Day 58: Chandler Fire Road

Burbank Airport from above

Day# 58: Chandler Fire Road
Chandler Fire Road
Verdugo Mountain Park-Sun Valley, CA
Saturday, August 22nd 2015
Time:  59 minutes
Pace: 25:06/mile
Distance: 2.36 miles
Elevation Gain: 568 feet
Dogs OK?: Yes

Directions:  
From the 5 Freeway(Southbound) in Sun Valley:
 Exit Sunland Blvd and continue onto Roscoe Blvd for 0.4 miles, then stay left on Roscoe Blvd
Turn Right onto Glenoaks Blvd and continue 0.4 miles to Lanark St
Turn Left onto Lanark St and continue 0.5 miles to Edmore Pl 
After 0.2 miles the trailhead begins at the deadend of Edmore Pl
Park on the street

Today I had to drop my Aunt who was visting from New Mexico off at Burbank Airport so I figured this would be a good chance to hike outside my normal area and find a new place. Before we left I looked at some maps and found Verdugo Mountain Park right on the other side of the freeway from the airport. I loaded in the information for the geocaches in the area and went to the airport to drop off Aunt Sue.

Sign at the trailhead....sounds fun

 After dropping her off at the airport I made my way through the neighborhoods to the trailhead. Parking was not a problem and I made my way onto the trail.  The trail is basically just a fire road that heads steeply up to the top of these mountains. I had to be at work later today, so I went a little more than a mile up and then headed back down.  Lots of people on the trails, but the views of the Los Angeles area where nice and it was interesting to see the airport from a birds eye view.

Heading up into the Verdugos

Heading back down toward the city

 

Day 57: Serenata Trail

Day# 57: Serenata Trail
Serenata Trail
Moorpark, CA
Friday, August 21st 2015
Time:  1 hour, 11 minutes
Pace: 31:36/mile
Distance: 2.25 miles
Elevation Gain: 222 Feet
Dogs Ok?: Yes

Directions:
From the 23 Freeway in Moorpark:
Exit Tierra Rejada Rd and head West 0.7 miles to Miller Parkway
Turn Right onto Miller Parkway and continue 0.6 miles to Miller Park, on right
Park in the parking lot for the park and walk northeast across the fields to the trailhead at the corner of the fields.

Today I needed a short hike and I had been eyeing a geocache in the area that took you through a tunnel under the freeway and it sounded like a fun little adventure. So I headed out to Moorpark and located the trail starting in Miller Park. After walking across the little park I headed downhill on the trail where I headed east toward the freeway. After picking my way through the network of trails and jumps for BMX bikes down here, I found the tunnel.

I made sure to bring a flashlight as I knew it would be dark in here and it was. It is always fun to find these tunnels that lead to areas that you normally would have no access to. All the land surrounding the area on the other side is private property, so this is literally the only way to access this area. 

After getting to the other side, I searched around and found the geocache I was searching for. I wandered a bit and checked out the area, but I didn't go too far as to not accidentally wander onto private property.

The other side of the freeway

After heading back through the tunnel I made my way back to the trailhead and then continued south along the fields to the other part of the trail that heads up along the hills above the park.  This is mostly a nice singletrack trail with some nice views of Moorpark and was an enjoyable hike.  I made a loop up here and then headed back down to the car. Easy hike with some extra fun factor of a tunnel on it made this a great day.

Prickly Pear

Overlooking Miller Park

Looking south at the farm fields of Moorpark

Heading along the ridge

Return down the switchbacks

Day 56: Ranch Center Trail

View from the top

Day# 56: Ranch Center Trail
Palo Comado Canyon Trail/Ranch Center Trail
Chesebro Canyon- Oak Park, CA
Thursday, August 20th 2015
Time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Pace: 27:44/mile
Distance: 3.83 miles
Elevation Gain: 1011 feet
Dogs Allowed?: Yes

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills:
Exit Kanan Rd and drive north for 2.3 miles to Sunnycrest Dr
Turn Right onto Sunnycrest Dr and continue 0.6 miles to Doubletree Rd
Sunnycrest Dr turns into Doubletree Rd and then you continue 0.1 miles to trailhead on right.
Park on the street

Today I spend another day gathering information for some geocaches in the area. These ones are multi-caches, meaning you have to visit more than one location to find them. On this hike, I would just be gathering the information for where to find the final locations of these caches.

I started my hike on Doubletree Rd at the trailhead simply marked Public Recreation Trail.  I headed down the trail toward Palo Comado Canyon and made a right once I got the the bottom of the hill.  I then turned left onto Ranch Center Trail and followed it up and over the hill to Chesebro Canyon, with a side trip to the peak at the crest of the trail.  This was a steep climb and was really tough in the heat today.  

