DAY 67: MOONRIDGE TRAIL, INDIAN CAVE,PARADISE FALLS & TEPEE AT WILDWOOD PARK

DAY 67: MOONRIDGE TRAIL, INDIAN CAVE,PARADISE FALLS & TEPEE AT WILDWOOD PARK

Miles: 3.0
Elevation Gain:  475 Feet

Time: 1 Hour

Difficulty (1-10): 2.0

Reward (1-10): 6.0
Description: A whole lot of scenic adventure squeezed into a hike that anyone can do.

Where?: Thousand Oaks, CA

Directions: From the 101 Freeway in Thousand Oaks, exit on Lynn and head north for about 2.5 miles.  Turn left on Avenida de los Arboles.  Drive all the way to the end and park in the parking lot on your left.

**MY 67 DAY SUMMARY:  236 Miles  +36,700 Feet**

PARADISE FALLS

Perfect hiking weather; low 70's with a gentle breeze under sunny skies.  Actually, the wind was a bit gusty at times, but 70's in January, I'm not going to complain.  I chose to hike the Moonridge Trail because, I hadn't hiked this one yet :).  The trailhead is to the far left of the parking lot once you drive in.  Most people will just shoot up the first hill but this hidden trail is quite nice.  Rather than following a dirt road like the Mesa Trail, Moonridge takes you down through some shaded and scenic areas.  

 

 Once I intersected the first junction, I turned to the left:

 

 THE INDIAN CAVE

Then off to:

 LITTLE FALLS

I ran along the Wildwood Canyon Trail until I eventually met up with the larger falls, as seen in the picture captured at the top of the Day 67 blog entry.  Although there were 20 or so cars in the parking lot when I started, not one person was in this area.  I hung out there for awhile to take in the beauty.  I eventually headed back up and out until I reached:

 THE TEPEE

 

I've snapped shots of this before from a high road and a low road on two separate occasions.  Finally, I was able to rest in the tepee and just stair up.  What a perfect day I reflected.  Wildwood is such a simple place to visit and hike, yet if you do it right there is so much to see.  There are picnic tables all over the place so you can plan a trip with your family and just pick a random place to chill in the shade and eat your PB&J.  There are more trails for me to wander through listed on the map, but there are even more uncharted areas to complete the Arroyo Conejo experience.  I'll be back...