Adventure Hike: Calabasas Peak Without the Fireroads

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/8/e/8/event_175890952.jpegThis one has been on my to-do list for a long time: The destination is a familiar one but on this trek we'll stay off the fire and service roads that everyone else uses.

We'll begin at the Secret Trail (aka the Calabasas-Cold Creek Trail) and wind our way through shaded ravines, dense chaparral and sandstone outcrops until we reach Calabasas Peak Motorway. Here we throw away the hiking book (I lose so many books this way) and instead of taking the Motorway to Calabasas Peak, we'll go off-trail along some use trails. We'll not only bag the peak, but we'll also make a loop around it along an old overgrown trail.

Can it be done? There is only one way to find out!

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/7/c/6/c/event_175891852.jpeg(Optional: There are a lot of giant sanstone slabs and other formations to explore, but not required. Members who like rock climbing are encouraged to do so, the rest of us will take pictures

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/8/2/a/c/event_175893452.jpegCalabasas Peak (2163 ft) towers over Red Rock Canyon, Old Topanga Canyon and bowl-shaped Cold Creek Canyon. From the top there are spectacular views into Ventura County, the Pacific Ocean and San Fernando and Simi valleys.

So far I have plotted 6 miles with about 1,000 feet total gain.

What is an Adventure Hike? Robert Frost describes it best in his The Road Not Taken:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Directions to the trailhead:

The trail head is located on Mulholland Hwy less than a fifth of a mile west of Dry Canyon Cold Creek Road

From the 101 freeway in Agoura/Calabasas, head South on Las Virgenes Road to Mulholland. Turn Left on Mulholland and continue 5.7 miles to a small parking area on the right. or....

From 101 Ventura Fwy in the Vally: take Valley Circle/Mulholland Dr exit south, turn right on Valmar Rd (becomes Old Topanga Cyn Rd) then right on Mulholland Hwy 2.1 miles to the parking area on the left.

From PCH take Topanga Canyon and turn left up Old Topanga. Take a left at Mulholland for a couple miles and then turn left onto turnout. If you are coming up Malibu Canyon take a right at Mulholland for 5.7 miles

Bring at least 2 qts water, snacks, sunscreen.

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