Go West(world)!
Hiking at Paramount Ranch Los Angeles
If your idea of visiting a film location is more Westworld than Universal Studios, then we know just the place. Paramount Ranch has been a film backdrop since 1923 and is home to a number of hiking trails, including a 1.2-mile loop through film and television settings from the Old West to Westworld. Make your first stop the ranger station, where you can grab a trail map and a list of films shot at the ranch. From there, cross a bridge into Western Town, whose Main Street appeared in some Westworld scenes. All of the ranch’s trails extend from the town.
Hike along Hacienda Trail (a wide gravel path) until you meet two stumps, where you’ll bear left until you reach another intersection, continuing to bear left until you enter the mysterious Witches’ Wood, where valley oak trees tower above. Head right, onto Backdrop Trail, and at a fork in the road walk down the center path to Medicine Woman Trail, named for Jane Seymour’s Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, which was largely filmed in Western Town. As you complete the loop, wander over to a creek currently flowing thanks to abundant winter rains.
Paramount Ranch is at 2903 Cornell Rd., Agoura Hills. Take the Ventura Fwy. (US 101) to the Kanan Rd. exit and go south on Kanan 0.5 mile. Turn left on Cornell Rd. and continue south 2.5 miles to the park entrance. Free parking. Dog friendly!
