Santa Paula Peak

Hiked: 6/23/2021
Distance: 16.4 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 4957'
Prominence: 637'
Elevation Gain: 4681'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 3.8
Round trip time: 10 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 204 oz.
Parking/Fees: Free at Santa Paula Canyon Trailhead on Ojai Road
Difficulty: Strenuous

Santa Paula Peak (LPC #1) has been suspended from the Sierra Club Lower Peaks List for years. The main route went through farmland on private property and was shut down, allegedly as a health safety precaution. The alternate route was challenging, along the Santa Paula Creek East Fork, using an abandoned trail from the canyon to Santa Paula Peak. While it remains officially suspended, Peakbagger re-listed it, which was enough motivation for me to make the attempt.

My first attempt was on 5/28 and I forgot to load a GPS track, resulting in multiple navigation errors. I ran out of time and water the first time, turning back 500' below the summit -- farther away than it sounds. I learned from the first attempt and came back with multiple GPS tracks and hard won knowledge of most of the route. Navigation was difficult even with a GPS. There are three distinct sections of this hike. The first is an easy 3.5 miles and 700' climb to Big Cone Campground on a well maintained trail. There are several stream crossings along the way with plenty of shade until you leave the canyon. I dropped a water cache at Big Cone and continued up the East Fork of Santa Paula Creek.

Big Cone campground

Looking toward the punchbowls
The second section was the East Fork of Santa Paula Creek, roughly 3 miles and 1400' of wild canyon with an occasional use trail. While marked with ribbons and infrequent cairns, it was still easy to get off track. Parts of the East Fork can be difficult if you lose the use trail. Half a mile past the campground, I startled a bear bathing in one of the pools. The creek was noisy so it probably didn't hear me until I was close. It scampered up a gully, turning to watch me a few times before disappearing behind a boulder. I was glad it didn't run directly up canyon. At one mile past the camp, I ran into a lot of deadfall. Further up, light scrambling blended with bushwhacking was needed. There might be three ways to get around an obstable and it was important to choose the one that required the least energy. The reason is once you exit the canyon, you still have 2000' of gain to go. Every step got harder.

Deadfall obstructions

The last section goes from the upper canyon to Santa Paula Peak. The lower part of the unmaintained trail was criss-crossed with animal trails that were just as viable. There was also some ribbon branching away from the main trail; one branch is supposed to go to Cienega Campground. I followed some short switchbacks and two long ones, avoiding more deadfall and poison oak. The most recent reports described a long stretch of the upper trail as completely washed out. The Peakbagger report from Richard Luher mentioned a cross country shortcut he took to bypass the washout on the way down. I decided to take his shortcut both up and down. It was 300' up a 45 degree talus slope. With aid from a few trees, I bear crawled up the slope until I met the trail again. Since I didn't see the washed out part of the trail, I don't know if it was a good decision. I continued along the upper trail through dense and flowering poodle dog with unavoidable contact. Soon, I emerged at the north saddle with fantastic views. The trail wound around the east side of the mountain and climbed the east ridge. I had chosen the coolest day in the last two weeks for this attempt but still started to foam in the heat. The summit had the foundation of an old lookout tower. I found the slightly battered benchmark intact, and also an unexpected memorial to someone named Ned Treuenfels. Didn't find a register. The payoff in scenery was worth the struggle. I looked down over Camarillo and Oxnard to the Pacific Ocean. Santa Paula Canyon was far below. The inner sanctum of the Los Padres was spread out to the north. I spent 20 minutes enjoying the summit before starting the descent. It was six hours up, four and a half down. The scabs and bruises will go away. The memories won't.

First clear view of Santa Paula

Deadfall over the trail

Talus slope shortcut, photo doesn't capture the steepness

Nearing the summit

Santa Paula Ridge, East Fork to the right

Topa Topa Bluff, Cream Puff, Hines on the right

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Mount San Antonio via Devils Backbone

HPS Star Emblem Peak
Hiked: 6/19/2021
Distance: 6.5 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 10064' (3067m)
Prominence: 6224'
Elevation Gain: 2300'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.8
Round trip time: 4 hours
Recommended water: 68 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass, Lift tickets $25/person round trip
Difficulty: Moderate

Leisa and I continued altitude training by taking the Devils Backbone trail to top of Mount San Antonio (Baldy). This was Leisa's first time on the mountain. This would be my fifth time to summit and third different route. To save time, we rode the Sugarpine Ski Lifts to the notch and started from there. I had never been on the lifts before and I must admit it was more pleasant than walking the road. It was about 8:20 AM when we left the notch. There were several parties on the trail going up and down, but it was less crowded than Baden-Powell the prior weekend.

