Being back in Southern Cal. for a short time, I just HAD to do a hike with Jorge. Unfortunately, Diana was not able to join us today, but she will be back big time, I am sure!! Jorge came up with a very nice hike just north of Ojai.
After a quick stop at Panera, where we picked up some breakfast items, we drove to the trailhead at a college campus. Jorge drove the Jalapeno, and when we got to a creek crossing we decided not to try and drive through the creek, due to the water being too high. After getting our gear together, we crossed the creek via a conveniently placed wooden board, so that we did not get our feet wet. A little further on the trail we had to cross the creek again, but this time we had to scramble across and downed tree and jumping to the other side. No problem with wet feet here either!
Shortly after, we took a left turn on a rough side trial (gully) gaining elevation quickly. Everywhere around us, we saw pretty wildflowers, and on a distant slope a large field of poppies. The trail meandered upwards towards our goal of Twin Peaks, which we reached after about 2.5 miles and almost 1,900 feet of elevation gain. At the peak, we had a beautiful 360 degree view of the surroundings.
After the break at the summit, we walked back down until we had a great view of the poppy field, and decided to take a detour to get a close-up view. Before getting to the poppies, we had to cross the creek another time, this time with the help of several logs. Before going to the poppies, we followed the trail to where the creek was flowing very strong. In my whole time to Southern California, I had never seen a creek flowing like this! The rain of the last few weeks really made for a beautiful sight.
After the break at the creek, we returned to where a number of switchbacks would take us close to the poppy fields on the steep slope of a hill. The poppies were in there full glory, and we enjoyed just being around them and taking numerous pictures. Shortly after, we hiked back down to cross the creek again, this time loosing my balance of the slippery logs, and getting my feet wet! Fortunately, we were pretty close to the trailhead, and after two more creek crossings were back at the car. All in all a beautiful hike with pleasant surprises!
