After several months of closure, Caltrans had finally reopened Hwy 2 west of Vincent Gap, and we made plans to hike again to Cooper Canyon Falls in the central San Gabriels. However, the threat of rain, thunderstorms, and possible snow called those plans into question – hail in Wrightwood Saturday morning cemented our decision to hike elsewhere this weekend. It looked like the only area of SoCal with a nice weather forecast was west of LA, so we made the two-hour drive from Wrightwood out to Thousand Oaks to hike Sandstone Peak (3,111′), the high point of the Santa Monica Mountains. The peak is serviced directly by a short, steep trail that makes the 1,100′ ascent from the trailhead in just 1.3 miles – we chose instead to hike the longer 6.1-mile loop via the Mishe Mokwa trail. This route contours north around the peak’s east ridge, then proceeds west up an unnamed valley past a scenic set of precipitous rock formations called Echo Cliffs, a popular climbing spot. The trail continues west to the head of the valley, then loops back southward to join the Backbone Trail, a 65-mile-long path that runs the length of the Santa Monicas – we would take the Backbone Trail east along Sandstone’s west ridge to the peak, then descend via the shorter route back to the trailhead. This is a popular hike, especially on a Saturday afternoon, so it was no surprise to find a full parking lot when we arrived – we had passed an overflow lot a half mile down the road, and it too was full, but, luckily, someone was just about to leave and we snagged their space. Clearly, most people here to hike the peak do so via the short trail – we ascended the initial slope north from the trailhead with perhaps a dozen others in various groups to the Backbone Trail junction, and nearly all turned left uphill while we went right. The first confusing point was a second junction about a quarter mile past the first – the sign seemed to indicate that the Mishe Mokwa trail was downhill to the right (east), while intuition said it should be left – we went left while another couple went right (we saw them later, and their trail led down to the overflow parking area), and we quickly recognized we had chosen correctly. The trail gains elevation very gradually, although the grade is not really constant – the route undulates frequently and seems to gain and lose the same 30′ of elevation many times over the first two miles. At points, the brush is quite tall, which can be a bit disorienting and it’s not easy to gauge distance. Our pace seemed slow through this first area, and indeed the trip stats show that. We soon arrived opposite Echo Cliffs and, sure enough, several climbers were visible on the rock walls – we probably spent 30 minutes total from a couple of different vantage points watching them. Not much farther west down the trail, we entered a very lush section of the canyon, obviously well-watered this time of year, and we began to spy poison oak in various clusters near the path. We walked into a lovely oak forest where the trail crosses to the north slope of the canyon, and we were surprised to find the creek already dry. Here, there’s a picnic table across the trail from Split Rock, a large bolder with a natural crack running through it – Jane successfully made her way through the crack. We found what appeared to be the trail running west along the creek, although it rapidly became quite overgrown and was thick with poison oak – unsure of where to go, we picked our way west, Jane eventually scouting ahead and finding another use trail that led uphill to the wide and level official trail. Apparently, having just blindly headed west from Split Rock, we had missed the actual trail running east from that point, where it switches back west after a short distance – our digression probably saved a tenth of a mile, but it unnecessarily exposed us to inevitable contact with poison oak (no seriously ill effects, except Jane has some swelling under her eye where she might have touched a vine at some point). Back on track, we continued west through typical high brush, passing small field of wildflowers along the way – we had seen several unfamiliar varieties to this point, and that was an unexpected treat. As we reached the head of the valley, the grade steepened a little as we traversed south into a shallow bowl, through which we passed before ascending again to the Backbone Trail and the main ridgeline. The views were awesome here – windows to the south revealed a hazy Pacific, the vistas north across the mountains and the Hwy 101 corridor being clearer and more impressive. Another mile or so east brought us to the lateral trail to Sandstone Peak’s summit – whereas we had had little company on the Mishe Mokwa trail, we were now part of the peakbaggers’ huddled masses in this area. The summit trail was short and not too steep, and there were at least a dozen others waiting to take their photos at the summit monument. We dropped our packs and enjoyed the beautiful views in the cool breeze while the others there milled about – solitude it wasn’t, but the setting was still wonderful. South of course was the ocean, and we could see the peaks of Anacapa and Santa Cruz islands above the haze/fog to the west, and north and east were the various ridges and summit of the Transverse Ranges. We could see over the city areas of Thousands Oaks and points east to the San Fernando Valley as well as the heavy thunderclouds high over the San Gabriels whose clutches we had evaded today. After a half hour or so, we followed another group off the summit, somehow missing our ascent route and taking a steeper use trail back to the main path – the descent was not as steep as our research had indicated, and we again passed large fields of flowers on our way down. Our GPS showed just under 6 miles for the hike, but, for some reason, it felt much farther – not that we overexerted ourselves, for the hike was very mild in that respect, but perhaps because we stopped so frequently for one reason or another (and the wanderings near Split Rock also added a lot of time to the clock). In all, a very nice hike that lived up to its high expectations, save the lack of views from the brushy sections.