Santa Paula Canyon Hike

On April 27, 2008 we got up early (at least we considered it early) and drove towards Santa Paula, CA. Sunday's hike was Santa Paula Canyon along the creek.
Peter was so nice as to organize the trip and guide the hike. The scenery along the canyon trail was amazing: I remember in particular pointing out all these different "beautiful, tiny" flowers a long our way... It turned out we picked the right time of the year, for everything was blooming and the creek was filled with lots of water (Although this may sound very refreshing, I like to mention it was very hot).
After the hike but before Peter's car's odometer hit 123456 (mi), he brought the difference between a Freeze and a Float to our attention! Very delicious, btw.

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Mt. Pinos in January

Well, what can I say: It took me quite some time, but I got the images on the web... The first photo gallery of 2008 is ready to be viewed. As always a password is required!

Note: You can easily download the images of the album.

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East Canyon Hike

Sunday, October 28 - right after the "fires" we did a short morning hike at East Canyon in Valencia. The group was small; the hike was steep... We had a great time!

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East Canyon - a local hike

Sunday Hike through Smoke

After eight years, I finally got a chance to go and hike Mount Pinos.
Mount Pinos is a mountain peak located in the Los Padres National Forest. It is the highest point in Ventura county at 8,831 ft (2,692 m). The goal was to reach the summit in order to enjoy a wonderful view. Who had thought it would end in a hike through smoke!

Unbelievable but true: We made it up to the trail head in the early afternoon on Sunday, August 19, 2007.
Everything seemed to be alright until someone in the group mentioned that a sign is up: Trail closed. ... After putting on hiking shoes and sunscreen we all went to read the message. Since people were coming down the trail, we decided to hike up anyway. We didn't know better...After a short walk we noticed the sky gets darker. The smell of smoke increased rapidly. A part of our small group wanted to turn around right away... we continued hiking up. But half way up we split into two groups: One part would proceed to the summit while the other part turned around and went downhill ... breathing in that air was definitely not healthy anymore.

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Panorama View of the scenery [ click for large image ]
More Links:
Mount Pinos [ Wikipedia ]
Google Search Result [ all about Mt. Pinos ]