More From SoCal Wanderer
Six Great Herds of Roadside Dinosaurs
Six Great Californian Castles
5 Great Places to Explore Native California
1 of 3
next
In Southern California, it can seem like everyone is some type of hiker. There are the Runyon devotees, the stair climbers, the peak baggers, the rock climbers, the boulder scramblers the list goes on.
But sometimes, a cluster of boulders feels like too much for the average person who likes to hike but isn't really a hiker.
Can't you just climb a mountain (or a hill) that's not too crazy, have something to look at (and look out from) at the top, and then go back home?
Yes, you can! Because just one rocky peak can be good enough of a beacon to get you out on the trail and give you a little elevation.
So, here are five great rocky climbs that don't require a lot of time, much hiking expertise, or any equipment - aside from your hiking boots and sunscreen.
1. Sandstone Peak, Santa Monica Mountains, Malibu
Sandstone Peak was once 10,000 feet above sea level - but now, after 10 million years of erosion, it stands at a mere 3111 feet, which is still the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. Thanks to the ancient volcanic eruptions that also formed Sandstone Peak, the surrounding area is known for its interesting geological formations, including Split Rock (on the way to Sandstone Peak along the Mishe Mokwa Trail), Balanced Rock (accessible via an unmaintained trail off the Mishe Mokwa Trail), and Skull Rock. There are two ways to Sandstone Peak: a short, steep, direct out-and-back from the parking lot, or a long, meandering, circuitous, more gradual loop along the Backbone Trail. I prefer taking the long way to enjoy the diverse scenery on a gentler climb. It's still not that gentle - it can be steep and rocky and dry and high - but it does offer some shade and some cool ocean breezes. When you get to the top, climb the exposed rock surface to the plaque marking Mount Allen and sign the register.
Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
--
--
2. Eagle Rock, Topanga State Park and Northeast L.A.
Eagle Rock in the Santa Monica Mountains is kind of a junior version of Sandstone Peak, but the trail to it also offers a great hike through Trippet Ranch (once a gentlemans ranch for a getaway in the mountains), where you may spot some mule deer and some other sandstone formations (including one that looks like Jabba the Hutt). This Eagle Rock is a boulder outcropping that's not to be confused with the rock of the same name with a natural cleave that casts a shadow of, some say, an eagle. But actually you can do a bit of climbing around that Eagle Rock, too, if you set afoot on the John Stillion Memorial Pathway of the Eagle Rock Canyon Trail. It's a pretty short trail that doesn't take you very far or very high, but it's a great spot to watch the sunset. Have a little rest on the benches at the top, and head back down before dark so you can keep an eye on your footing.
Eagle Rock, Topanga State Park. | Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
Eagle Rock, Northeast L.A. | Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
3. Bee Rock, Griffith Park
One of the more interesting natural landmarks of Griffith Park, a sandstone outcrop called Bee Rock, can also be a little tricky to navigate to and from. First, you've got to climb up and over the Merry-Go-Round Parking area (where many hikes in Griffith begin), head through the Old Zoo, and find an old ravine. Shortly thereafter, the trail becomes narrow, steep, and overgrown. You'll be climbing up with a nice view of the park and the city below until you reach a rusty fence, which leads you to the chain-linked peak of the rock that some say is shaped like a beehive. Keep track of where the trails split, because it's easy to get turned around at the top and end up going the wrong way down. At the top, the view is breathtaking - though somewhat obstructed and graffitied (as are the rocks on the way up). Beware of actual bees, which seem to like the pocks and the pits in the rock.
Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
4. Pumpkin Rock, Norco
In a small town just north of Corona (hence, Norco ), a pumpkin smiles down on Horsetown USA. Well, it's not a real pumpkin - it's a pumpkin-shaped rock, painted to look like a pumpkin. To get there, you can park on a residential street in one of the newer housing developments (right by the Hidden Valley Golf Club) at one of the trailheads for the Norco Hills and head up the dirt path toward the La Sierra Hills. Nearly every trail in Norco is shared between hikers and horses, so watch where you step. Plod along, keeping an eye out to the north, and there you'll see it: a bright dash of orange in a sea of sandy brown terrain. At first, you might think its just an elaborate graffiti project, considering how vandalized the rest of the trail is. But it got its paint job about 20 years ago to cover up all of the vandalism on it. It used to be painted as more of a traditional pumpkin with the triangle eyes and nose, but now its more like a Day of the Dead-style skull rock (or, as some say, an orange-and-black Jack Skellington). Unfortunately, the makeover didnt stop vandals from tagging it; so periodically its got to be repainted all over again. It makes for a great fall hike, especially when the Southern California sun is still relentless in its heat. Pumpkin Rock is big enough to provide some nice shade to rest in before heading back down.
Photo: Courtesy of Sandi Hemmerlein
5. Painted Rocks, Fort Irwin National Training Center
As long as we're talking about painted rocks, Fort Irwin is worth mentioning for its clusters of boulders known as The Rockpile . These painted rocks have become a monument to the squadro
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
02/12/2025
Case Study: How Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Moved to All-IP Distribution in 60 D...
02/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Lee Corso, Coach, Commentator, FirebrandBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print This Story | S...
02/12/2025
SVG All-Stars: Dan Nabors, Senior Director, Remote Engineering, TNT SportsThe veteran tech leader is helping guide Warner Bros. Discovery's at-home' re...
02/12/2025
National Lacrosse League Opens Season With New Cloud-Based Official Replay-Revie...
02/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: The Cinematic Look in Live Production - Bridging Aesthetic...
02/12/2025
SVG India Announces Advisory Board; JioStar's Prashant Khanna Named ChairmanBy Ken Kerschbaumer
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 11:15 am
Print This Story |...
