Saturday, March 6, 9:30 am
One Day Only!
Frazier Park
~70 mi. north of downtown Los Angeles via I-5
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It might be fun if the chefs among us want to plan a cookout, even for the day trippers! If anyone is interested in hosting/preparing a cookout/barbeque, let me know! Hint, hint....
Camping is optional, and the trip officially ends at the Campground, about 10 minutes from the tarmac Route 95.
USFS Mt. Pinos Ranger Station, Frazier Park, CA, at 9:30 am
North on the 5 to Frazier Mountain Park Road (Route #95). This is the exit after Gorman. Go west on #95 to Lake of the Woods, and be sure to turn left onto Lockwood Valley Road. Proceed approx 1 mile to the Mt. Pinos Ranger Station.
The Cuyama Badlands are a series of semi-forested/open terrain canyons to the west of Frazier Park and Lockwood Valley, and north of Ojai. We will travel approx. 20 miles from the meeting point by blacktop to Route 33. (Route 33 comes up from Ojai but is a slow route due to twisting topography. Recommended for a leisurely Sunday tarmac drive with lunch in Ojai -- but not on this trip!)
We will start with an exploration of the wide open Cuyama River corridor sand wash. This is big country, amazing views, sprawling ranches to the west rolling up against 6000' Mt. Cuyama. This is a 7 mile dead end wash in both directions, but plenty of room to make your own path through the sand, rocks and river grasses.
Next we'll ascend Apache Canyon to it's dead end at Nettle Campground. This is a beautiful closed canyon, and Nettle Camp should have flowing water. This is one-way and we'll turn around and return to Highway 33.
North on 33 to Quatal Canyon, another dry wash with plenty of track possiblities and room to play in the sand. Lunch will be in either Apache or Quatal Canyons. Quatal has a side road that runs parallel to the wash, and once we reach the dead end we'll exit north by fire road, across Route 95, to assault Brush Mountain. This is a 4.5 mile loop road with two magnificent vistas, one at each end. The vegatation changes here to tall pine forest. There is a semi-difficult hill climb to reach the summit of Brush Mountain, but it's worth the effort, as this is one of the most remarkable overlooks to the San Andreas Fault that I have seen. If we time it right, we might wait here for sunset, then make our way (15 minutes) back to the Marian Campround (no reservations, primitive) where those that wish to camp for the night can set up.
Doug Walker (#474)
Cell Phone: 323-481-2854