This is one of my favorite locations in the Santa Monica Mountains. It is about as remote as you can get in that range which is so close to metropolitan Los Angeles. The trailhead is along Yerba Buena Road 1 mile east of Circle X Ranch and the loop trail to Split Rock and then up around the sandstone ridge of Sandstone Peak, which is the highest point of the Santa Monicas, is about 7 miles in length. This trail is interesting both floristically and geologically, overlooking as it does the Echo Cliffs and the precariously positioned Balanced Rock, and passing sandstone and volcanic rock formations. I have been trying to find out what Mishe Mokwa means. Longfellow's poem "Song of Hiawatha" includes the following: "Then he swung aloft his war club/Shouted loud and long his war cry,/Smote the mighty Mishe Mokwa/In the middle of the forehead,/Right between the eyes he smote him." Mishe Mokwa was a great bear in that poem, but this usage derives from local Chippewa tribal mythology in Wisconsin or Michigan and may not apply here. If anyone knows, please contact me. I want to express my appreciation to Jay Sullivan who has kindly taken time to study my recent Santa Monica pages and to let me know about several identifications that needed correcting. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native taxon. Thanks to Jane Strong for the snake identification. Some unfamiliar species/genus/family names may increasingly be noticed in these galleries as I am trying to adjust to the new taxonomy. Some new names have already crept into previous galleries, but I am not going to go back and change the others.