San Buenaventura Mission Aqueduct → Ojai Jail → Lake Casitas
Details
This won't be your usual Ojai ride. Along the way to Ojai, on a detour off the paved Ojai Ventura River Parkway Trail, we will be viewing some of the remaining artifacts of the San Buenaventura Mission aqueduct. We'll have a picnic lunch in Ojai and return via a swing by Lake Casitas and Santa Ana Rd making a loop.
Historical Note
The late 18th century aqueduct was an ambitious early-California waterworks built to bring water from the Ventura River / San Antonio Creek to Mission San Buenaventura and its fields — roughly a seven-mile system of stone-and-mortar channels, siphons and holding tanks.
The aqueduct suffered over time from flood damage, agricultural reuse of its materials, and later development. Large stretches were destroyed in the devastating winter floods of 1861–62 and, afterward, pioneer settlers often removed stones for house foundations or leveled sections for cultivation and roads. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries most of the original channel had disappeared.
We'll visit some of what remains during our tour. Ride is about 34 miles with 1200 feet total ascent. See https://www.komoot.com/tour/2669605438 for path details
Directions
Point your gps to the parking lot next to Museum of Ventura County. We'll meet on the Main St end of lot. From here we are walking across the street to Valdez Alley and check out the Mission reservoir