Murphy Ranch Trail

Infamous hike that was a former Nazi compound with many different parts covered in Graffiti. If you can check it out, do it soon, the city’s slowly tearing it down since it’s «unsafe» and most of the structures are collapsing.
+Easy 4+ mile hike that you can do in any shape. Not too much elevation change and you can customize it to be longer or shorter.
+Lots of cool structures still up (as of June 2016). Though the city is slowly tearing it down, there was still many big structures to look at as well as graffiti along the walls and trees. Definitely cool to see and taking pictures of.
+Beautiful ocean and city view on a clear day.
+Tons of trees and shade.
–Sharing the path with cars. For parts of the hike you’re walking a long an unpaved road that cars frequently use. It’s a little annoying to yield to them. Be careful around those blind bends and turns, some cars were going a little fast.
Tip:
Park: Residential streets on Capri Drive/​Casale Road. You’ll follow the path up till you see a yellow gate and then continue from there
Be on the lookout for the stairways on the left. There’s 3 different paths you can take so if you miss the stairways, no worries. If you just keep walking you’ll get to the structures anyhow.

Just went back to this trail again with my boyfriend, and was shocked and disappointed during our trip.
First off, the black gate marking one entrance of the trail magically disappeared and has left behind no traces. It simply is not there anymore… Also, the famous house is all boarded up, so tourists can no longer go inside of it, walk around, and take pictures in the attic. However, perhaps the most alarming part of our trip was discovering that the ruins and sheet metal simply vanished! All of it is gone! And the area it used to be in looks as if nothing was ever there. Kinda spooky…
Overall, the hike was enjoyable and fun, but disappointing because things have changed :(

Fun trail with lots of nice gram worthy spots! I recommend staying on the trail and using the long stairs (see pictures) to get to and from abandoned buildings. We felt a little adventurous and decided to go off trail. Turns out that we ended up going through the back way, through a boys scout camp spot (Camp Josepho). The camp master was very kind and helpful in pointing us in the right direction.
This was our first time on the trail. The level of difficulty isn’t bad, especially if you stay on the trail. Some of the abandoned buildings were gated off (however there were still safe ways around it). There was a surplus of bees present during our visit (May 2016). I highly recommend not wearing yellow or going near them, because they did chase us for a while and got stuck in my friends hair (was a frightening experience).
There are also a lot of climb friendly trees for those who are feeling a little more adventurous. We also noticed a lot of 420 hikers on this trip. Everyone was friendly though :) We couldn’t find any restrooms on the trail so it might be wise to go before, the trail is kind of in a secluded area from shopping centers. There was one porta potty for construction workers, but that may not be there forever.
Also, it’s always smart to bring surplus water and snacks when going on a hike. Adventure is out there :)

This hike was a trip. You park in the neighborhood and walk up to the yellow gate… Just before you hit the yellow gate there’s a set of stairs. We did not go down those. We walked about a mile in the hike, which was a slight incline, so it was a nice workout. It’s partially shady, so it was a nice walk. Then we saw the second set of stairs… We took this set. Holy moly it was a long way down! Then we did a swift left and right around the corner was the pump house, a tower, and an elevated garden-​like area. After taking fun photos, looking at all the art and climbing around we headed back up the deathly stairs… I died like 50 times, but finally reached the top.
Total hike was about 4 miles. I’ll definitely be going back.

If you’re brand new to hiking this is perfect for you. It’s beautiful and 90% of the hike is paved road. The steel ruins are gone as well as the huge water tank and beautiful front entrance gate. Why’d they have to demolish the gate?!? Smh…3 stars because I would consider this a walk in the park, it only took an hour WITHOUT stops for pictures and there’s a lot of trash.

Great hike!
Was about four miles and took us a little over an hour and a half going at an normal pace.
You are going down first then back up on the way back, so the end is the hardest. The incline isn’t too much though so not difficult at all. Barely broke a sweat
If you venture off the path into the center area of the loop, that’s where some graffiti covered structures are. Others buildings are right at the trail.
Park on the small streets before the trailhead.

Great hiking trail with changes in scenery. You can make it as short as you want or as long as you want.
The popular sights are the 1,000 stairs and the graffitied buildings. Although, they are tearing down some of the buildings, so some may not be there any more.
There are paths that are just dirt and in the sun, and there are paths that are in the shade with more lush surroundings. The views are beautiful, so don’t forget to look up once in awhile, especially when you’re going up or down the stairs. However, don’t get distracted too long when on the stairs because they get pretty steep and small. I don’t know how people with big feet manage to go up and down those stairs because even I have some difficulty with my tiny feet.
I have yet to fully explore the potential of all the trails because I always get lost when I go. However, I’ll definitely go back because it’s one of the nicer and more interesting hiking trails that I’ve experienced.
For parking, I go all the way up Capri to the very end of the road and make a right at the T-​section. Plenty of cars park along the street on that road.
I’ve gone around late morning/​early afternoon 3 times, and it’s never been that crowded.

