Distance: 8.2 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 6716' (Hines), 6486' (Creampuff)
Prominence: 3196' (Hines)
Elevation Gain: 2987'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.4
Round trip time: 6 hours 10 minutes
Recommended water: 88 oz.
Parking/Fees: Gate code from Ojai Ranger Station
Difficulty: Strenuous (combined, cross country)
Last year, I hiked Nordhoff Ridge Road to get Chief Peak and Topatopa Bluff. Out of reach that day were Hines Peak (HPS #137) and Creampuff Peak. Hines packs over 3000' of prominence and is very remote. The closest public trailhead demanding a 20 mile day. The other option is to get a permit and gate code from the Ojai Ranger to drive Nordhoff Ridge Road. After a few tries, I got the permit. Sean, Cecelia, and Madison met me at Rose Vally Campground and piled into my truck. We passed through the locked gate and drove a nail biting 11 miles through thick fog to park below Topatopa Bluff. Visibility was about 20' and Madison had to get out of the truck once to tell me where the road was.
We started hiking in the clouds, but climbed above them after ascending to 6000'. From the junction to Topatopa Bluff, we could see Creampuff and Hines rising out of the clouds. Sean was not in hiking shape and was already talking about waiting behind. The group coaxed him into continuing at least to the saddle below Hines. We took a short break there to assess the ridge, then all of us started up. At the beginning of the ridge, there was a 25' knife edge section. It was about 1' wide but a sturdy tree had taken root on the ridge and helped get past it. The rest of the ridge had a faint use trail, very steep over loose dirt and rocks. The crux was a class 2 chute below the false summit where the angle and scree requried either a scramble or a bypass around a tree. Madison had to descend a little to show Cecelia how to continue. Sean got half way up, then decided he would wait for us. Near the top of the false summit, better rocks were available and preferred over the loose dirt. From the false summit, it was a short trip through and around a patch of buckthorn. The views were better on the ridge than the summit, enclosed on three sides by brush. The benchmark and register were at the high point, and a reference mark was just past it. After another short break, we started to leave when we ran into Sean who had gutted out the rest of the ascent. We went back to the summit for second round of rituals. After Hines, both Sean and Cecelia decided to pass on Creampuff.
Madison and I took off for Creampuff. We agreed to meet Sean and Ceclia later at the saddle. We dropped off the trail and started our second peak. We planned to head directly up the slope to a large tree, then angle left between the two highest points. There were remnants of a use trail on the rib that led into vegetation. Where it ended, I chose to plow directly uphill aided by shrubs and dead trees while Madison looked for a cleaner way. We both ended up doing some unnecessary bushwhacking. The best way up seems to be directly up the ridge. Like Hines, the dirt was loose with a layer of pebbly scree over bedrock. It was tough to maintain traction and often required both arms and legs for progress. I found my way to the summit coming up left of the high point. Madison arrived from the right. There was no benchmark, but a large plastic tub contained the register 10' below the high point. The register proclaimed it a Seldom Visited Site (SVS). The oldest entry was from 1999 and the register was less than half full after 22 years. It had more signatures than I expected, though many were repeats by Los Padres die hards. We spotted Sean and Cecelia waiting for us on the trail below. We descended directly down the ridge, plunge stepping and sliding. We followed the trail back below Topatopa Bluff and were mired in the clouds again. We braced for the long, slow drive out. Bonus: no one got killed. The round trip time does not include the hours of drive time from Rose Valley Campground and back. The Tacoma got a solid workout on this one.
Other Reports:
Cream Puff Peak (SVS), with Hines Peak and Topatopa Bluff (David Stillman)
Los Padres Double Delight
Good day out in the Sespe! Thanks for arranging this and being persistent about doing it.
ReplyDeleteMadison,
DeleteI'm glad you could go. Nice to check this one off the list. I've been wanting to get these two since I read David's report many years ago. It was nice that we didn't have to pick up the permit in person during the week.