Enter Arroyo Verde Park (intersection of Foothill and Day). Pass through the gate and park on the side of the road. Walk across the field and begin at the picture below. Since the park charges on the weekend, you can find a spot on the street and then walk into the park. For this clue, be prepared to hike about an 1/8th of a mile round trip with 5 foot elevation gain (it's easy).
Trailhead at the front western portion of the park
Enter here
From the trailhead turn left and up to the opening in the fence
Climb over a branch and behind the tree...
I dug a small hole behind the tree and found an old beer bottle. There was no magical note inside. I replaced the beer bottle with the Seal Treasure as seen in the picture above. I then buried it a centimeter deep and covered some straw grass over it. I found a white circular marker and placed that on top. This should be very easy to find. Read the clue and then please place the clue back where you found it.
Well, that took all of five minutes. Since you're here, go hiking!
Target: The Bridge. When I began my hike this day, I wasn't sure exactly where I was going to end up. Thus, I did not take a picture of the bridge from a distance. However, searching my blog I found one: Day 69: Pic of Bridge
**The treasure is not hidden at the bridge, please follow the blog. Since I started up top, I did not snap a shot of the trailhead you should use. There are a couple of different ways that you could enter the trail; my suggestion is to begin near the back of the park where I hiked on DAY 163
If you start from here stay on the main trail the entire time. Do not veer off. About 3/8ths of a mile in you will reach a right turn, take it! You'll want to do this anyway because if you keep going straight, it will lead you up a gnarly incline (The upper Northwest Loop Trail).
You will immediately pass another trail that loops back to the right. Follow the main trail forward and you will begin to increase elevation. After you round a turn, look for a split off to the right, as seen in the picture below:
Begin your climb here to the left
Looking back down, comeon Sammi
After the first 20 feet, the path is suitable for anyone
Look for this bush on the left (about 2/3rds of the way up)
On the back side of the push you should find the Seal Treasure. Open the clue here, read it and please secure it back in the bottle and leave it for the next challenger.
Well, you came this far, may as well go all the way:
Looking back at the Treasure Bush and the hill we climbed!
Sammi made it up first. Turn left to the bridge
Follow the fence line for about 50 feet and you will run into the bridge. If you brought your lunch, this would be a good place to kick back and enjoy the views. If it's not hazy, the Islands are magnificent from here. Once you are done, you can explore further, hike to the radio stations or turn back. You will need to overlap the private property if you proceed further. **When Sammi and I hiked back, we followed the fence line further and found a much easier way down to another portion of the trail:
It's a little steep, but it's short
Down to the real trail
About 10 feet over is a longer and sandier trail that leads back up. Alyssa and I took this last month. We called it the Sand Slides. Slide down on one foot or your butt; pretty cool.
Back to the neighborhood. The Islands are climbing out of the clouds. Awesome!
Another 3 mile hiking adventure running the trails behind the house. We took the main route and I noticed a side trail that I have not tried yet. I will save that hike for the next day. To make today slightly different than any other day, Jess and I ran down the Snake trail and rather than looping back toward our house immediately, as Ayden and I did the other day, we continued to the end. This inevitably led us to the same trail we always take but I did stride across a quarter mile of new dirt...
Begin at this trailhead at the back of Arroyo Verde Park
Whatever I did, I'm sure I have a good excuse!
After hiking about an eighth of a mile from where Ayden is coming up, turn left to where Sami is pointing. This is the main upper trail in the Northwest section of the park.
Go a little bit higher and round the turn, you will notice to the left a slight opening off the main trail. The wider opening goes lower; it essentially leads you back to either the trailhead or the baseball fields. I actually haven't hiked it yet; oh but I will! Today we are going to take the not so traveled narrow path higher. As you make your incline you will notice the baseball fields on the left.
Weave your way through. It actually isn't as bad as it may appear in the picture above. Also, it is quite short. You may notice the indent going all the way up the hill, but that is actually the main trail. This side path will loop back into it.
