Riordan Trail Expands Access To ‘Big Wild’ from Brentwood

A new trail located above Sunset in Bundy Canyon and named after former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and his wife Nancy, was dedicated last Thursday at a ceremony at the trailhead on the Mount St. Mary’s Fire Road. Located on a new Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority-owned easement, the trail will weave through 300 acres of protected open space connecting the college fire road to the existing Canyonback Trail located west of Mountaingate Estates. Richard Riordan was instrumental in the development of the trail and worked with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Canyonback Alliance, Save Our Mountains, Inc, Councilman Bill Rosendahl, and Castle and Cooke, which is developing the adjacent Mountaingate property. Castle and Cooke provided funding to build the trail, which is presently only partially complete at 1.6 miles and can be accessed, for the time being, through a guarded gate at the south end of Mount St. Mary’s College (off Bundy Drive). An additional mile of trail will provide for full public access from Canyonback Drive.