Milt McAuley, Santa Monica Mountains hiking guru

“To preserve parkland, you need access to it,” McAuley told the Times in 2001. “Otherwise, nobody will vote the funds to acquire it.”  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

McAuley’s first book, “Hiking Trails of the Santa Monica Mountains,” debuted in 1980. He was one of 10 hikers who later plotted the route of the Backbone Trail, shown above in Topanga State Park, circa 1994.  (Brian Vander Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Segment by segment, the Backbone Trail grew, including this portion dedicated in 2002. Rep. Brad Sherman showed up for the dedication.  (Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times)

McAuley, shown here holding sagebrush in La Jolla Canyon in 1997, wrote a guide to wildflowers in the Santa Monica Mountains that featured 500 photographs and his own line drawings.  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

McAuley had a deep love of the land--and chronicled the flora on it. Here, he stands with giant coreopsis on the trail along La Jolla Canyon in Point Mugu State Park, circa 1997.  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Hiking well into his 80s, McAuley often could be seen on the trails, educating groups of hikers about the coastal wildlands.  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

“I always think of him as the Carl Sagan of the outdoors,” Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Superintendent Woody Smeck said of McAuley. “He was able to put the difficult science in plain English that everyone could respond to. He had a way of making the outdoors accessible, enjoyable and provocative.”  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

McAuley walks along a stretch of the Backbone Trail near Malibu Creek State Park in 2005.  (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)

For the upbeat McAuley, “every day was a good day for hiking, no matter what kind of weather,” said his daughter, Pat Romolo. “He always said that ‘hardships build character’ and every step hiked took your troubles further away.”  (Carlos Chavez / Los Angeles Times)