Malibu Creek State Park

It sounds like an urban myth--hiking through the wilds of Los Angeles for days at a stretch, bedding down at night in remote, pristine campsites. But that's the idea behind the Backbone Trail, a nearly complete 70-mile trail that hugs the spine of the Santa Monica Mountains from Pacific Palisades to Point Mugu. November is Backbone Trail Month, and for the next four weekends you can join organized hikes or work parties on the trail.

An animal trainer was bitten on the ankle by a black panther Wednesday at a movie set in a remote area of Malibu Creek State Park, authorities said. Sylvie Rodriguez, 46, underwent surgery Wednesday evening at UCLA Medical Center to repair her broken ankle. She was in fair condition, a hospital spokesman said. Rodriguez was one of five trainers on the set of the movie remake of "Swiss Family Robinson," said John Falk, supervising park ranger of the Angeles District of California State Parks.

Just when you thought it was safe for that summer hike or picnic in the Santa Monica Mountains, state parks officials are warning of an outdoor predator whose sheer ruthlessness has made it a leading trailside enemy for plants, animals and people alike.

Picnicking: I like to take my wife, Sondra, for a picnic on the rocks overlooking the ocean at Malibu Creek State Park. But I like to do it up right. I bring real silverware, linen napkins and bamboo plates. I love cooking so I'll bring home-cooked roasted chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, a small salad and some really expensive red wine, a Bordeaux or a cabernet. Romantic getaways: I take the coastal highway up to Carmel by the Sea. I love to ride horses and sit by the ocean.

It's been 20 years in the making, but the Backbone Trail along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains is almost complete. Only a six-mile gap remains in the granddaddy of all trails, which meanders 70 miles over spectacular peaks from Pacific Palisades near Santa Monica to Point Mugu.

Heard the one about the park ranger and the bear? No, seriously. It may not be "Seinfeld," but Malibu Creek State Park interpretive guide Jim Holt has come up with a program for outdoor enthusiasts who like to trade one-liners while they soak up some nature on the trail. Holt calls it "Jokes by the Oaks," and he is leading the program at the park near Agoura Hills at 1 p.m. Saturday.

If you're a "MASH" fan, you probably remember the opening scene on the TV show when the helicopter carrying wounded soldiers lands on a dusty plateau in the back country of Korea. It was not really Korea, though. The show was filmed on a rugged stretch in the Santa Monica Mountains, now part of Malibu Creek State Park near Agoura Hills.

A wilderness preservation organization has begun planting oak seedlings near Malibu Creek State Park in an ongoing effort to help preserve the region's oak trees. About 35 coast live oak and valley oak seedlings have been planted over the past month along a trail leading from the park to a new park under construction in Calabasas, said Jo Kitz, program director for Mountains Restoration Trust.

Not so many years ago these baby-boom-generation Sierra Clubbers were conquering snowy summits with the Alpine Ski Mountaineers, cycling 80 miles a day with the Bicycle Touring Group, or partying hearty after a 15-mile hike with the Sierra Singles. Now their outdoors ventures are a wee bit different.

Across Mulholland Highway from the main body of Malibu Creek State Park is an arm of parkland called Liberty Canyon, as lonely a place as you'll find in this popular state park. It's an area rich in history, believed to have been continuously inhabited by prehistoric peoples and more recently by the Chumash from 6000 BC to the early 1800s. Talopop was the name of the native Chumash village located here; it's now the name of the loop trail that circles the tribe's ancestral land.