cdog
04-17-2015, 05:25 PM
I go on a couple hikes a week and yesterday I hiked in the Santa Monica mountains by my house. The mountain I hiked is called Boney mountain, and at just over 2,800 feet, it is the highest point around here. One side of the mountain lies in the Satwiwa Indian preserve and the other side lies in the Pt. Mugu State Park. That area was burned during the 2013 Springs fire that destroyed over 24,251 acres. The area is just now starting to come back to life, although the scars still remain. I haven't been deep into the park since before the fire and it was amazing to see the path the fire took.
I started on the Satwiwa side of the mountain and took a more direct route to the top. This route, while being the most direct, is also the most challenging. Just getting to the base of the mountain took 40min of hiking. At the base of the mountain is a small water fall, or what passes for a water fall in SoCal. It took another hour and 20min to get to the top of the mountain. Halfway up the mountain though, is a small monument dedicated to the man who donated the whole park, Richard Danielson Jr.. The "trail" I took wasn't really a trail, at least not the whole way up. It was so bad at some points that I had to actually rock climb. I've been riding dirt bikes since I was 5 and I can honestly say the ONLY way to get to the top using that "trail", is to hike/climb. However, the views from the top are well worth it. You can see 360' around. You can see all of Newbury Park(my city), both Port Hueneme(where my dad works) and Pt. Mugu naval bases, parts of Westlake Village, and on a clear day you can even see the Channel Islands.
The whole hike took me 4 hours and 5 minutes. I saw many lizards, insects, and best of all I saw the resident flock of Nanday conures. There must be 500 Nandays in the valley between the peaks. I only came across two snakes, a California racer and a Southern Pacific rattlesnake, both are beautiful snakes.
I realize this is very long so if you took the time to read this, thank you! I wanted to upload pics but when I try it says load failed, I think they might be too large.
I started on the Satwiwa side of the mountain and took a more direct route to the top. This route, while being the most direct, is also the most challenging. Just getting to the base of the mountain took 40min of hiking. At the base of the mountain is a small water fall, or what passes for a water fall in SoCal. It took another hour and 20min to get to the top of the mountain. Halfway up the mountain though, is a small monument dedicated to the man who donated the whole park, Richard Danielson Jr.. The "trail" I took wasn't really a trail, at least not the whole way up. It was so bad at some points that I had to actually rock climb. I've been riding dirt bikes since I was 5 and I can honestly say the ONLY way to get to the top using that "trail", is to hike/climb. However, the views from the top are well worth it. You can see 360' around. You can see all of Newbury Park(my city), both Port Hueneme(where my dad works) and Pt. Mugu naval bases, parts of Westlake Village, and on a clear day you can even see the Channel Islands.
The whole hike took me 4 hours and 5 minutes. I saw many lizards, insects, and best of all I saw the resident flock of Nanday conures. There must be 500 Nandays in the valley between the peaks. I only came across two snakes, a California racer and a Southern Pacific rattlesnake, both are beautiful snakes.
I realize this is very long so if you took the time to read this, thank you! I wanted to upload pics but when I try it says load failed, I think they might be too large.