Stagecoach Trail to Be Focus of Statewide Conference Workshop

In 1861, Chatsworth’s Santa Susana Stage Road opened as part of the new coastal route linking Los Angeles with San Francisco and points in between.   

For the next 13 years the most memorable part of the trip for passengers and drivers alike was no doubt the ultra-steep Devil’s Slide portion in Chatsworth, blasted and chiseled out of the solid sandstone hillside. Over 150 years later this portion of the now-renamed Stagecoach Trail will be the focus of several hundred trail professionals, advocates, volunteers, and users from throughout the state who will be attending the annual California Trails and Greenways Conference to be held in April 2012 in nearby Woodland Hills.

On thi past Sunday, workshop organizer (and Trail Coordinator for the Angeles District of the State Department of Parks and Recreation) Dale Skinner was joined by a dozen community representatives as he hiked the trail for the first time.

He explained that the goal of the workshop will be to come up with a plan to protect the historic features of the Stagecoach Trail while allowing trail use within the limited area of the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park. “We will come up with a plan, discuss it, and may get feedback for even a better idea,” Skinner said.

And with that, the group began its trek down the Stagecoach Trail into 150 years of history.