After an initial steep climb, the trail eased up before getting steep again below Mount Harwood. As we skirted Harwood, a lone hiker reached the top of Register Ridge and merged onto the Backbone trail just ahead of us. The final ascent from Harwood was also steep and multiple parties were sputtering up the trail. We weren't moving fast, but we made steady progress. When we arrived on the summit, there were at least 50 people milling about, maybe more. This was the most crowded I had seen the summit, but everyone was spread out and seemed to be enjoying themselves. We found a patch of gravel to rest on and I even took a catnap. Neither of us felt any symptoms of AMS so mission accomplished. We took a leisurely stroll back to the notch. We went into the restaurant looking for cold drinks but the line was too long.

Winter time death chute

Summit!

Baden-Powell in the distance

Starting down

Mount Baden-Powell Reprise

HPS Star Emblem Peak
Hiked: 6/12/2021 (x2)
Distance: 8 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 9399'
Prominence: 2977'
Elevation Gain: 2800'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.2
Round trip time: 4 hours
Recommended water: 88 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass
Difficulty: Moderate

Leisa and I did some altitude training on Baden-Powell. My last visit to this mountain was in 2013. We got to the Vincent Gap parking lot at 7:30 AM and took the last parking spot in the main lot. The place was swarming with people. Hard to blame anyone on a nice weekend. We got started promptly on the famous switchbacks. The number of people on the trail reminded me of a busy front range peak. There was no point on the way up where another party wasn't visible in front or behind us. We passed a dozen or so parties and were passed ourselves by another two. It was a zoo. Still, the trail was great and the pines and cedars soothed the social annoyances. We trudged up with only a couple of short breaks and arrived at the summit with 25 other people. The higher elevation kept us cool while a heat wave swept the lowlands. It was about 2 hours up, 30 minutes on the summit, and 90 minutes down.

Mount San Antonio

Hines Peak and Creampuff Peak

Hiked: 5/16/2021
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.

Crazy drive in the fog

Passing by Creampuff, we got it on the way back

Hines

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.

Climbing Creampuff

West ridge of Creampuff

Hines from Creampuff

Other Reports:
Cream Puff Peak (SVS), with Hines Peak and Topatopa Bluff (David Stillman)
Los Padres Double Delight

Palm Canyon Stone Pools

Hiked: 5/8/2021
Distance: 6 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 1617'
Elevation Gain: 1147'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 0.9
Round trip time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Recommended water: 40 oz.
Parking/Fees: $9/adult Indian Canyons Day Use Fee
Difficulty: Easy

We were in Palm Springs celebraing Leisa's birthday and Mother's Day that are close together each year. Leisa found this popular hike nearby. Since the weather was trending hot in the desert, we tried to start a 7 AM, only to find out the entrance gate doesn't open until 8 AM. We spent the hour getting extra liquid for the hike. For the entrance fee, you get a parking pass and nice color map of all the hiking trails.

We drove to the Trading Post, the trailhead for Palm Canyon, bathrooms available. The trail drops immediately into a large grove of palms that fill most of the canyon with shade. It's a pleasant walk beneath the trees following the canyon upstream. Each junction is well signed so there is little chance of getting lost. At 1.5 miles, the trial takes a sharp switchback to climb out of the canyon into the desert. The gain is spread over the next 1.5 miles where you drop down to the stone pools. There was water in the pools, but it wasn't flowing. We had the place to ourselves. Some interesing slots appeared to be further down canyon but it was warming up and we hadn't planned for any off trail exploring. We returned the way we came, and met several parties on their way out. One family of 4 asked if we had seen any snakes, and we hadn't. The youngest girl stated she had not "planned to spend her vacation in the wilderness" and that "this is torture", before she made a mad face and stomped by. New York is where she'd rather stay, she gets allergic smelling hay.

Stream crossing

Dropping back into Palm Canyon