Temescal canyon Viewpoint ⋆ Explore California with kids

Address for the hike in Pacific Palisades

Temescal Gateway Park, 15900 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Parking: Free on parking lot in the park
Length: 3.0 miles (60- 90min) loop

The view from Temescal canyon Loop

We scaled Temescal canyon in Santa Monica Mountains several times simply because of the proximity to Los Angeles. Additional attractions worth checking out in the Pacific Palisades are the Palisades Park in Santa Monica or the Getty Villa in Malibu.

California Perspective hiking in Pacific Palisades — Trying to find the Trail head to the hike in Pacific Palisades

You will be striding upward the entire time at the Temescal canyon loop. We’d recommend doing this hike in the evening since it is the most picturesque time of the day. At the very top of the hike you will see the signature panoramic view of Santa Monica. On a clear day you’d even be able to see the Catalina island.

California Perspective hiking Santa Monica Mountains in Pacific Palisades — Trying out GoPro wide angle view in the Santa Monica Mountains

Furthermore, this park is easily accessible via a bike rote which conveniently runs along the Pacific Coast Highway with terrific ocean views. This hike is a perfect destination point if you decide to ride the bologna creek to Marina Del Rey and then to Malibu. Btw, check out a Pirate cove private beach at Point Dume that you can actually have all to yourself (if you make it there on a weekday).

A boy and a girl enjoying sunset after hiking in Pacific Palisdaes — A couple at the Top of the Temescal Canyon

Temescal canyon with kids

We wouldn’t recommend hiking Temescal loop with kids for two reasons. First of all there are rattle snakes signs all over the place and they are not posted just for fun. We saw a coral snake on the trail, so there’s a good chance that rattlers might be around.

Secondly it is a physically challenging hike that will require you to continually go up without much of a view, except at the very top. Certainly many kids will find this experience boring. We did this hike before we had our son and wouldn’t do it now that we had a little one.

Evening in the Santa Monica Mountains — The moon over the Pacific Palisades mountains in Los Angeles

A better alternative to explore with kids would be the Solstice canyon trail further up North on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. – that trail has much more vegetation, including banana trees, shade, streams and mini waterfalls that kids absolutely love. The Solstice canyon hike is not as strenuous either.

Sunset Viewpoint at Temescal Ridge Trail

If you are lucky enough you can hike the trails in the moonlight, coupled with the light pollution from LA and Santa Monica you’d be able to see everything at night just as clear as during the day.