Red Flag Days in Malibu: Which Trails Close Now, and Where You Can Still Go

When the next Santa Ana forecast comes in, can you still take the dog up Solstice Canyon, park at the Bonsall lot for Zuma Canyon, or spend the afternoon on the sand at Leo Carrillo? Since mid-October the answer has followed a written rulebook. Under that rulebook, the agency that manages a place matters more than whether the place counts as a park.

California State Parks, the National Park Service, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority now close parkland together whenever the National Weather Service issues a red flag warning for the Santa Monica Mountains. The four agencies signed the protocol memo on March 12, 2026. California State Parks announced the coordinated effort on October 14 and first used it the next day. The Los Angeles Times noted that the test arrived with the first Santa Ana winds of the season. In effect, the protocol closes the mountains and leaves most of the coast open. A few details decide which side of that line a given Malibu spot lands on.

The line runs between the trailhead and the sand

The memo lists the closures, and it lists what stays available even when the public message is "parks are closed."

Beaches get a sentence of their own. The memo says "beach sites are generally not subject to closure under this protocol unless specific hazards warrant restrictions." Read together with the table, that means two lots a few miles apart can be treated differently on the same morning. An NPS trailhead lot closes. A State Parks developed lot can stay open. The trail leaving from either one is closed.

This is a change from past fire seasons. Dash Stolarz, a spokesperson for the MRCA, told the Los Angeles Times that hikers should expect more park and trail closures during red flag events than before. She said the changes grew out of discussions after the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires. Explaining the approach to the Times, she said, "you just try and control all the variables you can control."

Who manages the trailhead decides what happens

The memo's Appendix A lists every site that may close, depending on how far the forecast reaches. The superintendents and directors pick from this list for each warning, so not every site closes every time. Sorted by agency, the Malibu-area entries look like this:

• National Park Service: Solstice Canyon; Zuma/Trancas Canyons, specifically the Bonsall and Busch parking lots; the Backbone Trail, including its parking lot on Kanan Road; Arroyo Sequit; Circle X Ranch; Sandstone Peak and the Mishe Mokwa parking lots and trails; Rocky Oaks; Paramount Ranch; King Gillette Ranch.
• California State Parks: Leo Carrillo State Park, Malibu Creek State Park, Topanga State Park, Point Mugu State Park.
• Conservancy and MRCA: Corral Canyon Park, Escondido Canyon Park, Tuna Canyon Park, Cameron Nature Preserve at Puerco Canyon, Temescal Canyon Park.

Leo Carrillo is a good example of how these rules overlap. It is on the list of State Parks sites that may close. The protocol also keeps State Parks developed lots and campgrounds open and generally leaves beach sites alone. So its trails can be closed while other parts of the park stay open. The managing agency's page shows which parts are open on a given day.

The City of Malibu is not one of the four signatories. When the first warning arrived, Malibu.FM reported that the City was closing Trancas Canyon Park and Charmlee Wilderness Park on its own because of the Santa Ana fire risk. City parks follow City notices, and the four-agency announcements don't cover them.

Three rules that change how you plan the day

The protocol has a few working rules that affect anyone planning a hike or a ride around a windy forecast.

1. A partial-day warning closes the whole day. If the forecast covers only part of a day, the closure covers all of it. An evening wind event can cancel a morning hike.
2. Closures are announced the day before when possible. The agencies decide each day, so a multi-day warning can be lifted or extended one day at a time.
3. Not every closed area is signed or gated. An open trailhead with no sign isn't proof the trail is open. California State Parks asks visitors to check with the agency that manages their destination before driving into the mountains during a warning.

The trigger is a forecast, not smoke on the ridge. Closures follow official forecasts from the NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard office, which issues red flag warnings when low humidity, strong winds or dry lightning combine with dry vegetation. For the most severe events the Weather Service can label a warning a "Particularly Dangerous Situation." The memo lets the agencies close more facilities and further limit operations under that label.

Jody Lyle, superintendent of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, described the reasoning in the State Parks announcement: "The Santa Monica Mountains are one landscape, even though they are managed by several different agencies."

The first week under the new rules

The protocol's first run lasted Thursday through Saturday, October 15 to 17. The MRCA's closure notice for those days included Corral Canyon Park, Escondido Canyon Park, Tuna Canyon Park, Cameron Nature Preserve at Puerco Canyon, King Gillette Ranch and Temescal Gateway Park.

Late Thursday afternoon, the closures stopped being hypothetical. The Bryson Fire started at about 4:41 p.m. on October 15 near Encinal Canyon Road, according to Los Angeles County. On October 16 the County listed Encinal Canyon Road closed from the City of Malibu to Mulholland Highway, and Lechusa Road closed between Decker Road and Encinal Canyon Road. Separately, Caltrans limited Topanga Canyon Boulevard to residents only between Mulholland Highway and Pacific Coast Highway from 6 a.m. Thursday through 10 p.m. Friday.

CAL FIRE reported that all evacuation orders and warnings were lifted at 6:20 p.m. on October 17. That evening the City of Malibu said "All roads have been reopened." CAL FIRE lists the fire at 146 acres, 100% contained as of 6 p.m. on October 19.

Charmlee Wilderness Park sits off Encinal Canyon Road, and the City had closed it for the warning before the fire began. Parks near the burn area can reopen on their own schedule after the warning ends, so check Charmlee and the western canyons with their managing agencies before heading out.

Other access changes on the coast

The weather warnings aren't the only reason gates have changed. Two recent updates affect beach and canyon plans this fall.

On Point Dume, the City's Alert Center reported on October 20 that Westward Beach Road and Birdview Avenue were open and Point Dume Beach was open. A Los Angeles County contractor had worked until midnight placing rock where erosion hit Westward Beach Road at Birdview Avenue on the night of October 19. County crews had closed the road beyond the pay gate, along with the Point Dume Beach parking lot, on August 1 because of erosion.

Just east of Malibu, Temescal Gateway Park reopened on July 17. The rebuilt Rivas Trail, the Sunset Trail connection to Temescal Ridge Trail and Topanga State Park, and the Sycamore Grove and Rubell picnic areas are open. The Temescal Canyon Trail to the waterfall stays closed because fire damage left it unsafe. Temescal Gateway was also on the MRCA's October 15 to 17 closure list, so it now follows the red flag rules too.

Where the status is posted

Each agency posts its own closures, and the four have agreed on similar wording. Signs read "Park Closed due to Red Flag Warning." These sources cover a red flag day from the forecast to the trailhead:

• The forecast itself. The NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard Fire Weather Forecast is the product the protocol names as its trigger.
• The four agencies. The NPS red flag protocol page, the MRCA press page and the State Parks Angeles District page, where the agencies say they will post updates along with social media and on-site signs.
• City parks and roads. The City of Malibu Alert Center, which carried the October utility notices and the Point Dume reopening.
• Emergency alerts. The City's preparedness notice points residents to City alerts, Los Angeles County alerts through Genasys, and 99.1 FM KBUU for updates during outages. Evacuation zones can be looked up at protect.genasys.com or in the Genasys app.

The memo stays in effect until the four agencies amend or cancel it. Until then, every red flag warning for the Santa Monica Mountains can close the trails and NPS lots listed above.

Joshua chairs Malibu's Public Safety Commission and pays close attention to how access rules like these play out across town. If you have questions about how fire-season closures, road access or canyon locations affect a property you own or are considering, Joshua Spiegel is happy to talk it through. Let's Connect.