Finding fantastic adventure a couple hours from the shop above Ojai.

Chris, Jay and Rover took off for Pine Mountain after the bicycle shop closed for the evening on Tuesday at 6 PM.  Deliberately without bikes, partly because of Rover and partly to hike, the trio went north.  After a very nice dinner in downtown Ojai, and a very winding road for about an hour and a half, the group decided on a camp surrounded by boulders at Reyes Peak.

At about 10  PM, camp was set up in the dark.  (camp was two normal sized tents.  Rover was bunking with Chris and needs his space.

A long exposure with little light of the campfire. Cool photo of Chris’s soda.

Chris waited patiently.

With the light of the campfire, Chris got the photo going and Jay stayed still. Chris ran in for the last few moments the aperture was open. Ideally, he wanted to look like a ghost.

Chris and Jay had some fun with photography.  Running in and out of photos with the aperture opened slightly and a long shutter opening, some ghostly images.   An hour of campfire fun and then off to the tents.

The campsite was surrounded by boulders that essentially appeared in the morning.

Chris boiled water for his coffee with the new enamel mugs from the shop. For $9.95, a great camping piece of equipment. In fact, perfect for this short adventure.

Rover loves to camp.

Breakfast was oatmeal. FYI, the forest adventure pass was required, but that was it. The National Forest has amazing camping places all over the state.

Camp was ideal.  We got up about 7 AM, made coffee and had oatmeal.  There was an outhouse a half mile down the road and views from our site and more across the road.  About 7 campsites in the immediate area with another 10 about 5 miles away.

A dirt road lead to the trailhead of Reyes Peak.

We drove to the trailhead and there was a map and another bathroom.  We basically took off about 10 AM for any adventure.  We found a fairly steep trail to the summit of Reyes Peak. The weather was about 72 degrees the whole time. Perfect weather.

We stopped for photos along our hiking trip for the incredible scenery in every direction.   Basically it was fantastic.  The peak is the highest in the area.   You can seen down to Ojai in one direction, the ocean in the distance and it looked like the Channel Islands.   You can see Mnt. Pinos and the Sespe Wilderness all around. We think we might have seen a couple condors.  

At the very top of Reyes Peak, it looked like a structure once existed There were some iron bars in the rocks,  and it looked like an abandoned bed springs plus some random metal boxes (perhaps ammunition for WWII ?)    We also read the geological marker that says if you have questions, ask the director in Washington DC.  Things might have been easier in the 1940s.

With an amazing day of hiking and exploring, the trio headed back to Topanga for the next adventure. (Naturally coffee and mid day snack occurred, but no photos.)

Sean took care of the dogs while we went riding.

o