Continued...
I was a little surprised that Patrick was willing to drive up from Dana Point
to join me for a hike in the Simi Valley area on a Thursday morning. The 2hr+
fight through LA traffic would have been difficult for me to endure,
particularly since the hike was fairly mundane, about 11-12mi, and one of the
two peaks we had already visited. Perhaps I underestimate the draw of my
charming company. It was somewhat of a rest day between visits with my sisters
who both live in the area, not far from where we grew up in Canoga Park. I had
visited Rocky Peak 8yrs earlier when I was chasing LPC peaks, but came back to
tackle an unnamed summit in the northern reaches of the park, twice the distance
to Rocky Peak. As I was eating breakfast in the van where I had slept at
Santa Susana Pass, I got a text from Patrick indicating the traffic was worse
than he expected and it would take him longer than expected. Not surprised
in the least, I had a few short hikes planned that I could use to soak up the
extra time from any delay in his arrival.
Peak 1,561ft
The north side of this summit is part of an undeveloped natural park on the
south side of Simi Valley. I parked in a small residential neighborhood on
Huckleberry Oak St and floundered about looking for an actual trail. I found
this on the way down (an old ranch road), but had to beat a path through tall
weeds on my way up to start. The informal trails/roads lead to several points
overlooking the valley but the highpoint is on the other side of private
ranchlands beyond . As if to emphasize this point, three
cattle were quietly grazing just beyond the fence when I reached it. Giving
them space, I quietly slipped across the fence and made my way to
where one has a good view of the Simi Hills,
very green this time of year, and a so-so view north to .
The whole
outing was less than 2mi roundtrip but that was all I had time for. I got a
text while I was descending that Patrick had arrived ahead of his revised
schedule. He was happily preparing an espresso in the back of his Grand
Cherokee when I arrived 15min later.
Rocky Peak/Peak 2,717ft
Most of this hike is along an
that winds its way north from
Santa Susana Pass to the crest of the Santa Susana Mountains. Much of the route
falls within Rocky Peak Park or adjacent open space areas. It is very popular
and the poorly developed parking area at is often full. There is
more parking available on the south side of the freeway overpass where Patrick
and I had met up. We spent about 4hrs hiking the park to Peak 2,717ft, stopping
first for the side visit to . We missed the well-defined use
trail from the south, but found another from the west that had some mild brush
and to deal with. The overstuffed summit log was
housed in
bolted to a pole, notable for the admonishment written in Sharpie, "Please
Do Not Shit in Box!" One has to wonder if the type of people that might actually
defecate in a summit register would be swayed by the friendly "Please". This
LPC summit sees a great deal of traffic and there are numerous books filled with
entries, none going back more than a few years. The summit has a nice view to
of Oat Mtn, the highpoint of the Santa Susana Mtns.
On our way from Rocky Peak we crossed paths with a
group of
7-8 volunteer rangers on bike patrol. The rocky nature of much of the old road
made it questionable whether a bike would make a better option to foot travel,
but they seemed to be having fun - all but the last guy who was older and had
a few more pounds on him that was walking his bike
up the hill some distance behind
the others. We had an enjoyable hike at a leisurely pace to the highpoint, one
of two closely-spaced hillocks vying to be the highest (we visited both to be
sure, no register at either). Just before reaching the summit, as we were
making our way from the road up the short distance of cross-country to the
top, I was startled by the sound of a rattlesnake in the grass underfoot. I
jumped to one side, screaming in a high pitched-voice while we watched the
healthy-looking 2-foot
disappear into the brush. Patrick had heard the
snake rattle before I had and wondered why I had continued on. I blame it on
the poor reaction times of Old Guys. The only other bit of excitement was the
interesting Patrick decided to scale during our return.
He made it look easy enough that I didn't feel the need to follow suit.
Pass Point
After returning to our cars at Santa Susana Pass we made a short visit to the
PB-only summit of Pass Point on the south side of the freeway. There are
several and that one can use right off Santa
Susana Pass Rd that lead close to the top. The
is not located on public lands but it appears to see regular visitations along
the various trails that thread through the hills here, overlooking the western
. The ascent took all of 15min and about the same
for the return. It was nearing 3p by the time we were done and Patrick was eager
to get back on the road for his return to Dana Point. It would not be a pleasant
commute, to be sure. I had only to drive a few miles to my sister's place in
West Hills, a much better way to finish the day...
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