La Cumbre Peak

tagged:

Los Padres National Forest


Map link.

Had a plan to continue to the boulders on the west side of the pass, but managed to realize that the beach was also a target for my visitor so just went for one last quick spot so there would be enough time to hit the beach while it was still warm enough to stick our toes in the cold surf. The little loop of old campground road up to the lookout at La Cumbre Peak is a very quick stroll with the plus of having facilities at the top. A number of picnic tables are scattered in the old campground sites around the loop. We follow the arrows on the paved road and take the left at the fork to stay a little more in the shade on the minor climb, then turn the corner and there it is.

lookout built 1945 and going to ruin
Unfortunately, the lookout on top of La Cumbre Peak is also a ruin.

There are a number of benchmarks on the peak. The easiest to find is the lookout itself. More ordinary disks are scattered around the area as well, with one right by the road.

LACUMBRE station mark
LACUMBRE station mark, set in 1941 is just north of the road on a rock about 5 feet high. One reference is just south of the road on a much shorter rock. The other reference was in the platform at the bottom of the partly removed stairway.

After the lookout, we continue around the loop for the views, passing a hiker who looks to have come up via Cathedral Peak, a class 2 trail. The views are grand today.

Santa Barbara Harbor and Santa Barbara below
Looking out over the city of Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz Island.

Cathedral Peak
Cathedral Peak (near needle) and Arlington Peak (behind and larger) and a little bit of the trail that comes up over them.

Santa Ynez Mountains
Looking along the coastal mountain range from La Cumbre Peak to the west.

With a few turns, we find ourselves back at Camino Cielo again. Time for the beach.




©2014 Valerie Norton
Posted 29 June 2014
location: La Cumbre Peak, Los Padres National Forest, California 93105, USA

Liked this? Interesting? Click the three bars at the top left for the menu to read more or subscribe!


Comments

Post a Comment

popular posts:

California Coastal Trail - Arcata to Crescent City - hiking guide

Image
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...
read more »

Bluff Creek Historic Trail

Image
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...
read more »

Jennie Lakes: Belle Canyon and Rowell Meadow

Image
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.
read more »

Loleta Tunnel

Image
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...
read more »