Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → Los Angeles Area → Echo Cliffs

Location: Santa Monica Mountains Area, West of Los Angeles

Time Required: 1 – 2 days

Red Tape/Notes: No permit required and no fees.

What’s Nearby?: Malibu Creek State Park, Hueco Wall, Point Dume, The Grotto, Paradise Falls

Echo Cliffs is the climbing area that made us fall in love with the Santa Monicas. The approach hike is relatively easy and rather pretty, following the Mishe Mokwa Trail until the foliage opens out with a glorious view of the cliffs across the canyon, chock full of climbs for your enjoyment. This is a popular crag, but there are so many climbs and climbing areas that you can generally find a good spot and not have to fight over routes. The Grotto is nice and cool and has a lot of shorter climbs, including some easy ones (making this a nice option for beginners or to warm up). As you move right along the cliff, you’ll find harder, taller climbs, until you go through the tunnel into Kamikaze Cave, which has climbs like No Remorse (13b) and Kamikaze (14 a/b). In stark contrast is nearby Easy Street – this is generally where we take friends who are new to climbing, because it has some 4 star 5.8’s and 5.9’s, and Casey at the Bat (10b) is worth every one of its 5 stars. We generally camp at Leo Carrillo State Park, although campsites are often hard to get here on the weekends, so you’ll want to book early.

Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → Los Angeles Area → Echo Cliffs