In the first half of 2022, the Trails Council (led by Jerry Mitcham and Jon Sheldon) partnered with State Parks to assess and improve the trail signage in Pt. Mugu State Park. This includes funding and installation of new signs plus the removal of obsolete signage. All new signs will have UV protection and be installed with tamper-resistant hardware.
Multiple survey trips throughout the park revealed that many existing signs:
- Were unreadable due to fire, vandalization or extensive sun damage
- Referenced incorrect or obsolete trail names
- Indicated incorrect mileage
- Confused readers on what the destination
- Were nearly non-existent along the route of the Backbone Trail
Finally, only about 10% of the trail junctions were completely signed.
Each existing sign and all junctions in the park were photographed, mapped and documented in a spreadsheet with comments as to current status and recommendations for improvement. Suggestions were also added for new signage at unsigned junctions and for signs that should be considered for removal, resulting in a comprehensive plan for signing the entire park.
One of the outcomes of this effort was realizing the complexity of the trail system in Pt. Mugu State Park. There are 39 named trails/roads covering 72 miles with 7 entry points and 64 junctions. This made developing a signage plan challenging as there are oftentimes multiple routes to a specific point in most areas of the park.
Given the large size of the park, it was decided to implement the project in multiple phases. Phase 1 includes 33 signs in the areas with the highest traffic: trails easily accessible from Sycamore Canyon Campground, the Ray Miller Trail, the Mugu Peak area and the signs leading to the waterfall in Upper Sycamore Canyon including for the first time a sign at the turnoff to the waterfall. The westernmost Backbone Trail signage from the La Jolla Canyon Day Use Area to the Wood Canyon Vista Trail was installed in this phase.
Phase 2 signs were installed along or near Sycamore Canyon Fire Road, Old Boney Trail, Chamberlain Trail.
Phase 3 signs were installed along Wood Canyon, Hidden Pond and Two Foxes trails. At this point more than 97 signs have been installed.
Phase 4 will be signs in La Jolla Valley and Phase 5 will be Serrano Valley.