For a brisk walk or easy hike, Solstice Canyon offers a picturesque backdrop of creekside woodland, ending at a waterfall and the remains of a 1950s home designed by famed local architect Paul Williams that was destroyed in a fire in 1982. For advanced hikers, the trail gets steeper on the other side of the creek intersecting with the Sostomo and Rising Sun trails, which ascend canyon walls and offer coastline views. Enter the park on Corral Canyon road, just off Pacific Coast Highway.

Further north along the coast, Point Dume features a two-mile, easy to moderate hike that begins at Westward Beach, takes you up to a promontory with panoramic ocean views, and lastly, after descending a metal staircase, to beautiful tide pools along Dume Cove. Escondido Canyon is a moderate hike located off Pacific Coast Highway on Winding Way that rewards its guests with a handsome waterfall, especially in winter months. This trail features oaks, sycamores, willows and canyon stream crossings. For more information about Solstice Canyon and Escondido Canyon hikes, visit www.lamountains.com, the website of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.