02/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: New AI Production Tools Workshop' Features ESPN, F...
02/12/2025
Written and directed by Hailey Gates, Atropia won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival....
02/12/2025
The lightweight and highly portable CORVUS-RAVEN, recently demonstrated at the V...
02/12/2025
The lightweight, rugged Panther 2 tri-band VSAT delivers high-speed data communications for Internet, VPN connectivity and video transmission over commercial an...
02/12/2025
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({...
02/12/2025
NGID volunteers in the United States
NGID volunteers in Mexico
NGID volunteers in India
NGID volunteers in Spain
NGID volunteers in Australia
NGID voluntee...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
SAN DIEGO Sony Electronics today introduced the Alpha 7 V (ILCE-7M5), the fifth generation of its Alpha 7 full-frame mirrorless lineup, powered by the newly dev...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has opened a docket for comments on Nexstar Media Group's proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna and se...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The National Association of Broadcasters has added a trio of media executives, Veronica Rodriguez, Matt Schnaars and Jeff Warshaw, to its board of di...
02/12/2025
MILAN, Italy Brightcove has released seven new features designed to expand global reach, improve audience engagement, enhance live-streaming quality and streaml...
02/12/2025
BCNEXXT, the developers of the advanced playout platform Vipe, today announced a new Service Provider Partner agreement with NPC Media, the Australian managed p...
02/12/2025
DPA Microphones today announces the immediate availability of its new N-Series Digital Wireless Microphone System for customers throughout the U.S. In addition ...
02/12/2025
Hiltron Communications reports a well attended and successful Space Tech Expo exhibition, held at the Messe Bremen from Tuesday November 18 through Thursday Nov...
02/12/2025
The beginning of September saw Riverfire by Australian Retirement Trust, in association with Channel 9 and Triple M, kick off the 2025 Brisbane Festival in spec...
02/12/2025
SGM Lighting is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with ACT Entertainment, under which ACT will serve as the exclusive distributor for SGM's ne...
02/12/2025
Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced that Telia, the second largest telecom operator in Norway, is modernizing its broadband network with the company's i...
02/12/2025
European cloud data protection specialist Keepit is expanding its sales network in the DACH region and has gained TIM AG, one of the leading value-added distrib...
02/12/2025
Featured products at ISE 2026
This year s ISE 2026 theme "Push Beyond" reflects Calrec s direction of travel. The company is dedicated to supporting the AV an...
02/12/2025
Czech Television, the national public broadcaster, has deployed one of the largest LiveU live production projects in the region for live sports and news coverag...
02/12/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, has announced the release of v8.2 software for its ZEN and ZEN-W Series, bringing advanced cinematic camera se...
02/12/2025
Global provider of video streaming software and services, Accedo, and OTT platform provider, Magine Pro, have signed a binding agreement to carve out and merge ...
02/12/2025
With proven success in broadcast, OTT, and content supply chains, K.S Avinash set to scale Skandha's service-first approach across APAC
Skandha Media Servi...
02/12/2025
AJA Video Systems has joined the RAVENNA community, a network of partners devoted to advancing the RAVENNA standard for distributing real-time audio over intern...
02/12/2025
HUNT VALLEY, Md. Sinclair and its wholly-owned subsidiary One Media Technologies have released a new report focused on how ATSC 3.0, the IP-based NextGen TV sta...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission's Media Bureau has issued a reminder that stations in DMAs 111 through 120 must implement its audio descrip...
02/12/2025
WASHINGTON Members of the Advanced Television Systems Committee have elected four industry veterans to three-year terms on the organization's board of direc...
02/12/2025
A new survey from S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan highlights how important social media is for younger consumers, with Gen Z spending 5.1 hours a day on so...
02/12/2025
Faculty Notes: Fall/Winter 2025 Recent accomplishments, releases, and events by Berklee faculty.
December 1, 2025
By
Editorial Staff
The cast of Kind of M...
02/12/2025
Ring In The Holidays With Our Biggest Sale Ever On Ivory II Pianos!From now until December 31st, you can save 50% or more on every Ivory II piano and collection...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Made in America: How Stranger Things' Electrified the US Economy
Entertainment
02 December 2025
GlobalUnited States
Link copied to cl...
02/12/2025
Back to All News
Culinary Class Wars' Season 2 Trailer Teases New Rules, R...
02/12/2025
--
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Unio...
02/12/2025
Harmonic's cOS Platform Will Redefine Subscribers' Quality of Experience, Lowering Churn SAN JOSE, Calif. - Dec. 2, 2025 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today...
02/12/2025
At AWS re:Invent, NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services expanded their strategic collab...
02/12/2025
S an Nollaig
Hollywood blockbusters The Banshees of Inisherin, Barbie and Oppenheimer make their Irish TV debut
Tune into the classics such as Love Actual...
02/12/2025
Showcasing fresh Irish storytelling and emerging talent Storyland 2025 signals a fantastic time for Irish drama
RT and F s ireann/Screen Ireland are proud to...
01/12/2025
L3Harris and PentenAmio formalise their teaming agreement at MilCIS 2025, streng...
01/12/2025
Artemis II is NASA's first crewed flight test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The crew, from left: Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Vic...
01/12/2025
IRVINE, Calif. Wooden Camera has introduced its new Accessory Collection for the Canon EOS C50. The new lineup includes a low-profile, gimbal-ready cage, expand...
01/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has released a tentative agenda for its Dec. 18 Open Commission Meeting that will include a vote on a report an...
01/12/2025
In most years, a graph of annual local TV ad spending is about as predictable as an electrocardiogram of a reasonably healthy patient in a doctor's office. ...
More From SoCal Wanderer 
