The ridgeline trail in Lake Eleanor Open Space starts on Denver Springs Drive, just east of Westlake Boulevard. It has been closed twice this fall. On October 21, 2026, the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency posted a rain closure covering every trail and open space it manages. On November 1, the agency's homepage announced a closure again, citing "wet and muddy conditions."
Neither notice gave a reopening date, and that's the part worth understanding. Around Westlake Village, a trail's status after a storm depends on which agency owns the ground under it. The open space north and west of town follows one rule. The parkland to the south follows a different one. Once you know who manages which trailhead, a wet week gets much easier to plan.
The northern rule has no clock
COSCA manages the open space that wraps around the Thousand Oaks side of the valley. Its rain closure notice reads, in full:
"To protect resources, our trails and open spaces are presently closed. We'll post again when conditions are dry enough for reopening. Thank you for helping provide good resource stewardship!"
The notice sets no number of days and no rainfall threshold. The trigger for reopening is a judgment call that conditions are "dry enough," and the reopening shows up as a new post on the COSCA Trail Closures page. The agency's reasoning shows up elsewhere on its site. Its trail courtesy guidance says wet, muddy trails "are more vulnerable to damage" and tells riders to consider other options "when the trail surface is soft."
The closure covers the whole COSCA system at once, and several of its parcels sit right against Westlake Village:
- Lake Eleanor Open Space, with its one developed ridgeline trail off Denver Springs Drive
- Southshore Hills, the COSCA-owned land between Southshore Hills Park and Lake Eleanor
- Westlake South Ranch Open Space, 662 donated acres along the ridge south of Highway 101 toward Lake Eleanor
- Conejo Ridge, which links the end of Rimrock Road with the Los Robles Trail
Because the closure is systemwide, you can't drive to a different COSCA trailhead and find better conditions. When COSCA closes, every one of these closes together.
The southern rule runs on 48 hours, and only where posted
Head south on Lindero Canyon Road to where it ends at Triunfo Canyon Road, and the managing agency changes. Triunfo Creek Park covers 600 acres of oak woodland and native grassland. Its main trailhead and kiosk sit on Triunfo Canyon Road just east of the end of Lindero, across from Oak Forest Mobile Home. Its main trail is the Pentachaeta Trail, named for an endangered yellow wildflower that grows in the park. The park also connects to trails on the Westlake Vista parcel. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority owns and manages both.
MRCA handles rain under its own park ordinance, and Section 2.3 of the MRCA Park Ordinance works very differently from COSCA's open-ended notice. The agency's Executive Officer "may designate certain areas subject to an automatic forty eight (48) hour rain closure when such areas are prone to extensive damage following rainstorms." The ordinance bars anyone from entering or staying on parkland under a rain closure, and it requires closure signs at every affected site. The ordinance was last amended September 7, 2022.
That rule rests on three things. The closure applies only to areas MRCA has designated in advance, it runs on a fixed 48-hour clock, and it's announced with signs at the site itself. The ordinance also lets MRCA post special conditions of use suited to each park, and those carry the force of the ordinance too. At an MRCA trailhead after a storm, the sign on the ground is the rule.
MRCA also manages Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve, which is open in daylight to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. You can enter at the Victory Trailhead, at the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Trailhead in Calabasas, or from National Park Service land at Cheeseboro Canyon.
The local map, by owner
Put the two rules together and you have a working map of the trails closest to town:
| Trail or open space | Managed by | How access to start | Wet-weather rule on record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Eleanor Open Space | COSCA | Denver Springs Drive, east of Westlake Blvd. | Systemwide closure until "dry enough" |
| Westlake South Ranch, Southshore Hills, Conejo Ridge | COSCA | See COSCA trail maps | Systemwide closure until "dry enough" |
| Los Robles Open Space, 358 acres | City of Thousand Oaks | South end of Moorpark Road; also Greenmeadow Ave. and Los Padres Dr. | Check the trailhead and COSCA's closure page |
| Triunfo Creek Park and Westlake Vista | MRCA | Triunfo Canyon Road, east of the end of Lindero Canyon Rd. | 48-hour closure where designated, posted on signs |
| Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve | MRCA | Victory Trailhead; Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Trailhead | 48-hour closure where designated, posted on signs |
| Cheeseboro/Palo Comado Canyons | National Park Service | 5792 Chesebro Road, Agoura | No rule stated on the park page |
Los Robles Open Space is the one most likely to throw you off. COSCA's own page says the City of Thousand Oaks, not COSCA, owns those 358 acres. COSCA's Trail Closures page also covers the Los Padres Trailhead, though, so that page and the sign at the trailhead are the two places to check. The National Park Service page for Cheeseboro/Palo Comado lists Sulphur Springs and Simi Peak as destinations from the Chesebro Road entrance but states no wet-weather rule. The same goes for the Malibu Creek State Park page, which lists the Rock Pool, Century Lake, MAS*H site and Lookout Trail. If a park page states no rule, go by the signs at the trailhead.
The city's own test for a trail that's open but wet
An open trail isn't always a dry one. The City of Westlake Village's trail etiquette guidance gives a simple test. If you're leaving deep prints, whether from a hoof, a tire or a foot, or mud is sticking to your shoes or tires, the trail is too wet to use. The same guidance says to go straight through the center of puddles and muddy patches, not around the edges, and to obey posted closures.
Going around a puddle widens the trail, which is the kind of damage both agencies' closure rules are meant to prevent. This test matters most on MRCA land in the days after a 48-hour closure ends, and on any trail with no posted rule at all.
The ordinance language and closure notices in this post are general information, not legal advice. On any given day, the posted signs and the agency's own notices govern.
Where to walk while the dirt dries
Several of the city's own parks have walking paths with fixed hours, and none of them depend on a closure notice:
- Three Springs Park, 3000 Three Springs Drive, has both a fitness trail and a walking path. It's open to the public from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
- Berniece Bennett Park, 31800 Village Center Road, is a 4.9-acre park in the First Neighborhood with a walking path. It's open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
- Foxfield Park, 31965 Foxfield Drive, has a walking path and is open from dawn to dusk.
The Three Springs Park fitness trail is the best stand-in for a real workout on a day when Lake Eleanor's ridgeline is off limits.
When COSCA reopens, and what happened in October
When COSCA reopens, its access may look a little different from last spring. On October 19, 2026, two days before the first rain closure, the agency announced that access to the Hidden Rim Trail and the Hill Canyon Fire Road from the north side of Rancho Conejo Boulevard had been restored. It credited landowners for agreeing to the arrangement after negotiations. The rain closure came so soon after that the restored access has had little time in use.
The agency is also expanding the volunteer work behind those trails. COSCA has launched a monthly trail-work program with crews of about 20 volunteers for smaller projects across its system. Sign-up runs through the Conejo Recreation and Park District: click the pink "Registration" button and search "COSCA." Each event caps sign-ups to match what the project needs, and the Conejo Open Space Foundation offers alerts for upcoming opportunities. Wet trails are the ones that need the most repair, so the work and the weather go together.
Until COSCA posts a reopening, the Trail Closures page is the one to bookmark for everything north of town. To the south, check the signs at the Triunfo Canyon Road trailhead.
Nico Torres pays as much attention to the ground around Westlake Village as to the homes on it: which trailheads you can walk to from which streets, who manages the open space behind a backyard fence, and which routes stay usable in the rainy months. If you'd like that kind of detail behind your next move, Work with Nico.
