This 3.8 mile loop trail takes you down into the ruins of Murphy Ranch – a small parcel of land with an almost legendary history. This hike takes you from a popular fire road hike in view of the Pacific Ocean and peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains down long and winding sets of staircases to land that has been the home of Nazi sympathizers, an unusually uptight artists’ colony, and the Boy Scouts. This hike can be easy to moderate, depending on the season and your level of adventure.
Note: Some of the buildings at Murphy Ranch have been demolished. Others are slated for near-future demolition and rangers may be patrolling handing out citations for those who trespass inside the buildings. Read more about the threats to this incredible unique hiking destination’s future here.
One of the things I love most about Los Angeles is that, no matter how much time I spend here or how often I go exploring, there’s always still something unbelievable left to see.
Case in point: Murphy Ranch.
This secluded 55 acre stretch of Rustic Canyon in the Santa Monica Mountains has a storied (and admittedly historically hazy) past. This old article from the LA Times does a good job of piecing together the facts that could be verified – in 1933 a Jesse Murphy purchased the land and began to develop it. The property eventually had 3000 fruit and nut trees, a complicated irrigation and water storage system, a functioning power house, machine room, and bomb shelter. Plans were underway to further develop the land, adding a four-story mansion and several libraries. Oh, and it was also completely surrounded by barbed wire fences and supposedly patrolled by members of the Silver Shirts – a pro-Hitler American fascist organization.
Much of the legend around Murphy Ranch is based in oral history, but supposedly Ms. Murphy was a pseudonym – or someone who never even existed. The Ranch was under the control of a mysterious man known only as “Herr Schmidt,” who claimed a psychic vision told him America would lose World War II and that once the dust settled over the ruins of Los Angeles he and his band of sympathizers would emerge from Rustic Canyon to help usher in the new fascist state in America.
Well, those plans went sour after Pearl Harbor, when FBI agents swept in and arrested most of the Ranch’s residents. The land was sold to the Hartford Artists’ Colony in 1948 and then to the City of Los Angeles in 1973 – and now it sits wedged between Will Rogers and Topanga Canyon State Parks.
Much of the ranch has succumbed to age or brush fires, but several structures still remain, and the trail is a great place for hikers interested in history, architecture or just plain WTF stuff.
The trail starts off in the fancy-pantsed neighborhood in the hills above Brentwood. Park to the east of Capri Drive on Casale Road, then hike west on the road. At a sharp corner, the road turns into the Sullivan Fire Road just near a more recently-abandoned building.
At the 0.4 mile mark, you’ll pass a large yellow gate that blocks the road to traffic, although I think anyone who goes to Camp Josepho gets the code because we saw more than a few cars make it past the gate.
Soon, you’ll notice the fairly nondescript mountain road become framed in on the canyon side with a tall barbed wire fence. This is a little unusual, but so was the activity going on down on the canyon floor during its heyday.
And then, get ready to go down.
When you do finally reach the bottom of the staircase, stay to your left and continue descending on the ranch road. If you stay to your right, you’ll pass a few ruined structures and some old ranch equipment, but the really interesting stuff is further down inside the canyon.
At the 1.3 mile mark, stay left at the fork in the road. Veering right will take you to the ruins of one of the compound’s several terraced gardens, but left takes you down toward the diesel powerhouse and bomb shelter. Ignore all the side-trails leaving the main path and eventually you’ll come upon this:
When you’ve had your fill of the powerhouse, continue on the road, passing a few more staircases that will take you back up to the gardens. Just around the corner, you’ll come upon the next major building ruins – of a machine shed.
From here, the trail continues – although depending on the time of year it can get pretty unpleasant.
The route continues along an old road grade just past the machine shed, although that road grade disappears fairly quickly and the trail becomes and indistinct single-track. Be sure to check for ticks after you hike through this stretch!
When you’re done exploring (or not exploring), continue on the road. There’s a big field just outside the stables, and if you look closely at the small pine tree in the middle of it you can see it’s been permanently decorated with Christmas ornaments.
You may also notice that the surrounding trees and plants don’t really feel like the stuff you’d normally see in the Santa Monica Mountains – there are a lot of pine and fir trees, and lots of other non-native species from former landscaping designs that have now become part of the landscape. It’s kind of disorienting – we often remarked how it felt more like we were hiking up in the higher San Gabriels or Sierras than in the coastal ranges.
Tags: brentwood, compound, ghost town, herr schmidt, Hiking, history, Los Angeles, murphy ranch, nazi camp, ruins, rustic canyon, Santa Monica Mountains
