I am so excited to share my Saturday adventure.
The boyfriend suggested this great hike that also includes some interesting history.
Located in Rustic Canyon not far from the Pacific Palisades a little piece of World War II is tucked away in the hills. Take a mile hike up a paved road until you reach the stairs (so many stairs) that will lead down to Murphy Ranch. Once a large compound with a water storage tank, a fuel tank, a bomb shelter, now only a few structures remain scrawled with many layers of graffiti. Murphy Ranch was built in the 1930s by Nazi sympathizers for Nazi activities in the United States. The compound was intended to be self-sustaining for many years until law enforcement seized it in 1941 after the Pearl Harbor attacks. By 1990 the ranch was abandoned and closed. Just last year many structures were demolished as they were deemed unsafe.
Unfortunately when we took the hike to check out the grounds many of the buildings we had heard about were boarded up or knocked down. Although there isn't much left it is still fascinating to see the remnants of what could have been and signs of people that actually lived there. We spent 2 to 3 hours exploring the area, even taking a trail that lead to nowhere.
Check the pictures below. I highly recommend Murphy Ranch trail, if you're bored on the weekend, need something to do or just like history... Just make sure you do it before they tear down the remaining buildings.
For directions to Murphy Ranch and what trail to follow, these ones proved to be the most helpful:
Thanks to Jeff Hester, creator of this one.
And AllTrails... one of my favorite apps.
Hopefully this will be the first of many in the "Big World, Petite Girl" series. :)
