Elephant Rock*

of Topanga’s most popular hiking destinations.

you’re planning destination. The tall sandstone cliffs offer a great view of the to sit down for a snack before heading back down the trail. In the last through an incredible transformation and is in the process of regrowth.

the burn zone, some of which have returned with the help of the fire.

Elephant Rock

Before it was named Eagle Rock, it was known as Elephant Rock. Looking at it from just north of Eagle Rock, you can make out the large head of an elephant with caves making up the eyes. The trunk was made up of another rock below it. By 2021, with dense brush covering the ground, the elephant was hidden, and Eagle Rock was the only name of this iconic Topanga landform. Now that the dense brush is gone perhaps people will call it Elephant Rock again; or maybe Falcon Rock for the birds living in some of the caves. We can hope some day Eagles will return to Topanga and enjoy soaring through the Santa Monica mountains once again.

The forces of nature in Topanga can be incredibly strong, with extreme circumstances arising regularly. For decades the vegetation in Topanga State Park had turned from lush to brush, and with the extended drought, nature was eager to take back some of its power. After decades of growth it was only a matter of time for a fire to turn the brush to ash and the cycle to start over again.

*Author’s Note: Wikipedia mentions Elephant Rock as the original name, probably before it was renamed Eagle Rock. I lived off of Cheney in the ’80s, a freerange kid who was allowed to roam the park as long as I took my dog and didn’t go too far. There’s a large rock with caves on the way up the trail, which has a nest-like structure on top that may have been home to eagles; I found droppings with small bones in them back then.