car along the pavement or on either of two poorly marked trails that parallel Lake Drive. The trail on the right passes under a shady canopy of live oaks, while the trail on the left meanders among scattered oaks and sycamores down along Franklin Canyon’s usually dry streambed.

The park is laced with a ghostly web of other, nearly abandoned trails; poorly signed, many of them dead-end at private property at the park’s boundary. Adventurous locals can spend some time exploring them. Families will prefer walking around placid Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir; visiting Heavenly Pond, a tiny duck pond adjoining the reservoir to the west; and/or checking out the exhibits at the nearby Sooky Goldman Nature Center.