Fortunately, within the last month, the North Pacific has decided to produce a storm or two, sending rideable swell to the California coast. This has come to take up most of my free time within the last few weeks, and thus my terrestrial adventures (hiking and camping) have taken a spot on the back burner.
Last week however, I decided to take a little walk. The waves were alright, but I decided to pass up the holiday paddle-battle at the point for in search of a little alone time in the dust. It had been a while since my feet had known the dirt, so I planned out a longer-than-usual hike. My day would start at the Victory trail head in West Hills, near Calabasas, and end in the Lang Ranch Open Space, in Thousand Oaks. This hike would essentially bring me from the Los Angeles area back into the city of Thousand Oaks.
I marked out the series of trails I would be taking, and wrote them on a piece of paper. I parked my car at the end point and got a ride to the Victory trailhead, beginning my hike around 11:00am.
The hike itself was very enjoyable. Starting on the L.A. side gives you a negative elevation change, which means that most of the hiking is over flat ground. However, there are a few steep sections along the way, and it should be noted that the elevation gain between the lowest and highest points on the hike is just over 1000 feet. The trails I chose to use went through grassy, oak peppered fields, before dipping down to follow a creek along a wetter, cooler area. Then the trees' shade gave way to a hot, baked landscape in the upper areas, along the crest of the range the hike followed. At the end, we dip back down into and oak woodland before finishing the hike along another creek leading out of the Lang Ranch open space.
If you choose to take on this challenge, make sure to know exactly where you are going. I wish that I had invested in a GPS when I got lost and ended up at a dead end after turning down the wrong trail 3.5 miles prior. (I didn't turn around, but chose to let my dog lead the way along a coyote trail. We trekked through the brush for another 2 miles until we reached the other side of a small ridge, and made it back to the trail we were supposed to be on. For my adventurous spirit, I was awarded one deer antler by mother nature.)
If you take the most direct set of trails, expect this hike to be slightly over 12 miles long. For a reference, I left around 11:00am and finished just before 5:00pm, right after the sun had set. (I'm glad I took the coyote trail instead of backtracking to get around, it would've been dark long before I finished, and I hadn't thought to bring a head-lamp or flashlight.)
If you live in the Los Angeles or Ventura County, and you are a strong hiker with a day to kill. I strongly suggest this hike. There are more than a few places along this hike where the only sign of humans is the trail you are walking on. The entire range this hike traverses is surrounded by cities on all sides, but when there are no planes passing overhead, you can't hear any of it -- no traffic or freeway, no construction, none of society's noise. It really is refreshing and grounding to stop and think about how the world originally looked and sounded.
Last week however, I decided to take a little walk. The waves were alright, but I decided to pass up the holiday paddle-battle at the point for in search of a little alone time in the dust. It had been a while since my feet had known the dirt, so I planned out a longer-than-usual hike. My day would start at the Victory trail head in West Hills, near Calabasas, and end in the Lang Ranch Open Space, in Thousand Oaks. This hike would essentially bring me from the Los Angeles area back into the city of Thousand Oaks.
I marked out the series of trails I would be taking, and wrote them on a piece of paper. I parked my car at the end point and got a ride to the Victory trailhead, beginning my hike around 11:00am.
The hike itself was very enjoyable. Starting on the L.A. side gives you a negative elevation change, which means that most of the hiking is over flat ground. However, there are a few steep sections along the way, and it should be noted that the elevation gain between the lowest and highest points on the hike is just over 1000 feet. The trails I chose to use went through grassy, oak peppered fields, before dipping down to follow a creek along a wetter, cooler area. Then the trees' shade gave way to a hot, baked landscape in the upper areas, along the crest of the range the hike followed. At the end, we dip back down into and oak woodland before finishing the hike along another creek leading out of the Lang Ranch open space.
If you choose to take on this challenge, make sure to know exactly where you are going. I wish that I had invested in a GPS when I got lost and ended up at a dead end after turning down the wrong trail 3.5 miles prior. (I didn't turn around, but chose to let my dog lead the way along a coyote trail. We trekked through the brush for another 2 miles until we reached the other side of a small ridge, and made it back to the trail we were supposed to be on. For my adventurous spirit, I was awarded one deer antler by mother nature.)
If you take the most direct set of trails, expect this hike to be slightly over 12 miles long. For a reference, I left around 11:00am and finished just before 5:00pm, right after the sun had set. (I'm glad I took the coyote trail instead of backtracking to get around, it would've been dark long before I finished, and I hadn't thought to bring a head-lamp or flashlight.)
If you live in the Los Angeles or Ventura County, and you are a strong hiker with a day to kill. I strongly suggest this hike. There are more than a few places along this hike where the only sign of humans is the trail you are walking on. The entire range this hike traverses is surrounded by cities on all sides, but when there are no planes passing overhead, you can't hear any of it -- no traffic or freeway, no construction, none of society's noise. It really is refreshing and grounding to stop and think about how the world originally looked and sounded.
RSS Feed