Where else can you explore a beautiful nature trail, see countless lizards scurrying about, beautiful views of the city, enjoy living breathing street art, blissful solitude (we only passed one other family the entire time)…OH, and enjoy the creep factor of walking around a former Nazi compound right here in California?! Yes, you read correctly. Murphy Ranch Trail in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles has all of this, and I can honestly say this was one of the coolest and most memorable hikes I have ever done, ANYWHERE. I’m serious, people, put this HIDDEN GEM on your to do list. There is nothing else like this, and if you are like me, you will not be able to stop thinking about it for a long time. Let’s walk you through the trail and then we’ll give you all the details you need to know at the end!
The History of Murphy Ranch Trail
I told my husband we were going to explore an old Nazi Compound. He replied “Madeline, you know the whole Nazi thing happened in GERMANY, right?” Neither of us knew this was A THING!
The story goes in the 1930’s an extraordinarily wealthy couple living in Los Angeles, who were Nazi sympathizers and part of a Nazi sympathizer sect in LA were approached by a man named Mr. Schmidt. He convinced this couple that Hitler was going to win the war, and when that happened there would be anarchy in the USA. So, they needed to put millions of dollars to build this completely self sustaining compound for them all to live in and ride out the anarchy. Oh, and also to be suitable to greet Hitler himself when he arrived in the USA. Great plan, huh? So they built Murphy Ranch, complete with homes, gardens to grow food, power house, water storage, and more. Well, things were going pretty well for this Nazi sympathizer group that lived there until right after Pearl Harbor, the US invaded Murphy Ranch and arrested everyone. So there! This abandoned compound at one point became an Artist’s Colony. But now it sits there, Murphy Ranch Trail, for us to see (some of it truly crumbling), covered in graffiti, and oh so creepy and cool.
Murphy Ranch Trail – The Way In
Murphy Ranch Trail is about 3.5 miles round trip. Although there are a ton of little shoot off trails you can explore that will lengthen it. The trailhead begins on a paved road in a residential area and goes for about a mile. As you are walking up the mild incline, don’t forget to take a moment to look back and enjoy the view! You’ll head back down this road when you leave.
It’s funny because normally I’d find graffiti along a nature trail such a disappointment. You know, losing faith in humanity kind of thing. But knowing that this is actually what this trail is about, seeing the 1 mile path of graffiti just kind of gears you up for what lies ahead. As you take this paved road, keep your eyes out for these cute little lizards! Because the trail isn’t crowded, on a warm sunny day they are out and about! We counted 64 of them.
As my 10 year old daughter and I walked along this one mile, in our solitude and anticipation of what we were to see we started talking about WWII. She shared how her class read a book about a girl who was hiding out from the Nazi’s, and this was a year ago and something she never shared before. In great detail she told me all about it, and in turn I shared about Anne Frank, inspiring her to put Anne Frank’s Diary on her reading list. Amazing what you talk about when you are just with each other and away from electronics!
About a mile in, you’ll see a break in the fence. This was the point where my heart started racing a bit. This was it. We were about to travel down 500 steps and take a trip to the ruins of a people who frighten us. The nervousness was outweighed by the excitement. It felt like that moment when you are slowly traveling up the giant hill of a rollercoaster, contemplating if you made a big mistake but also knowing you really didn’t.
Top of the steps, 500 steps down. See the gorgeous surroundings? Such a juxtaposition of the beautiful carefree nature and stairs built by Nazis. Gulp. With it just being my daughter and I, it was a little extra anxiety producing. What would be down there? Who might be down there? No one else in sight. And more importantly, would we have to climb back up these 500 stairs? (The answer is no!)
The lizard spotting continued, even down the 500 steps.
Murphy Ranch Trail – Exploring the Compound
Once we got to the bottom of the stairs on the Murphy Ranch Trail you run into a road where you can go right or left. I followed my trusty AllTrails App (if you don’t have it, it’s a must) and headed left. Spotting some slight graffiti art as we walked around, we anxiously awaited when we’d encounter the compound. And there it was. We both let out a little scream (not loud, but more of a joyous release) and there we found the garden beds they used to grow their food. It was at this moment I realize this was not a legend, not a myth, but THE REAL DEAL! Combine it with the fact that there was NO ONE down there with us, it created the perfect atmosphere of the nervous fun creepy joy. If the trail was full of people it really would have taken away from the experience. We were alone. In a former 1930s Nazi Compound. WOAH! Still can’t believe it.
