Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, California (Google Maps ⧉, OpenStreetMap ⧉)

"I drove through Topanga Canyon, fifteen miles from the Valley to the coast (like Switzerland after the A-bomb, some friend of mine had said years before), hands sweating on the steering wheel as I took the curves, and had to think that maybe I wasn’t ready for the Canyon; maybe I just didn’t have the nerve."

"Of course, some days went better than others. He tried to confine himself to the flora and fauna of Topanga Canyon and the surrounding mountains, but increasingly he found himself brooding over the fate of the pupfish, the Florida manatee and the spotted owl, the ocelot, the pine marten, the panda."

"and finally up over the dry Valley-side swell of Topanga Canyon and into the cleft of the creekbed."

"Delaney watched it from behind the police barrier at the top of Topanga Canyon, his wife, stepson and mother-in-law at his side."

"I drove out to Topanga Canyon that night and parked near an old deserted carnival that still stood, alone in a valley, empty, quiet."