Boney Mountain Wilderness, 15-16 miles, 4,000'

Thanks everyone, for your special requests, from beach walks, night hikes, and caving. We've enjoyed all of those, and now it's Kelly's (https://www.meetup.com/fun-in-the-sun-Oxnard/members/12391116/)turn for a big adventure. Thanks Kelly; this one's for you!

Participants should be able to hike at my speed or faster. I'm the slowest on these stenuous ones, so let's not make the group go any slower.

For YES RSVP's, please be ready to answer this on sign-up:
What were your last 2 hikes at this level--date, stats, & group? No need to answer if you join my strenuous hikes regularly.

For those of you familiar with Boney Wilderness in the Santa Monica Mountains--you probably get there from Sandstone or Mishe Mokwa parking lot on Yerba Buena Road. Today we'll take a much more exciting route up from Newbury Park in the north via the cross country Western Ridge, aka "Mountaineers' Route to Boney." The highest peak in the Santa Monica's is Sandstone Peak at only 3,111', but we'll get our gain from starting way down below and having a roller coaster hike.

The area is best described in pics, so click here (https://www.meetup.com/fun-in-the-sun-Oxnard/calendar/13555487/) to check it out.
https://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/e/e/4/event_13724772.jpeg
We'll hike in between these rocks, then I'll take you through Tripeaks (3,010') via a secret route that hardly anyone knows ... more class 3 rock scrambling.
https://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/a/c/d/600_15163725.jpeg
Then it's on to Split Rock, Balanced Rock, and some cross country adventure before completing our big loop.
Much of the hike will be on "use trails," off the beaten track. Put me on a regular trail and I just want to jump right off it into the wilderness, so that's what we're doing today. You should be comfortable on very narrow trails with thick brush on the sides, higher than our heads.
Meeting Place: Newbury Park, 45 miles north of FWY101/FWY405 intersection. Directions will be emailed to participants by 10/28.
Stats.: 15-16 miles/4,000'+
Sunset: 6:11PM,Twilight: 6:36PM
Time: You should plan to arrive EARLIER at 7:45PM, to leave when everyone arrives. The group will wait 15 minutes for you, until 8:00AM and then we're off. It's rush hour, so plan accordingly.
Hike will be canceled if there are severe weather conditions like wind/fire or if rain is forecast here (https://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/Newbury_Park.html).

I will change hike to a beach area like Point Mugu State Park if forecast is above 79 degrees. Sorry--I can't bear the heat!

Level: Advanced because of mileage/elevation, terrain, and fast pace.
Bring: Snacks, lunch, 3L+ water, the ten essentials (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Essentials).
We return before sunset, but you should always bring a headlamp.
Wear: Layers, long pants & sleeves for thick brush/poison oak protection, hiking shoes/boots with lug soles, gaiters if you have them, gloves for rock scrambling.
Dogs: Sorry, no dogs for this one since dogs are prohibited in State Parks, and we'll be on some of those trails.
You are welcome to bring guests, but they must join this Meetup and sign up for the hike individually, thereby ageeing to Meetup's Release of Liability (https://www.meetup.com/terms/). See particularly the last paragraph and section 6.2.