I feel like this place has been reviewed to death, but I wanted to post one anyway because of the looming demolition of the remaining buildings.
As is mentioned in several other reviews, you should look to park near the corner of Capri and Casale. It’s all residential and, for the most part, unrestricted. Just pay attention to the signs and you should be fine. I parked near the corner of Capri and Amalfi (one block south of Casale) because of construction. From either place, you walk west on Casale to get to Sullivan Fire Road, which is the first leg of the hike. **NOTE: If you use Waze or Google Maps to navigate yourself to Murphy’s Ranch, it will try to tell you to drive up Sullivan Fire Road. Don’t.
The hike itself is mostly easy. The first 30 minutes is on the fire road and is entirely unshaded. Bring a hat and some water. You’ll come to the first staircase on your left and go through a doorway to get to the endless steps down to the canyon floor. That’s where the Nazi ruins are. The stairway down is very long, so be prepared to have noodle legs going both down and up.
When you get to the bottom of the stairs, you’ll join up with another fire road. If you go to the left, you’ll come to the powerhouse first. If you go right, you’ll get to the stables first. There’s a couple of trail offshoots that can extend the hike ¼−½ mile a piece. I didn’t do any of those, so I can’t advise much more than that.
As of yesterday, April 11, the powerhouse, two water towers, and the stables were still standing. The powerhouse is boarded up so you can’t go inside (see photos) and the stables are in bad shape, though you can still get into that one (see photos).
The stairs are really the toughest part of the hike. Just walking from Capri/​Casale down to the canyon, checking out the remaining ruins, and coming back clocked in on my pedometer at just over four miles. I’m told this hike can be extended to about 7, so there’s more there if you want it. I found the hike to be a little underwhelming. While the scenery was beautiful, there are better hikes nearby. The real draw here is the buildings… and their days are numbered, so go sooner than later.

Saw some images on Unilocal and thought this would make for a great day of hiking with my girlfriend while we were out in the Santa Monica area.
Parking seems to no be that big of an issue. We came to this hike on a Friday mid afternoon and there was an abundance of street parking just a short walk down from the trail head.
The trail over all is really nice, only slightly up hill at first and really nice and wide, looks like a fire road. Then you get to the divergent trails that branch off the main one. There are a lot of stairs that take you all the way down into the canyon. once down in the canyon it is nice and shaded, a secluded feeling to it. you can follow smaller trails that lead off to old abandoned structures, some of which are gated however, people have made ways to get in.
Some of the places can be a bit dangerous — as in a lot of sharp and not so structurally sound areas however it is a really cool area and definitely worth checking out!
Had a lot of fun on this hike without a doubt one of my top 5 hikes in the LA/​OC region

I did this hike once in January and again in February. It was a great experience both times.
Parking– free, I parked on Casale & Capri both times and it is a short walk to the trailhead
Trail– paved fire road uphill for almost 1.5 miles and then you walk down to the compound/​property
Sights– a truck on the side of the hill about half way up the hike (very easy to miss); fancy iron entrance gate (demolished by our 2^nd visit); structures with heavy, colorful graffiti (barn, water tank, etc…); steep stairs with graffiti that give you some amazing views of this beautiful area
*not sure what remains, I heard it was all being demolished and the entrance gate and water tower were knocked down on our 2^nd visit

Great trail with a amazing reward at the end. It’s amazing the place behind this and makes it so much interesting.
Lots of stairs so be ready to face that challenge.
It’s a really amazing hike so go before its gone rumor has it that the city wants to tear it down !

Unfortunately, the rumors are true. Most of the trail has signs saying no trespassing. There was not a lot people there when I went on March 28, which made it nice and peaceful. My friends and I walked the fire trail and saw fences all along the side. We hit the Murphy trail after 30 – 45 minutes of walking and that is when we started seeing more graffiti. We had to make it a short hike, so we made it the first abandoned houses and turned around. We at least accomplished seeing an artsy house and colorful staircase.
The hike took a total of 2 hours, back and forward. It is a easy hike with minimal incline (at least the parts we did). From the maps, there is multiple trails, so this can be a maze. Next time if I have more time, I’ll try other trails.
I recommend grabbing brunch/​lunch somewhere in Santa Monica or UCLA area after you are done.