Palo Comado Canyon

The top of Ranch Center Rd

Great canyon views to the north

 

Looking west back down the little side trail to the peak

After arriving at the peak, I headed to the final 2 caches which where at the bottom of the next hill in Chesebro Canyon.  I knew that by doing this I would have to climb back up and over on the way out.  This turned out to be a pretty tough climb from this side as well and I was pretty worn out by then end of this short hike.

Chesebro Canyon

Great views, but a lot of work to get to them.... 

Day 55: Hidden Valley Overlook Trail

Looking over HiddenValley

Day# 55: Hidden Valley Overlook Trail
Wendy Trail/Satwiwa Loop Trail/Hidden Valley Overlook Trail
Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa-Newbury Park, CA
Wednesday, August 19th 2015
Time: 2 hours, 35 minutes
Pace: 31:48/mile
Distance: 4.87 miles
Elevation Gain: 830 feet
Dogs Allowed?: No

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Thousand Oaks:
Exit Lynn Road and drive west for 3.9 miles to Wendy Dr
Turn Left onto Wendy Dr and continue 0.6 miles until it dead ends at Potrero Rd. 
Park in the large dirt area directly across Potrero and the trail starts in this parking area.

A nice day in the Conejo Valley so I decided to check out a trail I have walked past many times but never actually ventured up.  I started in the parking area at Wendy Dr and headed down the Wendy Trail toward the windmill.

Heading toward Old Boney, stay left at this fork

 
 After passing the windmill I continued straight onto the Satwiwa Loop Trail to the top of the hill where it connects to the Hidden Valley Overlook Trail. From here the real climb begins.

Really cool burnt oak forest just after the windmill

Once at the top of the main climb you emerge to a great view of Hidden Valley in front of you.  Behind you is a great view back to Satwiwa and the meadows below.  

 

The Old Boney Trail snaking up the mountain

Getting some sun

The Hidden Valley Overlook Trail

 I headed down a use trail from here climbing up the mountain a bit more on a very narrow track through the chaparral.  I was heading toward 3 caches out here that are a bit out of the way but the journey was worth it.

Once at my destination, you see some signs for Mountain Lion monitoring site and this is an area where they have apparently trapped mountain lions for research and to put radio collars on them.. It is a spooky feeling being all alone in dense chaparral knowing that this is an area the lions probably frequent. You really get the feeling you are being watched by something in the bushes here....

After failing to find the cache at this location...probably due to the overall sense of urgency to get the hell out of here, I headed to one final cache location and then back down the mountain.  A cool adventure for sure, although I feel like next time I come out here may be with more people for a better sense of security.

I enjoyed a fantastic sunset on the way back down the mountain and was treated to seeing several deer grazing in the meadows on the way back to the car. One even let me get within about 30 feet of it....way cool.  After taking some pictures of the deer it was an easy stroll back to the car just as it was getting dark. 

The Windmill

Deer on the way to the car

Day 53-54: Silver Strand Beach/Camarillo Water Tower

Day# 53: Silver Strand Beach
Silver Strand Beach
Oxnard, CA
Monday, August 17th 2015
Time:  53 minutes
Pace: 26:12/mile
Distance: 2.05 miles
Elevation Gain: 61 feet
Dogs Allowed?: Yes, except between 9am-5pm

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Ventura:
Exit Victoria Ave and head south for 6.7 miles to San Nicholas Ave
Turn Right onto San Nicholas Ave and continue for 0.2 miles to the parking lot at the end of the street. 

Today was another hot day in Thousand Oaks so I headed down to Oxnard, grabbed my dog and headed down the beach.  Silver Strand is almost exactly 1 mile long, so I headed from one side to the other and back again. My dog Marley loved running along the beach and meeting some other dogs along the way.  It was a bit overcast and gloomy but at least that kept it slightly cooler and made for a nice walk.  We even saw some dolphins on the way back to the car!

Info sign at the end of the beach

Marley running down the enbankment

 Day# 54: Camarillo Water Tower
Water Tower Service Road
Camarillo, CA
Tuesday, August 18th
Time: 1 hour, 12 minutes
 Pace: 47:48/mile
Distance: 1.53 miles
Elevation Gain: 187 feet
Dogs Allowed?: Yes

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Camarillo:
Exit Camarillo Springs Rd and on the north side of the freeway the trail begins just before the northbound onramp to the freeway.  I had to park down the road a bit to find enough space to get all the way off the road.

