Four Far-Flung Adventures

from Ojai Magazine. Summer 2022

Shovels and Sagebrush

Hikes in the Ojai Outback

Story and photos by: PERRY VAN HOUTEN

Long summer days provide adventurers with plenty of time to explore trails deep into the Ojai outback. In these remote areas, you’ll need to be self-sufficient and prepared for heat, elevation and a lack of water. All four of the trails described here begin 40 miles or more from Ojai, north of Pine Mountain Summit on Highway 33.

**Along the trail to Lilly Meadows.**
Perry Van Houten

BOULDER CANYON

For hikers looking for a new area to explore, Boulder Canyon Trail is a bit o the beaten path, but well worth the time and effort. The 5-mile trail can be done as a shuttle from either end, or as an up-and-back from the lower trailhead, but I don’t recommend trying to descend it and then making the strenuous climb back to the top of the mountain. Whichever way you go, you’ll enjoy lovely Pine Mountain scenery and fantastic views of Lockwood Valley and the Cuyama badlands below. Park at the U.S. Forest Service station at Ozena, just south of the Highway 33-Lockwood Valley Road junction. The trail starts just east of the fi re station.

BEARTRAP CAMP

On the north side of 7,000-foot Pine Mountain, in the Sespe Wilderness, Beartrap Camp is named for bear-trapping operations that took place in the area in the late 1800s. The camp is located 5 miles up the Gene Marshall-Piedra Blanca National Recreation Trail, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet. The moderately strenuous hike to the camp begins at the Reyes Creek Trailhead in the Lockwood Valley area of Ventura County. To reach the trailhead, continue on Highway 33 past Ozena to Lockwood Valley Road. Go another 3 miles to Camp Scheideck Road. Turn onto this narrow, winding road, cross the Cuyama River (normally dry) and drive through the Reyes Creek Campground to the parking area at the Reyes Creek Trailhead.

**Towering sandstone formations above the Rancho Nuevo Trail.**
Perry Van Houten

LILLY MEADOWS

Here’s a far-flung adventure that begins at the foot of one of the highest peaks in Ventura County, 8,822-foot Sawmill Mountain. Lilly Meadows is in the Chumash Wilderness, on a narrow fl at along North Fork Lockwood Creek Trail. From Lilly, hardy hikers can continue to an old sheepherder’s camp 6 miles up the trail. The going really gets tough only in the final steep mile to Sheep Camp. Drive Highway 33 to Lockwood Valley Road and continue 19 miles to Boy Scout Camp Road, which dead-ends 3 miles up at a locked gate. Park along the shoulder of the road, but don’t block the gate. Average drive time to the trailhead from Ojai is an hour and 45 minutes.

RANCHO NUEVO

Spanish for “new camp or ranch,” Rancho Nuevo became the new home for members of the Reyes family, which had homesteaded near Ozena. The trail starts at Rancho Nuevo Camp and climbs moderately as it follows the creek into the Dick Smith Wilderness and a pretty canyon, beneath towering sandstone formations. I recommend going only as far as Deal Camp, at about the 2-mile mark. Take Highway 33 past Lockwood Valley Road and look for the signed Rancho Nuevo turn on your left. If the road to the camp is closed, you’ll need to park in the flat, shady area just west of the highway and walk approximately 2 miles on the dirt road to the trailhead.