Had so much fun here today. If you are reading this, I assume you’re trying to figure out if you should go. GO. Why? A lot of the reason this trail is epic will be bulldozed away in the coming month (construction has started). The beautiful cement stairs (500, we counted) reminiscent of the Great Wall of china stairs, lead to the «third reicht» era historic house and barn built by Nazi sympathizers which are covered top to bottom in graffiti. The artwork and colors make it beautiful, regardless of your opinion on graffiti I think. There used to be a creek flowing with water, now dried up. Still poison ivy around however, luckily didn’t have to learn the hard way. If you despise graffiti and history… This may not be your place. Google the Murphy Ranch for some interesting reads. I hope to come back before its all gone.

My favorite trail on the PCH is Los Liones. LL is just down the street from here. So it was a huge surprise when I found out about this trail from a friend. We were all trippin out that this had been here since the 30s and not once did we hear about until now.
We read a bunch of blogs and everyone mentioned that there were a bunch of signs indicating that they were planning on tearing it down at the end of the month. So of course we had to check it out for ourselves.
We made the mistake of starting off late. We got there at 12:30 which was basically the peak of the heat. Big no no.
Parking — per Google maps, you will basically end up in the residential area at the beginning of the trail. You’re allowed to park there, unless of course there’s a sign saying you can’t. There’s a ton of construction happening so they block off certain areas. If you can find a spot then you’re golden.
You basically follow the street which leads to more of the residential area. Once you see the yellow gate, you cross over and follow it down. There are no signs after. We actually took a wrong turn and ended up going towards the Will Rogers area. Luckily, we had signal and only had to backtrack for about ¼ of a mile.
The way we were suppose to take was where all the trucks are filled with bricks which was what they had already tore down from the property. It’s all downhill from there. You just follow the trail that ends at the main house of the property.
From there you’re free to venture and look about. The whole place was so eerie. The whole property is covered with graffiti, most of which are fresh. And because people are the worst, there are a bunch of empty water bottles, cans, trash, and basically whatever people brought in and decided to leave. This is why we can’t have nice things.
I definitely recommend going before it’s all gone.

Murphy Ranch has been on my bucket list for years because of it’s Nazi sympathizer/​WWII history.
I’m glad I was able to visit a few weeks ago because it’s currently in the process of being torn down. =(
There are two ways to go about your adventures to the power house, water tank, and whatever else remains.
You can take the nice and easy paved road for a few miles, constantly wondering when you’re supposed to turn in (which is when the giant gate eventually greets you).
Or, you can take the first gate on the left that has a «park closed…» sign, and climb down the steps that appear to lead you to your death (trust me on this, take these down, not up from the ruins).
From the giant gate path, you’ll see what remains of the water tower.
Then eventually you’ll end up at the power house.
The house itself is something quite eerie.
Maybe it was the things set out for it, or the constant spray paint fumes I was inhaling… But chills.
If you take the stairs o’death down, the neat stuff will be to your right from the bottom.
I didn’t get a chance to look for the barn, or the car.
The car is still there however, if you’re keen on hopping a fence.

Demolition in progress through February 23, 2016.
Those looking to see the infamous 1930’s Nazi sympathizers compound should adhere to the posted signs and keep a safe distance.
Reportedly, citations have been handed out.

Another great piece of history are being demolished! Before I go off into the history of the trail — (Although other reviews already covered quite well) & my opinion of it w/​review, I’m sad to report since the time I went two weekends ago (1÷23÷16) and from what I’m reading in reviews and tips since then, the old graffitied buildings are being about to be torn down!!! READ 2 Recent links w/​explanations:
If your still interested in checking it out before it’s completely demolished, go with caution and aware that the rangers will be out there and continue to keep people out, cite people tagging, etc.
Completion of demolition — February 23, 2016.
I’ll finish my review soon. But it was pretty fricken awesome!!!