Today I was hanging out with friends in Ventura and needed to get my hike in on the way home. I saw some geocaches here on the map and figured this would make a good little night hike with nice views of the Conejo Grade and Camarillo at night.

I parked down the road a bit and started following the geocaches up the hill. This is a short but steep little climb to the top but the reward is great. The lights of Camarillo where great up here and looking the other way gave a great view of the cars snaking up the grade. After finding all the caches I headed back down the hill to my car.

The Conejo Grade

Camarillo at night

 

Day 52: Baseline Trail

Day 52: Baseline Trail
Baseline Trail/Lower Santa Rosa Trail
Camarillo, CA
Sunday, August 16th 2015
Time: 1 hour, 21 minutes
Pace: 27:04/mile
Distance: 3 miles
Elevation Gain: 177 feet
Dogs OK?: Yes

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Camarillo:
Exit Pleasant Valley Rd/Santa Rosa Rd and head Northeast on Santa Rosa Rd for 7.1 miles to trailhead on right.  Trailhead begins at a dirt turnout on a trail paralleling the farm fields.

Another short hike before work today. I headed down an easy stretch of the Lower Santa Rosa Trail by starting on the Baseline Trail off Santa Rosa Rd.  After a short stretch paralleling the road, you turn south and continue following the fields to a junction. At the fork you make a right to continue on the Baseline Trail as it continues following the border of the farm fields.  Once you get to the end of the field the trail rises up to the base of the hills and follows the base of the hill heading west.  Fun little trail with minimal elevation for a easy hike for all ages.

I continued down this for about a mile until I reached the last geocache I needed and headed back the way I came. 

 

Trail follows the farm fields

Nice singletrack along the base of the hills

Some old farming equipment

Trail continues all the way back to Wildwood Park

Day 51: Satwiwa Loop Trail

Views of Big Sycamore Canyon

Day# 51: Satwiwa Loop Trail via Wendy Trail
Wendy Trail/Big Sycamore Canyon Fire Road/Satwiwa Loop Trail
Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa- Newbury Park, CA
Saturday, August 15th 2015
Time:  1 hour, 13 minutes
Pace: 21:27/mile
Distance: 3.43 miles
Elevation Gain: 283 feet
Dogs Ok?: Yes

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Thousand Oaks:
Exit Lynn Rd and drive west for 3.9 miles to Wendy Dr
Turn Left onto Wendy Dr and continue 0.6 miles until the road ends at Potrero Rd.
Parking is directly across Potrero Rd in the large dirt area.
Trail starts in the dirt parking lot.

 Today I had to work down in Malibu so I did not have much time, so I headed to a close trail to grab a geocache that I had been meaning to get for a while. I started at the Wendy Trailhead to get some extra mileage in and headed straight across to the top of the large hill leading into Sycamore Canyon.  From here I took a small use trail along the ridge to the cache and some great views down into Sycamore Canyon.  I headed back on the lower portion of the Satwiwa loop to my car. I did not have much time so I kept a pretty quick pace to make sure I got to work on time.

Heading down the Wendy Trail across the grassy meadows

Old Boney coming into view as I approach Satwiwa

Looking toward the Fossil Trail that I hiked on Day 1

Use trail along the ridge to the cache

The windmill on the Satwiwa Loop Trail

Heading back to the car just after the windmill

 

Day 50: Cable Tower Hill

Day#50: Cable Tower Hill
Cable Tower Hill
Agoura Hills, CA
Friday, August 14th 2015
Time:  1 hour, 15 minutes
Pace: 35:50/mile
Distance: 2.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 419 feet
Dogs Ok?: Yes

Directions:
From the 101 Freeway in Agoura Hills:
Exit Reyes Adobe Rd and head north to Thousand Oaks Blvd
Turn Right onto Thousand Oaks Blvd and continue 0.9 miles to Grey Rock Rd
Turn Left onto Grey Rock Rd and continue 0.7 miles to Ridgeway Dr
Turn Left onto Ridgeway Drive and continue 0.2 miles to trailhead on left.
Park on the street, trail heads up the hill following the drainage canal

 Today was another quick hike to grab some more local geocaches I wanted to find.  I started out on Ridgeway Dr and headed up the little trail that follows the drainage canal until it meets up with the road heading to the top. I headed up the road to the top of the hill and then headed south on the trail until I reached the end. Just a short, quick hike with some excellent views of Agoura Hills and beyond.

Views over Oak Park

Ladyface Mountain

Heading down the trail with great views of Ladyface