Point Dume Bloom!

Wildflower Hike on Point Dume in Malibu

{Best Supporting Scenery, Oscars 2023: Zuma beach and parts of Point Dume Nature Preserve were used as filming locales for the Best Picture nominated movie The Fabelmans.}

{NOTE, March 2023: Due to ongoing storms, before visiting this spot check ahead for any road and trail closures and/or hazards before heading out, and exercise good judgement for overall safety.}

The giant coreopsis is the showiest wildflower in Southern California, and it struts its stuff in spring along the sandy trails of Point Dume Natural Preserve in Malibu. On a 2-mile loop hike, you can not only walk through fields of brilliant yellow specimens—some of them chest high and taller—but also dip down to pristine beaches and tide pools, and possibly crown your visit with a gray-whale sighting.

To see the best of everything, start at the east end of the parking area (“east” here means the direction of Santa Monica) and walk out toward the point, taking your first left (at the tide pool interpretive sign) and heading down 102 stairs to a quiet sandy beach. Here you can stroll for a half-mile or more, check out the tide pools, or just lounge on the sand. Back at the top of the stairs, continue your clockwise traverse by bearing left at the next intersection, which puts you on a boardwalk that leads to a bench out on the nose of the point.

Here you can scan the ocean for gray whales. Resuming the loop, you'll have another chance to drop down to Zuma Beach, right at the spot where the Statue of Liberty poked out of the sand in the final scene in Planet of the Apes. Before you loop back to your car, pick up the high trail that you skipped when you did the boardwalk. This leads through truly giant coreopsis to the crown of the point and a sweeping view of Santa Monica Bay and the upper Malibu coastline.

BONUS: Because the point faces south, you can get a great view here of both sunrise and sunset over the Pacific.

To get to Point Dume Natural Preserve, take Pacific Coast Hwy. (CA-1) to Heathercliff Dr. and turn toward the ocean. Make the first left on Dume Dr., follow it about a mile to Sea Lion Pl., and turn right. Make the next left on Birdview Ave. Follow that road (the name changes to Cliffside Dr.) about 0.3 mile to a small two-hour parking area on the right. If it’s full, continue past the lot to Grasswood Ave. and turn left. You’ll find legal street parking up this road, about 0.25 mile from the trailhead.

Trending Stories NorCal

View all Stories
  1. Field of Light at Sensorio in Paso Robles

    Light This Way

    Hidden in the bucolic hills of Paso Robles lies one of the greatest light shows on earth. The lighted art exhibition, Sensorio, is as if the rainbow magic of the aurora borealis was plucked from the sky and planted in the fields.

    View
  2. Bikers and walkers on the Bay Area Ridge Trail with the Golden Gate Bridge behind them

    National Park City Walk

    See San Francisco the way locals do by hiking the Presidio, a national park right in the city! Wooded trails, secluded beaches, and epic views of the Golden Gate Bridge feature on this 5.5-mile out-and-back on the Bay Area Ridge Trail. It’s a lovely slice of the City by the Bay.

    View
  3. Bucks Up!

    Come on in, the water is beautiful. Whether you like swimming, kayaking, stand-up paddling, or heading out on a bigger boat, Bucks Lake is a high mountain haven that’s easy to access, blissfully uncrowded, and surrounded by sandy beaches, picnic areas, pines, and aspens.

    View
  4. Surfboards and tents for shade are set up on the beach at Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area in the Swim Lagoon Area

    Switchbacks and Swimming Holes

    Hike hard, play hard! This 7-mile out-and-back in Cull Canyon Regional Recreation Area is a great workout with payoff vistas and a relaxing post-hike picnic and dip in the water.

    View

Trending Stories SoCal

View all Stories
  1. Bear Hug

    This 5.5-mile loop through Coyote Lake-Harvey Bear Ranch County Park explores one of the newest segments of the acclaimed Bay Area Ridge Trail, one redolent with trees ranging from madrone and manzanita to buckeye and blue elderberry (with a bubbly post-hike bonus).

    View
  2. Two kayakers on Upper Klamath Basin on tour with Sky Lakes Wilderness Adventures

    Zen & the Art of Kayaking

    It’s the most meditative and relaxing experience you’ll ever have on a kayak. Yes, you read that right, a Zen experience on a kayak. It all happens in beautiful Klamath County when you head out on a guided tour with Sky Lakes Wilderness Adventures.

    View
  3. A Rose in the Pines

    A crackling fire, a bottle of wine, a bubbling Jacuzzi tub with a waterfall … now the big question: Marvin Gaye tunes or not? In the morning (ahem) it's breakfast in bed and a leis

    View
  4. Alex Villicana, Villicana Winery and Re:Find Distillery

    Locals' Feature: Alex Villicana

    Tech booms, AI revolutions, okay that’s all fine, but you wanna know what else is really cool? Being a pioneer in a world-famous industry that—in Paso Robles—remains solidly down to earth. When Alex Villicana established Villicana Winery in 1993, he clearly had grape expectations...

    View