DAY 106:CAMARILLO OAK GROVE PARK

DAY 106:CAMARILLO OAK GROVE PARK

Date: Monday February 28, 2011

Miles: 1.5

Elevation Gain: 275 Feet

Time: 45 Minutes

Difficulty: Simple

Reward: Edumacational

Description: Hiking along a county park trail with signage and descriptions of local plants. **This is also a dog park.  Bring your kids & dogs for sure!

Where: Camarillo, CA

Directions:From the 101 Freeway in Camarillo, exit on Camarillo Springs Rd and drive to the Northeast side of the freeway.  Take the narrow winding road to the end and you will arrive at the park.  You may need to pay to enter on the weekend??  Drive straight to the back and park.  Look to the right:

The water spot in the upper left of the picture is bugging me.  I need a new camera!  The spot is even worse when I video record--- anyhow.  I didn't know what was back here so I figured that I would check it out.  Awesome find!

So that's what the itchy stuff looks like!

I'm still itching for 4 weeks now!!!

There are trail signs and arrows, but I took it backwards.  The trail will switchback up a hill and then off to the left spurs an unmarked trail, as seen in the picture above.

This trail leads towards the grade

Just behind this rock is the bottom of the Conejo Grade (101 Freeway).  The trail essentially ends and there is no good way to go further.  However, this is where a trail could be bushwhacked to connect to Mt. Rex.  There is also a lower route possible on the otherside of the park but it is fenced off as private property.  In addition to saving the seals in Carpinteria, I will raise money to connect Camarillo to Newbury Park.  One day, there will be a mountain bike trail from Camarillo to Wildwood Park!

While you walk along the trail, you will hear many animal sounds.  The picture above explains some of these sounds.  It's a dirty but interesting way to raise farm animals.

 

The entire marked loop is less than a 3/4 mile hike.  Venturing out to the grade will essentially double your hike.  The park is quite scenic and there is a fenced section to allow your dogs to run loose.  However most pet owners let their dogs run through a small field by the parking lot.  I noticed about 10 dogs here and none of them were in the designated area.  No big deal because not many people were at this park.  Have fun, the park is yours...

 

**Later that day I hiked an additional 1.5 miles  +400 feet with my wife, son and dogs.  Todays grand total was:

3 Miles  +675 feet