Adventures with Luna: Day 13 - Malibu Creek State Park

I am laying here worried that I might get caught. The only campsite I can find around the area after plenty of driving around is somewhere that is free aside from a park pass and the option to buy one has not been provided to me anywhere. I would much prefer to pay the illusive fee than to be laying here worried someone might come knocking in this secluded darkness!

It was a beautiful 17-Celsius today with clear blue skies and Luna and I were so hot. We first went to Solstice Canyon and spent a couple hours hiking there. There are several ruins of old stone houses there that had been damaged by wildfires and were quite neat to walk around in. Once up on the hillside, there was a stunning view of the ocean. When we first started the hike, we came across a woman and her adorable 5-month-old Tibetan Terrier puppy. She stopped and we chatted for a bit and she asked if I walked there often “No, I am from Alberta actually, so I’m just passing through here” She asked several more questions and then said “Wow, you are such an adventurous spirit!” that is certainly not something I hear often as I am generally more known as a cautious, reserved person, so I had to laugh a little at that. We also came across a tiny Chihuahua that was about the size of Luna’s head and made little 33 lb Luna look absolutely huge, it was quite a comical sight.

After Solstice Canyon we headed to Munit Caves for a couple hours, at least, we meant to head there. I believe we arrived at the right place at El Scorpion Canyon Park, but took the wrong path. This hike was much less enjoyable, although still beautiful. I followed a side path, thinking it would lead me to another cool group of rocks and instead it led me off trail and it was very difficult to get back to the path with rocks sliding everywhere and the wet soil slipping under our feet on the very steep ascent. We finally made it to the top, both of us very hot, out of breath and cursing that side trip. We went for a pleasant walk around the top, and then headed to the rocky area that I thought might be the cave, it was not but we didn't have it in us to try and find them, assuming it would mean more slippery steep ascents. The rocks were not ideal at all for a dog, as I constantly had to climb up on to and over huge boulders and help her up, Luna hated it. Along with that was the fact that some awful people had left glass all over the trail and put a ton of graffiti on the rocks, I was worried about Luna’s paws getting cut so got out of there and headed back to my car as soon as I could.

Luna was falling asleep but determined to stay sitting up as we left. We drove to Devil’s Punchbowl, hoping there was camping along that road and we were treated to a beautiful sight of the rocks there lit up by the setting sun and the snowy mountains behind. It was a chilly night last night and is definitely going to be even colder tonight as it was only 1 degree Celsius out when I pulled in here.