Day 41: Reyes Peak Trail

View from Reyes Peak looking toward Ventura

Day# 41: Reyes Peak Trail
Reyes Peak Trail
Pine Mountain - Los Padres National Forest, CA
Wednesday, August 5th 2015
Time: 2 hours, 34 minutes
Pace: 41:47/mile
Distance: 3.69 miles
Elevation Gain: 715 feet
Dogs Allowed?: Yes

Directions:
Follow directions from Day 40: Raspberry Spring Trail
Continue past the Reyes Peak Campground to the end of the road where the trailhead begins in a dirt parking area. This road is a bit rough but I was able to drive to it in my Mazda 3

Map at the trailhead

Today was our second day on Pine Mountain and the flies where driving us absolutely crazy by now. My two friends could not take it anymore and decided to lay low in their tent until sundown to avoid the flies. To be fair, there where a TON of flies, but that wasn't going to ruin my hike. 

I headed down to the end of the road and set out on the trail. My dog Marley wasn't acting herself and seemed a little low on energy so I left her back at camp to rest with the guys.  Anyway, I started out heading straight down the trail. After a short while, you will come to a 3-way junction.  If you continue straight, as I did, it takes you to Reyes Peak. It is steep initially, but evens out and is a fantastic little trail to unbeatable views. 

Views looking north on the way up

Wildflowers along the trail

Looking toward Lockwood Valley

Views all the way to the ocean

Love the pine forests up here

Spectacular Views

Looking back toward camp, the road you see is the road you drove in on

Benchmark at the peak

 After finding the cache at the peak and locating both benchmarks, I headed back down the way I came to the 3-way intersection and headed north. This part of the trail is a great little trail that goes around the peak and eventually leads down to Haddock Camp, but today I just went a mile or so down the trail and headed back to camp. I figured I wouldn't keep my friends waiting too long so I kept it short and sweet today. By the way....the flies where almost nonexistent on the trail, I guess they should have come for the hike :P

Looking north