And then it appeared. A fully in tact house, covered in graffiti. Supposedly this was a power house. It was creepy and beautiful all at the same time. In my research I saw that in the past you could actually go inside the house, even climb the ladder to the top. It’s since been bordered up, I guess the few things the city does to “maintain” this area, likely to just keep people safe. But we walked all around it. You’ll find graffiti cans littering the back. This is not a place I’d visit at sunset or at night, just saying. By the way, notice the big tree in the front? See the cute little doors and windows someone added? There truly is an artist inspiration down there. It was at this spot we ran into another family, the only one we saw down in the compound. We marveled together at the experience and then went our separate ways.
Moving along there are many nooks and crannies to explore. We found this separated wheelbarrow (?) and there are a few steps that you can take, these gave us a view of what we supposed was a water tank of some sorts. Then we continued along the main path.
Not too much left of this structure. I gather perhaps it was a house with a chimney!
After you pass this structure, it could feel like you’ve seen it all of Murphy Ranch Trail. The path winds around, and in some cases you have to move the brush aside to get through. Just feels like you are on a nature trail at that point, and my AllTrails App was sending me on a loop. But then….it appeared. Another building, this one quite dilapidated. But that added to the creepy fun factor.
Because this one is falling apart, the city has put up a metal fence around it for the safety of everyone…the roof is collapsing. Of course that doesn’t stop people and if you walk around you’ll see 2 giant holes cut in the fence, easily passable to get a closer look. So we carefully stepped inside to get a closer look at the perimeter of the structure, but of course not walking inside where anything would be above us that could fall down.
By the looks of it, to us it appeared to be a barn. Which kind of makes sense, to be able to be fully self sustaining they are going to need animals. I read up somewhere that someone thought maybe it was a jail (notice the bars) but I’m not buying that angle.
You can see the roof completely collapsing on the one side. Some bees also built a little hive here.
After this fun spot, we continued along the path. By now, it was surely over. We walked quite a while, looping back around and eventually making our way back to the top of Sullivan Fire Road (yay, avoiding the 500 steps!) a little further down from where we started the adventure. But then, as we head back towards the direction of our car for the 1 mile walk down Sullivan Road, we saw another opening in the fence. Hmmmm…. what might that be? We peeked down just a small set of stairs…
And this giant (fuel?) tank appeared, fully in tact! And yes, you can climb to the top!
If you look at the bottom you’ll see it’s eroded and you can peek your eyes inside and see amongst an abundance of scary trash, it’s covered in graffiti on the inside as well!
Once we did that we went back up the stairs and enjoyed the gorgeous views on our trek back down Sullivan Fire Road. There are a few structures we actually missed, so if you spend your time exploring (maybe going further down Sullivan Fire Road) you’ll catch a few more things! Our boys couldn’t come with us that day (baseball) so we are anxious to take them and explore some more!
Murphy Ranch Trail
Here’s what you need to know to visit Murphy Ranch Trail, this amazing hidden gem!
Getting there: This trail is located in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles (about 2 hours from San Diego) in a residential area. The address is basically Sullivan Fire Road. If you put “Murphy Ranch Trail” into Google Maps it will come up. Once you are there, start walking up Sullivan Fire road. About 1/4 mile in you’ll walk through a big yellow gate. About a mile up is the opening in the fence to take the 500 steps down to the compound.
Parking: DO NOT drive down Casale Road (the road leading to Sullivan Fire Road). It is a very short and narrow residential street that dead ends and is really tough to turn around, and you won’t find parking. We did this. Mistake. Find parking in the neighborhood area, paying attention to “do not park” signs. We had to park several streets away, but you are going on a hike so that’s OK, right?
What to wear: It’s not a difficult trail. There were a few spots that could be a little slippery without hiking shoes, but sneakers generally will be fine. Sullivan Fire road has no shade, but once you get down to the compound there is a lot of shade (though not all the time), so wear sunscreen.
Facilities: There are no facilities or restrooms at all on the trail. Don’t do what I did and chug a cup of tea before heading over there, and having to beg the construction workers who were working on a house to use their porta-potty. HA! Go potty before you enter the residential area.
Family Friendly? Yes! This trail is about 3.5 miles which includes the Sullivan Fire Road. With all of our exploring we took about 3 hours but you could do it in much less. But why rush through? We had so much fun checking things out. It’s not a difficult trail at all, but with the steps it’s obviously not stroller friendly so be sure your kiddos’ legs are ready! As mentioned, this trail is not crowded at all so enjoy, but obviously be alert.
What do you think? Let us know if you checked this out and what you thought! We are listening…
