# Topographical map of Santa Monica Mts.???



## Beethoven (Jul 28, 2005)

The other day, not wanting to ride up Latigo Cny for the 100th time, I decided to do a loop: go up Las Flores, hit Mulholland, and then descend Latigo. Car parked as always at Malibu Civic Center. Great idea, right? Until I actually hit Las Flores--its grade must be in the high teens for most of the initial climb to Rambla Pacifico. Far too steep for me to enjoy it. Which brings me to my question: where can I get actual topographical information on the area? Google maps gives me nothing.

Having said this, is there a prettier climb in the area than Latigo? It's even sweet on the descent...


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

You can get topo maps at the US Forest Service Information Center in Thousand Oaks. It's located on Hillcrest Drive, between Moorpark Road and Lynn Road exits off the the 101.

The climbs farther North are mellower. I like Mulholland from Leo Carillo State Beach (for which I am labeled a Fred because it climbs only about 1600'). Yerba Buena, found at Neptune's Net, is a little more challenging at 2200', and is pretty quiet. It links back to Mulholland near Decker Canyon Road.

JSR


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## stevesbike (Jun 3, 2002)

From PCH/Topanga, the options are heading west (feels like north but is west) Las Flores (well Tuna if you're one of the people who like going the wrong way on a one way road-lots do-I think it's a bit crazy), then Latigo, Encinal, then Decker (harder than Las Flores), Mulholland, then Yerba Buena, and finally Deer Creek-to me the hardest of them all.

I think Las Flores is more like 10-15%, but there are a few sections that are definitely a grind-it is actually a bit scary to descend, especially with the unstable cliffs dropping rocks onto the road. For variety, you could park a bit further up and then ride PCH to Yerba Buena to little sycamore, left at Mulholland (left again on Mulholland) to Kanan and over to Latigo (going down-maybe parking around there). Yerba Buena is a great climb, gets harder as you go up but not too hard (there's a ranger station for a bottle stop halfway). It's a spetacular canyon--looks like out of the old west and gets great views from the ridgeline in both directions. 

Lots of people ride up Mulholland from PCH, but I find it's the busiest of the climbs and some crazy drivers rallying even during the week. 

Encinal is an easy, long climb. You can drop down westlake and do a loop to Cornell, around Malibou lake, and up Mulholland past rock store, picking up Latigo for the ride back to PCH. 

There is a topo map of the mountains. It's for hiking and should be around in most bookstores. Sundance cycles (sundancecycles.com) also has a list of the climbs, grade and distance on the website under rides. 

For something different, you could drive up to Topanga center, head up Fernwood, down stunt, up Piuma and back around to Fernwood (taking it slow going down).


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## rcordray (Jul 30, 2006)

*Topo! by National Geographic*

I use a program called Topo! which is marketed by National Geographic publications. The "Backroads Explorer" version for California is about $100 and covers every USGS topographical quad for the entire state. I got it from Adventure 16 in West LA. You can draw out a customized topo for any ride that you would care to do. Or... after you get back, re-trace your route and check mileage and elevation gained. You can save routes and print a high-resolution map of a particular route. It's optimized for PC, although I'm able to use it on a Mac with a little fiddling.


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## DrRoebuck (May 10, 2004)

rcordray said:


> I use a program called Topo! which is marketed by National Geographic publications. The "Backroads Explorer" version for California is about $100 and covers every USGS topographical quad for the entire state. I got it from Adventure 16 in West LA. You can draw out a customized topo for any ride that you would care to do. Or... after you get back, re-trace your route and check mileage and elevation gained. You can save routes and print a high-resolution map of a particular route. It's optimized for PC, although I'm able to use it on a Mac with a little fiddling.


+1

Topo is great.

I've done Las Flores once. ONCE! It was the suxxors.

A ride you might like would be Malibu Canyon over to Mulholland Highway, then Mulholland Hwy back to Old Topanga.


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

*You can buy topo maps at*

Geographia, a travel bookstore in Toluca Lake near Warner Brothers Studios, at the corner of Riverside and Maple, telephone # 818-848-1414. Brian the owner is an ultra-marathoner, long-distance biker, and all-round good guy.

Good to see you've made it to LA. When I lived in West LA I used to go up Latigo myself. It seemed to be the most civilized of the climbs off of PCH.


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## rcordray (Jul 30, 2006)

+1 on Geographia.

Great store. 

The "California Map & Travel Center" - West LA, on Pico near Centinela is another good resource for books and maps.


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## Beethoven (Jul 28, 2005)

Thanks, guys. I think I'll try the Encinal to Latigo combination next. I've got my baptism by fire when I rode the L.A. Wheelmen double metric century in October. Decker...


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

I'm 90% sure California Map & Travel went out of business. RIP.


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## rcordray (Jul 30, 2006)

Mapei said:


> I'm 90% sure California Map & Travel went out of business. RIP.


Bummer. Their inventory was pretty amazing. I couldn't go in there without dropping some coin.


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