As you continue higher, look for the cactus in the picture above. You will be hiking from where you see Ayden, thus the cactus will be on your right. Immediately after the cactus, you will notice a small opening in this thick shrub. Take it past the cactus and follow it left. It's nore more than 12 feet in total length. Look down:
I'm banking on the fact that not many people come back here, although the odd rock suggests someone must have been here before. I decided that this would be a fair spot to hid my clue. Please read it and then tighten the bottle back up to leave the clue for the next challenger.
If you continue following the loop side path, it will lead you back to the main upper trail. The main upper trail will give you the option later to hike to the Radio Stations or it will loop back down to the main Arroyo Verde Loop Trail. Happy Hiking!
Ayden calls this rattlesnake canyon due to the trailhead sign. We have hiked virtually all of the other main trails at Arroyo Verde but this was our first visit to the snake. As usual, we started the hike from my backyard up top, which usually guarantees us 300+ elevation gain a day. For you, the reader, the easiest way to access the trails is by entering the park at the main and only entrance at Foothill & Day Rd's. By the way, I have never seen a rattlesnake at Arroyo Verde but I did once pass a hiker a while back who swore he saw a mountain lion...
**Saturday night, we witnessed the LA Galaxy beat Portland 3-0! It was my first professional soccer game since the Cleveland Force in the 80's and Cleveland Crunch in the 90's. Of course, those games were played in the small indoor arena at Richfield...
*Hey, I copyright the above picture. Classic; the most popular and highest paid guy in all of soccer and I snapped this pic. Awesome!
Day 161: Sunday April 24, 2011
This was a bad idea. Above Arroyo Verde by the Skyline gate, Alyssa led us off trail thinking that there was a trail; but there wasn't. We pushed aside some brush and hiked as far as we could. Domino didn't even make it that far as her immobile back legs nearly somersaulted her down to the park below. If we really wanted to, we could have pushed down to the true trail, but that would have left us wounded. As it was, we still have scratch and itchy issues from our effort. Bottom line, if you are going to hike down from the top, the best way to go is back to the center of the upper trail where Skyline turns to Topa Topa:
Hiking the trail behind the backyards of Skyline.
(there is also a cement fire road that you can hike)
The Upper neighborhood meets Arroyo Verde
Basically, this is the route I take when i am hiking Arroyo Verde from my house. I usually retrace the first mile every time and from there, it becomes an adventure...
Twas the night before Easter... Alyssa's first successful visit to Two Trees; third visit for Ayden and I. Two Trees is becoming part of the holiday spirit. My last visit: DAY 11: TWO TREES.
Two Trees (From the Northern Backcountry)
The visibility was a bit hazy otherwise this picture would have captured the Islands. We hiked from Hiltop, same trailhead from Day 11. Over a two-our time frame, we hiked about 2.5 miles, +/-500 feet and ate lunch. There were many people up here today, including a father with his 3-year-old.
(From the Hilltop Trailhead)
New barbwire; can you limbo?
Literally, through the fence...
Dodging the cow poo, no cows on the trail today
The hills are steep; ahh, water the refreshment of choice
Fuzzy views of Ventura today
Bee's nest on the old tree, be careful
Rolling hills forever...
The Northern Route beyond the Trees...
To find the Seal Treasure for game 3130, begin hiking along the fence line to the North. It looks like it is an obvious trail, but really it isn't. Watch your step because the low brush is mixed in with a prickly shrub. We were all wearing shorts, ouch. However, once we were aware of this, it was easy to dodge. Being that it's spring and we had heavy winter rains, this growth is to be expected.
The other Two Trees in the valley below to the right
Down a small hill from Two Trees and back up
Once you reach this easily identifiable fence post, keep pushing forward to the next post. You may have to step away from the fence for a moment to avoid:
...the pretty, overgrown, prickly flower
The Water Bottle is placed here
Careful, don't prick yourself
There it is. Hopefully it will be there when search for it! Please read the clue and then tighten the bottle back up and place it back where you found it. Then come home, solve the clue and into your result on http://www.sealthebeach.com/
This fence post is only about a 5 minute walk from Two Trees. Good Luck and Have Fun!
