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Unfortunately for me, it's WAY west of where I live. It took about 90 minutes driving there and about two hours to get back (catching rush hour traffic). Also, the last bit there is slow and winding. I felt a little nauseated by the time the car stopped.
Following directions I found elsewhere on the Internet, I took the 101 Freeway west, exited at Westlake Blvd (CA-23) and headed south. After about a mile and a half, the typical wide, suburban boulevard turns into a narrow two-lane road. At one bend, I took a wrong turn and inadvertently left Westlake. The "Not a Through Street" sign quickly tipped me off, and I got back on Westlake. After about three miles of climbing and weaving, Westlake merges into Mullholland Highway, westbound. But it's still a narrow and winding road there.
Just under two miles later, Mullholland makes a sharp right (it's signed); the "straight" direction is Decker Canyon Road. Less than 1/2 mile later, Little Sycamore Canyon Road will be on your right. You continue on yet another narrow, winding road. After about 2 1/2 miles, Little Sycamore Canyon Road turns into Yerba Buena Road. It's still narrow and winding.
Somewhere along the way, when the pavement turns lousy, you know you have crossed back over into Ventura County. The mileage markers on the side of the road will now say "VC" at the top, with a number that gets smaller as you proceed. Not long after you pass "VC 8.0," you'll see a very obvious trailhead on the right. There's a large parking area across the highway (on your left). Park there.
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If the box is empty, then you're out of luck, unless you already printed out a copy of the brochure at this conveniently-provided link. Other Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area brochures are available here.
If you just want to bag Sandstone Peak, the direct trail from trailhead is given as three miles. But this is a long way to have driven for a three mile hike, so I decided to do the Mishe Mokway Trail-Backbone trail loop to Sandstone Peak. The brochure gives a 6 mile roundtrip distance for the Mishe Mokwa to Sandstone Peak hike. Signs on the trail say it's a 1 mile roundtrip detour if you also add Tripeaks (which I did).
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After about 1.5 miles, you'll see Balanced Rock to your right, across the drainage. The rocks here look old and worn.
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The trail then heads up yet another drainage. It also begins to dry out some more. I suspect that as you climb, you rise above the normal marine layer (there was no marine layer on this day, so I'm just speculating). My impression of drying out was confirmed, however, when I saw a mazanita bush to my right. Hadn't seen any other mazanitas until this part of the trail.
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Upon seeing a sign for Tripeaks, and having a recollection of reading about this detour on Modern Hiker dot com, I took the detour.
It was getting pretty hot, and parts of the climb were steep. But since you're at low altitude and it wasn't THAT hot, I pushed on.
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The view at the top was worth it. Most of the view is towards the west and northwest (That's the shot at the top of this post). I could hear the rumble of what sounded like a military jet, flying out of Point Magu NAS. I could also see some expansive agricultural lands, probably where some of my summer strawberries grew up. :D Several Channel Islands were further off in the distance.
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Continued on to Sandstone Peak. The last bit there is also pretty steep. There are several "use trails" that provide alternative routes up, but I took the signed, official way up. Views from here were panoramic, as you're on top of the tallest point in the Santa Monica Mountains.
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The last bit of trail runs parallel, but above and to the west, of the Mishe Mokwa Trail that the day's adventure began on. While walking the short connector segment between the Sandstone Peak Trail and Mishe Mokwa Trail, I passed two young men, heading the other way. They were the first two people I saw on the trail all day. I also saw two other young men coming off the trail back in the parking lot, when I started my hike. Also, on the register on Sandstone Peak, I saw one other name for the day. All in all, that's not a lot of foot traffic for a well-known trail in southern California. But, after all, it is a heck of drive for us living on the Eastside, and it was a weekday.
No picture of Skull Rock :)
ReplyDeleteI'm replying to your comment from my post:
http://www.calihike.blogspot.com/2013/01/day-803-split-rock-skull-rock-balanced.html
As this trail is quite far from your houese, it's relatively close to mine. We are in different areas yet we cover much of the same ground. One of these days, we'll prolly run into each other on the trail. Heck, better you than that snake!
That's 'cause I visited this other Skull Rock, in Topanga State Park. It looked more skull-like to me!
ReplyDeleteI was surprised to discover I had done the Sandstone Peak hike so long ago. Sure doesn't seem like it!