Perfect Family Hiking: Towsley Canyon

24255 The Old Road, Newhall, CA 91321
Turner Family Shows
This hike begins with a gradual ascent past chaparral, coastal sage scrub, and seasonal wildflowers; peaks at a viewpoint with spectacular mountain and valley views; then descends into a canyon past a small creek that still seeps natural oil from the park’s days as an oil production facility. An arduous 200-yard uphill detour to a viewpoint with panoramic vistas of the Santa Clarita Valley puts this is in the strenuous category. Towsley Canyon is part of the 4,000-acre Santa Clarita Woodlands Park, just east of Santa Clarita. Fifteen million years ago this area was covered by deep ocean. Marine organisms built up in thick beds on the ocean floor, gradually covered with sand and gravel as the waters became shallow and receded. Subsequent uplift of the area caused the presence of oil- and gas-bearing fields on the land. The Tataviam Indians, whose name means “dwellers of the sunny hill,” were the first inhabitants of this 4,000-acre park. They used the area’s naturally occurring asphalt for medicinal purposes and as a sealant for their baskets, according to a park brochure. Next came Darius Towsley, who arrived here at the end of the Civil War and began skimming and drilling for oil by way of a primitive spring pole method. Towsley eventually sold the property to Chevron (then called Pacific Coast Oil), which used the land for oil production for 120 years. It was later used for horse shows and film production, until the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy turned it into public parkland in 1995. It is home to a wide variety of plants and wildlife, including red-tailed hawks, mule deer, coyotes, mountain quails, scrub jay, and California thrashers. When I was here in spring 2005, a park ranger warned me to avoid the trails in the early morning and evening because a mountain lion had taken up residence in the hills.

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• california
• canyon
• clarita
• hiking
• santa
• santaclarita
• towsley
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[sweendoger]

Very nice, just came ome from the big loop.