Linking from bus to brush

Backbone TRAIL hikers, bikers and riders will no longer be forced to choose between cutting treks short or wheezing back to their parked cars. By June, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area plans to offer shuttle service to the trail and eight other sites on weekends and some holidays.

The shuttle system, called ParkLINK, connects with an MTA bus line and drops visitors at sites listed at www.nps.gov/samo/shuttle/. Park officials expect some 35,000 riders to pay fees for the year-round service, though the amount has not been determined.

Shuttles help hikers march farther on the 60-mile trail. Now trekkers park a second car at the end of their route or turn around and walk out the way they came.

-- Ashley Powers