DAY 22: ROCKY OAKS
2 Miles +200 Feet
22 Day Summary: 82.5 Miles +16,150 Feet
After the rain last night, I was looking for some place to hike today that would appreciate god's moisture. Found it! Rocky Oaks is a quaint little place, a perfect spot to bring the family to feed the ducks and have a picnic. The trails are very short and easy but the reason I came today was to smell the fresh sage.
It was once again abnormally cool today, for Southern Cal. No complaints though, with a temperature around 55 at hike time, my parents a battling winds, snow and highs in the mid 20's today.
Rocky Oaks is about 15 minutes from work. From Thousand Oaks, take the 101 Freeway South toward LA and exit Kanan. This area is about 3 minutes from the Backbone hike that I did the other day. Take Kanan south toward the mountains and ocean. Go thru the first two tunnels and turn right on Mulholland Highway. Immediately on the right you will see:
The gate was locked so I had to park on Mulholland.
Trailhead for the Rocky Oaks Loop 1.1 miles
Trailhead for the Glade Trail
Well, I understand why the gate was locked. I can only imagine that during the storm this trail was a flowing creek. In fact, all the trails were. It was quite muddy! Good thing I didn't have Sammi. My plan today was to go to the right and then just keep taking every possible right turn until I reached the middle. From there I would turn left and then circle the pond. For once, my plan worked out perfect. I covered virtually the entire park in less than an hour.
Just checking, the water fountain works just fine.
If I were a crow, this is where I'd hang out too...
This is my summer home...
So there is a pond
Back to the trail
The moment that I've been waiting for; The Climb!
ooh boy, I can't wait!
10 seconds later, I'm at the top :(
That's one hairy rock!
It's worth it!
Check it out before you turn around...
I was board so I lifted that boulder up there
May as well go to the pond...
Pretty cool timing.
I just happened to catch the reflection of my summer home!
My new shoes!
This was a nice peaceful hour after work. I wouldn't mind doing this every day. Hmm, I guess I do...
like your posts. I'm just starting hiking. I have a few health problems so I'll start with the easy ones. Thanks for your blog and pix
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I can help! I hope hiking can help alleviate some of your health problems. By the way, I did rate this hike easy but on rainy days, this trail is anything but easy. Overall, it's not a difficult place to hike but I think a more fair rating would have been moderate. Most of my Easy or Very Easy Hikes will be much easier than this one.
ReplyDeleteTake Care,
JJ