Distance: 6.5 miles.
Elev. Loss/Gain: 380 ft.
Total Change 1100 ft.

The trailhead is at Ernie Howlett Park in Palos Verdes. The park is located 1.1 miles south of Pacific Coast Highway on Hawthorne Blvd. The entrance is a relatively blind driveway on your right but there is a large sign in the median and a small one on the right as you approach the park.

The hike proceeds down through some stables and up a hill to Palos Verdes Drive North. We follow the trail through the median for about a mile then turn left at Palos Verdes Drive West. We cross P.V. West at Via Corta Drive and proceed toward the beach. Near the beach we leave a road and proceed up a relatively steep narrow trail (short) to the top of the bluff for a great view of Santa Monica Bay. We hike east and back across P.V. Drive to a bridle trail that will lead us to another bluff overlooking the Torrance Airport and good views of southwest Los Angeles. Just before the bluffs the route wanders around some homes so don’t get lost. From the viewpoint we drop directly down to the park for refreshments.

Many of you who are acquainted with this area and will be aware of the many choices to shorten the hike.

Google Earth photo - Palos Verde Trails from Ernie Howlett Park

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GPS Data:

Default Hike: 7.1 mi. RT. - Follow the blue trace out to the beach. Return by the blue trace west, continue on a short piece of yellow, back to blue up and around the golf course paralleling PV Dr. N. Follow this (eventually on the green trace) to point “X”, and then back to Ernie Howlett.

The green trace – 8.4 mi. max elevation delta = 450 ft. - is what "Rabbits" did for extra mileage, and consists of the southerly loop west of the golf course. The yellow trace (mostly underlying the blue trace then the green trace beyond point “X”) was the path followed 10 Dec 2008. At that time travel on the north side of the canyon to the beach was possible.

CAUTION: The blue trace – 8.5 mi RT - is what the Lost Patrol did, the result of not following the hike leader's instructions, but the hikers got a very interesting introduction to the PV back country among the horsey set.