Chumash Trail, Simi Valley

This weekend we went searching for a hike where Fran broke her leg several years ago. It's not particularly steep, but loose rocks combined with the distraction of nice scenery can be a nasty combination. :)

The trailhead is at the end of Flanagan Road, which is off the Yosemite exit on the 101 Freeway. You can find details about the trail on LocalHikes.com.

Here we go...

The trail is easy to walk on so you can enjoy the hike without getting lost.

Plenty of rocks & plants.

Fran points to the infamous point where she had a bad fall a couple years ago.

This group of rocks is on the right side about 3/4 mile from the trailhead. Lots of fun climbing around, and you might find a hidden object (hint: Geocache).

Fran is climbing around the rocks we found along the trail.

Marc posing on the rocks.

You can try climbing through this.

There are lots of homes being built in the area, but you can still find some great scenic shots.

Thanks to plenty of rain this season there are some nice flowers to see.

This point (the junction of the small trail to the larger one) is a 2.5 mile point.

The trail hooks up with other trails so you can hike all day if you want to.

We made it! No injuries this time. :)

Gaviota Wind Caves

We're still in the "winter storm" seasons of California (aka occasional showers and cloudy skies), which is nowhwere near what the East Coast is getting (see previous post), but does make it challenging to get out hiking.

This weekend we decided to make a break for it and drive up to Santa Barbara where we like to enjoy both walking around town and hiking in the nearby hills. I looked up www.localhikes.com and found a few good candidates. We picked the Wind Caves in Gaviota.

It's a moderate hike with great views of the surrounding hills and ocean, lots of flowers (at least this time of year) and the wind-eroded caves that give the hike its name.

Plenty of great scenery.

These are the second set of wind caves on the hike.

Inside a wind-swept cave.

The view back towards the ocean.

Runyon Canyon Again

This is one of those hikes you can keep doing over and over and not get tired of it. I had just flown back from the East Coast where a major snow storm was in full swing.

Here's what was going on in Plymouth Meeting, PA.

This was taken the same day I arrived in LA, on the Runyon Canyon trail.

That's the Hollywood Sign in the far distance.

This is downtown LA, but you can't really tell because it's engulfed in smog.

You can start up in the hills or at street level. I usually start at the top. To get there you take Mullholland from Laurel Canyon. The street trailhead is on Fuller St (near Highland).