On the Palos Verdes Peninsula This Winter, Rain Decides Which Trails Are Open

On September 8, Rancho Palos Verdes sent out a short notice over a photo of a muddy trail. The Palos Verdes Nature Preserve and Abalone Cove Park were "temporarily closed due to rain," and the trails "may remain closed up to 48 hours after the last rainfall." A second notice came the next day. The Preserve and Abalone Cove Park were open again, effective Wednesday, September 9, 2026, though "several temporary trail closures may remain in effect."

That was one late-summer storm and one day's closure. Both notices came from the city's Open Space and Trails Division, and this winter that pair could arrive again and again. The landslide set the outer edge of where Peninsula residents can walk. Rain now decides which days they can walk there.

The rain rule covers far more ground than the landslide

Most people know the Portuguese Bend backcountry is closed. Fewer realize that the rain rule reaches much farther than the slide. The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy counts Del Cerro and Portuguese Bend, Three Sisters, Vicente Bluffs, Alta Vicente and Ocean Trails among the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve lands it helps manage. When the city's notice says the Preserve is closed, it means all of those reserves, including the bluff walks far from the moving ground.

Here is the Preserve as it stands this fall:

Unless a reserve lists its own schedule, the Conservancy gives the usual hours as one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset. Abalone Cove is the exception, with its 9-to-4 day. Abalone Cove Park reopened with the rest of the Preserve on September 9. But a city staff report covered by the Daily Breeze in March still listed Abalone Cove Beach, Sacred Cove Beach and the beach below the Archery Club as closed because of land movement.

Day-to-day status lives on the city's trail conditions and alerts page, and the Open Space and Trails Division answers at 310-491-5775. Check that page before every outing this season. It isn't a one-time lookup.

Why the switch may flip often this winter

The city expects a hard season, and in October it made that official. On Oct. 6, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council unanimously proclaimed a citywide local emergency ahead of the El Niño storm season, according to the Daily Breeze. Deputy City Manager Catherine Jun cited the federal Climate Prediction Center's outlook: "There's a 90% chance of (El Niño) becoming a very strong event in the fall and the winter, and a 75% chance of reaching historic strength." The landslide area has been under its own emergency declaration since 2023. This one covers the entire city, and it lasts 60 days unless the council renews it on Dec. 1.

Last winter shows what a single wet stretch can do. As of Jan. 23, 2026, more than 14 inches of rain had fallen at Rolling Hills Fire Station 56 during the 2025-26 season. That was about 103% of a full season's average, and 5.5 inches of it fell between Nov. 13 and Nov. 21. Under the 48-hour rule, a week like that keeps the Preserve closed during the storms and for up to two days after the last one.

The ground underneath is in better shape than it was, though it hasn't stopped moving. In August, the Daily Breeze reported that the Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex was moving 60% slower than in 2025, citing a city update from earlier that month. It was still moving an average of 1.1 inches per week. As of the March staff report, more than 12 miles of trails in the Portuguese Bend, Filiorum and Abalone Cove reserves were closed "due to landslide-related damage and/or abatement work." City Manager Ara Mihranian told the Daily Breeze in August that reopening them depends on two things the city doesn't yet have:

"Because if anything, we'd like to start to focus on rebuilding those trails. But we can't do that until we've stabilized the landslide and are able to receive some funding assistance, so that we can actually start to rebuild those trails."

He added that a very wet winter means more monitoring for "further erosion or damage to those trails." The closed miles will probably stay closed through this season. The open miles will close and reopen with every storm.

Wayfarers Chapel shows how long these timelines run. The chapel is still dismantled, its salvaged materials are in storage, and the grounds have no public access. In its June 2026 FAQ, the organization said it hoped to begin phase-one rebuilding in fall 2027 at a prospective new Rancho Palos Verdes campus.

Rolling Hills Estates runs its own trails

Rolling Hills Estates manages its own trails, and they don't appear on the Rancho Palos Verdes closure notices. The Stein Hale Nature Trail through George F Canyon is open, while the George F Canyon Nature Center building at 27305 Palos Verdes Drive East stays closed because of its aging condition. North of the Dapplegray ball fields, the Chandler Preserve has 27 acres of open space for hiking and horseback riding.

Weather still matters at George F Canyon, though. The Conservancy's guided walk there carries a plain "rain cancels." George F Canyon gives Peninsula residents a separate set of trails to check. It isn't a guaranteed rainy-day option.

November's dry-weather calendar

If El Niño arrives on schedule, the weeks before December may be the most reliable walking weather of the season. The Conservancy has filled them, and Palos Verdes Pulse rounded up its November schedule. These are the November dates on or near the Peninsula, with registration at pvplc.org/calendar for the walks and at pvplc.volunteerhub.com for the restoration days:

1. Saturday, Nov. 7, 9 a.m. to noon. Habitat restoration at Lunada Canyon in the Agua Amarga Reserve, focused on host plants for the endangered Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly. Students may earn volunteer service hours.
2. Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m. A guided George F Canyon walk with views of the Los Angeles Basin. Meet at the Stein Hale Trailhead and park in the dirt lot on the west side of Palos Verdes Drive East, about 400 feet south of Palos Verdes Drive North.
3. Saturday, Nov. 14, 9 a.m. to noon. An outdoor volunteer day at the 22-acre Alta Vicente Reserve. The work supports cactus wrens, California gnatcatchers, and the Palos Verdes Blue and El Segundo Blue butterflies, with Catalina in view.
4. Saturday, Nov. 14, 10:30 a.m. to noon. The Conservancy's fall native plant sale at George F Canyon Nature Preserve, on the west side of Palos Verdes Drive East about 400 feet uphill from Palos Verdes Drive North.
5. Saturday, Nov. 21, 9 a.m. to noon. An outdoor volunteer day at the 51-acre George F Canyon Nature Preserve.

Just off the Peninsula cities, the Conservancy's White Point Nature Preserve at 1600 W. Paseo del Mar in San Pedro has the busiest schedule. It hosts a free coastal birdlife walk on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 9 a.m., with binoculars provided. On Saturday, Nov. 14, at 9 a.m., a Veterans Day walk stops at a former World War II gun emplacement, and the Nature Club for Kids holds a bird morning with Raptor Events at 10:30 a.m. that same day. Its restoration days fall on Sundays, Nov. 8 and Nov. 15.

For something on Halloween itself, families can go to Promenade PV in Rolling Hills Estates, which hosts a Trick or Treat event on Saturday, Oct. 31, from 3 to 6 p.m. It has a haunted house, carnival rides, face painting, a scavenger hunt and a costume contest.

December 1 moves the action to Point Vicente

Once the rains start, one of the Peninsula's best winter routines doesn't depend on trails at all. The American Cetacean Society, Los Angeles chapter, runs its gray whale census from the patio of the Point Vicente Interpretive Center. Observers count during daylight, seven days a week, from December 1 through late May. Its season-end update said the count would resume Dec. 1, 2026.

According to the city's facility page, the Interpretive Center's museum and gift shop are open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The grounds are open dawn to dusk, and the museum asks for donations instead of charging admission. The same dirt lot serves the Vicente Bluffs trailheads. On a morning when the Preserve is open, you can walk the bluff and then stop at the patio to see the count. On a morning after a storm, when the trail alerts show the Preserve closed, the patio and museum hours stay the same.

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