Triunfo Canyon

Near a quiet stretch of Kanan Road lies a peaceful trail that feels a million miles away from all the trappings of civilization. There are few of the amenities or explanatory signs that are found on more popular trails, but that’s the beauty of a hike here. It’s a chance to reconnect with nature on your own terms.

The bench appears as a pleasant surprise after a moderate 1-mile walk across a landscape of rock formations dotted with native shrubs like ceanothus and California buckwheat. Take a moment to admire the slow but steady recovery taking place after the 2018 Woolsey Fire. A promising selection of native plants and trees has returned to the once-blackened hills. Wildflower seeds that depend on fire for successful germination are thriving. Life in nature is beautifully resurgent.

In 2018, the Woolsey fire blasted over the 101 Freeway, leaving devastation and destruction from the Simi Hills to the Pacific Ocean. Triunfo Canyon Open Space, at the edge of Agoura Hills, was right in the thick of it.

Today, native plants and shrubs are coming back, both from seedbank starts and from root sprouts. Hardy clusters of California buckwheat mingle with ceanothus shrubs and stalks of giant wildrye grass. Fire followers such as lavender woolly bluecurls, a member of the mint family, have also been spotted along the trail, along with heartleaf keckiella and California everlasting, a sturdy plant whose delicate white flowers produce a scent reminiscent of maple syrup.

Non-native plants such as wild fennel and black mustard flower are present as well. They love the disturbance a fire creates in the soil, using the light and gaps in native plant cover as a way to establish themselves. In rugged natural areas, revival can take anywhere from months to decades.