I came here on a Saturday morning with a friend in hopes of taking a closer look at this hidden gem and when I say hidden gem, it was definitely hidden. For parking, you definitely need to street park alongside the houses. We had no knowledge of where parking was and almost drive up to the trail, but luckily we were able to turn around and head towards the right direction.
After parking, putting on sunblock, and packing everything for the hike, we began our journey in search of the prized artwork. We hiked for a good while and came across a gated area (there was actually a part of the wall that was broken down so we were able to enter that way. We stumbled upon a graffitied water tank what was pretty cool. Although it looked like a lot of people littered and hung out around that area, someone even tagged their Instagram account on the wall of the water tank.
We made our way down the trail and ended up at a fork, we chose the right side. As we walked further and further down the shady, green, and lively trail we finally came across a graffitied house (not the original one) that was blocked off with fencing and proceeded to check it out. Theres like a massive beehive in the making, so be careful! We then headed back up the way we came, exited the gated fence and continued up the hiking pathway, still in search of the graffitied house, after 2 miles, still nothing. We turned around and with the help of a website guidance, we realized that Murphy’s Trail was a mile after parking.
Definitely, definitely do not make the same mistake that my friend and I did, of hiking a total of 8 miles. The path to Murphy’s Trail is way shorter, probably at max you’ll only have to hike 2 – 3 miles from start to finish. My advice is once you begin the trail, pay attention to your left side and look for a stair pathway, do not take the first stair pathway you see (that one looked wayyyyyy more steep than the second one), but take the second one, theres like a note on the pavement pointing to the stairway that says something like 450 or 500 steps. Proceed down the stairs to a graffitied water tank and continue to your right. You will walk down like so many steps of stairs that it will feel like days, after you finally reach the bottom, continue on the wide pathway until you see a fork, whichever way you take will lead you to the graffitied house.
Overall, it was an adventure trying to find Murphy’s Trail, but hopefully this helped! Remember to pay attention to your left side and look for a flight of stairs and to take the second set of stairs! Good Luck and definitely take it easy going down all those stairs, the journey back up those stairs is a killlerrr! I had to take so many water breaks. Remember bring your fully charged phone to capture those photos!

A group of 5 adventurous explorers went on a journey that was full of oooooooohs and ahhhhhs to explore the remnants of the Murphy Ranch Trail.
History:
Murphy Ranch is a ranch built in Rustic Canyon, Los Angeles in the 1930s by Winona and Norman Stephens, who were sympathizers of the Silver Legion of America. The owner of record in 1933 was Jessie M. Murphy. Designed as a base for Nazi activities in the U.S., it was intended to be capable of being self-​sustaining for long periods. The compound had a water storage tank, a fuel tank, a bomb shelter, and various outbuildings and bunkers. The estate’s main gate was designed by Paul Williams, a well-​known African-​American architect in the Southern California area.
On Monday, December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, local police occupied the compound and detained members of the 50-​strong caretaker force.
* Bumped into some forest rangers and they told us that this place wasn’t a nazi compound. Don’t know who to believe! Oh wells… the hiking experience goes on!
Best location: Capri Drive and Casale Road. Directions on Unilocal will lead you short of the hiking location by a mile.
Parking: There’s a small street on the left before Casale St. You can park down the hill. You can also park on Casale St. also. At the intersection, find parking on the right side.
Trail head: At Capri Drive and Casale Road, walk left (on Casale Rd) through the residential area until you get to a yellow gate. That’s the trail head.
Hike: You have three options to do this hike:
Option 1 and 2 involves hiking down staircases to the power house. The first one is shorter than the 2^nd.
Option 3: Keep going on the fire road until you see a fancy looking black gate on the left. You will make a big loop where you’ll be able to see all the structures. Once you get to the powerhouse, you can keep on going up till you get to the main road and go right until you see the staircases to the left and walk up those sucksers all 450+ steep steps. Once you’re at the top, go right and you’re home free!
*As for us, we didn’t see those two staircase entrances and did option 3 instead.
Reaction: Loved everything about the hike and will definitely hike the trail again.

If you’re looking for a nice short and easy hike, this would be the trail for you. It is a total of approximately 4 miles round trip with an elevation of 600 feet, pavement is relatively flat and easy to handle.
As you arrive, park around Capri Drive and Casale Road. Then walk up to Sullivan Ridge Fire Road and keep walking forward until you reach a yellow road block latch. If you see this, you’re definitely going the right way. About 100 yds from here, keep your eyes open to the left. You will see a gap in the chain link fence that will lead to what appears to be an «endless» looking staircase ahead. Be careful, the steps are rather narrow so watch out for your foot placement. When you’re at the bottom of the steps, remember to turn left and follow the wide road down to the bottom of the Rustic Canyon. You will finally reach a large power house building covered in graffiti. Take your time to soak in this unique robust house and take out your phone to snap away some instagram-​worthy photos!
Keep in mind, there’s a total of 4 structures so make sure to see them all — the power house, water tank, some barn looking building and an old run down machine shed!
Happy hiking everyone!