After Barbara and I complete a hike, we sit over coffee at Starbucks and brainstorm feelings/ideas (beach? mountains? short? long?) or just flip through AllTrails for our next location. We found this week's new-to-us Turnbull Canyon Trail in Whittier on a list provided by Habitat Authority, and decided to give it a shot. The hike itself is 2.4 miles, but add at least a half-mile to the total for the walk to the trailhead from wherever you're lucky enough to find a parking space—there is nowhere legal to park for blocks. We lucked out and nabbed a space on Turnbull Canyon Road a half mile from the trailhead. This is a no frills, chills, or spills hike but plain as it seems, Turnbull Canyon comes with an odd history. The land, originally settled by the Tongva, was claimed by the Spanish, passed to the Mexicans, and sold as a ranch to an American bank in the 1870s who sold this portion to Scotsman Robert Turnbull to raise sheep. Eighteen years later, the Quakers who settled Whittier talked him into selling. Soon thereafter, Turnbull, now the town drunk, died in an unsolved murder and the sympathetic Quakers named the canyon in his honor. In the early 1930s the canyon was the site of an unsuccessful, hi-voltage experiment to create rain. During the Cold War in the 50s and 60s, the canyon was the site for Nike anti-aircraft missiles. Then the rumors just got weird. Into the 21st century, a mix of strange myths, urban legends, tragic accidents, and alleged hauntings prompted one writer to call the canyon a "landlocked Bermuda triangle." As we hiked, we were alert for paranormal vibes and got nothing but sunny skies, soft breezes, and maybe a deer scrambling in the brush. Turnbull Trail is an easy hike surrounded by hills with cascading cacti. The first half of the trail on the way up is bordered by coastal sage and native grasses, the second part a grove of sycamores along a barely wet creek. Retracing our steps on the way back we spotted a white sheet draped on a bush for our "ghostly" laugh of the morning. A nice hike, better for a run, and, coupled with connecting trails, great as a mountain bike challenge—there's even a man-made "whoop" at the side of the trail in the first quarter mile.