This area was formerly Camarillo Regional Park, but was transferred from the county to the state with the provision that the state would take on all the use requirements for the area. One of these requirements is that a publicly accessible park be maintained. Apparently this does not preclude a parking fee because the general $6 per day fee for the university applies here too. Areas outside the gate would allow a bit of free parking, but has been marked "no parking". There is some free parking on Lewis Road, nearly a half mile away. Being with my mother, she chose to pay the fee rather than walk the extra mile. There is no toilet, the only amenity gained for the fee is a dirt parking lot.
But it is a pretty spot.
We park as far in as possible next to the model airplane airfield, then follow the gravel road further in toward the hills. Past the park is Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area land and past that is Point Mugu State Park. Connecting to trails within the state park has been a goal for a while, but I do not think it has been done yet. Today, we keep to the flatter ground in the bottom of the valley.
Following the gravel road as it turns to dirt and joins a few trails.
As we take our turns through the park, we come to some dilapidated buildings. These were a dairy that was part of food production and patient therapy for Camarillo State Hospital. They are a mass of graffiti now and have been slated for removal for a while.
The old dairy buildings are fenced off. The skeleton of an old barn.
We find a second route back toward the parking lot for a big circle through the valley.
Another look at the rocky peaks and buildings below. There are trails high up there and travel through the tall grasses without trails may be possible.
Some information about the park can be found here.
Kings Canyon National Park Sequoia National Forest Giant Sequoia National Monument Click for map. DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 It was another mild night, but the mosquitoes very nearly vanished early on into it. The sun comes quickly here and the morning golden hour is really quite something. I enjoy it with breakfast and happily the mosquitoes seem to be slow to wake up. Our northerly view from near camp: the morning sun as it hits Ball Dome. Morning over Ranger Lake. We head out to the trail again and wander gently downward, still high above the valley bottom. The air seems a lot clearer today and the snow on the far mountains is much more defined. The snowy distances.
Little River State Beach, Trinidad State Beach, Sue-meg State Park, Humboldt Lagoons State Park Redwood National Park, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park Introduction The California Coastal Trail (CCT) is approximately 1200 miles of interconnected public trail following the coast from Mexico to Oregon. Or at least that's the dream. Currently, the trail is about 60% complete. In more populous areas, it often takes the form of boardwalks and multi-use paths marked by the swirl of blue wave crest. In rural areas, it may be pushed to the beach when that is usable, or to the nearest public route when that is not. The crest for the CCT marks a coastal access trail at the Lost Coast Headlands. There are thoughts of a route beside the ocean, but the primary route is substantially inland along Mattole Road for now. The beach becomes impassible in several places south of here and above the high tide mark is private property. The hiking trail rout
Six Rivers National Forest DAY 1 | DAY 2 (map link) Bluff Creek Historic Trail gets my attention as I zoom by because it is clearly signed to be visible from the road and the trail is obviously used and in good shape. Also, why is "Historic" stuck in there? (Besides the obvious, the Forest Service simply says, "Gateway to Bigfoot Country" , which doesn't seem particularly unique along the Bigfoot Scenic Byway.) It doesn't get my attention when I'm looking at a map because it just offers about 1.5 miles of connecting the highway to Slate Creek Road, a paved road that leaves the highway a short distance northeast of the trail. However, further along in the same direction and connected by an unimproved road is "Wright Place (site)" which sits next to Bluff Creek. The trail is numbered, the road is not. While it is tempting to think that an old road is bigger and therefore more likely to be passable, it doesn't really work out that wa
Loleta Community Park ( map link ) I've seen that this hike is detailed in a couple news articles and blog posts and YouTube videos and Hiking Humboldt volume 2 and that it even has a geocache along it. It was seeing that the last barrier to the Great Redwood Trail has fallen and the right-of-way is now property of the Great Redwood Trail Agency (GRTA) that got me thinking more about it. It was seeing trucks marked "CCC" out on the rails clearing vegetation from the Humboldt Bay Trail , which is part of the Great Redwood Trail, that got me to come out and do it. On the drive here, I even spotted a sign claiming that the Humboldt Bay Trail - South was now under construction just south of the industrial park at Bracut. The north part of the trail currently ends at a missing bridge just north of Bracut. It all served to embolden me about this other little piece of the same right-of-way. The start of the trail in Loleta. In the newspaper articles, which are only a c
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