Survey a Path of Old West History High in Simi Hills

One of the major obstacles to stagecoach travel between Los Angeles and San Francisco was a route out of the west end of the San Fernando Valley over the Simi Hills. About 1860, a steep road was carved out of the rock face of the hills. The steepest stretch, a peril to man and beast, was known as Devil’s Slide.

The slide, the old stage road and a portion of the Simi Hills are preserved in a park-in-the-making just west of Chatsworth. In 1989, the state purchased 400 acres in the Santa Susana Pass area and added it to another 400 acres of state-owned parkland. Eventually, Santa Susana State Park will be staffed with rangers and have recreation facilities. The park represents two decades of organizing and lobbying by San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley environmentalists, spearheaded by the Santa Susana Mountain Park Assn.

Santa Susana as a park name is a bit confusing because the park is in the Simi Hills, not the nearby Santa Susana Mountains, which are protected by the park. Visually, the Simi Hills, with their skyscraping sedimentary rock formations, are quite different from the rounder, taller Santa Susana Mountains to the north of Chatsworth.

The reddish-orange sandstone outcroppings of the Simi Hills, dating from the Mesozoic Era millions of years ago, form a dramatic backdrop for the park. It’s easy to see why these rugged hills were a popular setting for Western movies.

The hills overlook Chatsworth, named after Chatsworth, England. Founded in the 1880s, it became a community of vegetable patches, orchards, cattle and horse ranches. Although one of the West Valley’s oldest towns, it has managed to hang on to its rural character better than most Valley communities. However, in recent years, residential subdivisions have begun covering the horse ranches and the lines of eucalyptus that once served as windbreaks for farms and fields.

A network of trails loops through the park, but the trails are unsigned and more than a little confusing. During your first visit to the park, expect to improvise a bit. Once you get the lay of the land, subsequent visits will be easier.

Directions to the trailhead: From U.S. 101 (Ventura Freeway) in Woodland Hills, exit on Topanga Canyon Boulevard and drive 6 1/4 miles north to Devonshire Street. Turn left and proceed three-fourths of a mile to Chatsworth Park South, a city-owned park with wide lawns and picnic areas next to the new state park.

If you’re coming from California 118 (the Simi Valley Freeway), take the Topanga Canyon Boulevard exit in Chatsworth, drive 1 1/2 miles south to Devonshire Street and turn right to the park.

As you drive up Devonshire, notice signed Stagecoach Trail, an equestrian trail. Leave your car and pick up this trail if you wish, but it’s more convenient continuing to the ample parking area in the main part of Chatsworth Park South.

The hike: From the parking lot, walk across the wide lawn or take one of the dirt paths that border the lawn. With the park recreation center directly behind you, navigate toward a couple of oaks and join a gravel path that begins just below a water tower on your right.

Begin a moderate ascent. When presented with confusing choices and unsigned junctions, try to keep ascending straight up the hill. Don’t drift too far to the south, where there’s a line of electrical transmission towers, or too far to the north, where the Southern Pacific railroad tracks penetrate the mountains.

Half a mile from the trailhead, you’ll intersect a paved road that winds up to a small hydroelectric pumping plant. You, however, will almost immediately abandon this road at a break in a chain-link fence near two telephone poles. Here you’ll find the old stage road and begin to climb more earnestly toward Devil’s Slide. A century ago, the road was in much better shape.

Erosion has carved wagon-wheel-sized potholes into the soft rock.

The Devil’s Slide is more like the Devil’s Stairs these days.

Near the top of the slide is a historical marker placed by the Native Daughters of the American West commemorating “Old Santa Susana Stagecoach Road, 1859-90.”

This is a great place to pull up a rock, sit a spell and survey the San Fernando Valley, which spreads south and east. Just below is Chatsworth, a mixture of old ranchland and new townhouses.

If you’re lucky, you’ll sight a freight or passenger train snaking through the Simi Hills and disappearing into the Santa Susana tunnel.

After enjoying the view, you can continue another quarter of a mile up Stagecoach Trail and inspect the rest of Devil’s Slide.

Or retrace your steps and take a trail leading to the park’s rock formations.

Stagecoach Trail

Chatsworth Park South to Devil’s Slide

2 1/2 miles round trip; 500-foot elevation gain