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| Looking over HiddenValley |
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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| The Old Boney Trail snaking up the mountain |
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| Getting some sun |
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| 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.
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| The Windmill |
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| Deer on the way to the car |
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