Weekly Mt McCoy Hike *OR* Long Canyon (read description)

Updated Note: I want to do a new route for us this week. We'll do a loop that includes Montgomery Canyon. This is a 6.2 mile loop hike (no steps are retraced) with 1660' of elevation, so it's a hefty climb broken up into 3 main segments with some bumps in between. This strong intermediate hike will take us a good 3 hours, most likely, and the views are great, so bring your camera! I did this very hike tonight after work (Monday) and measured the stats that you see above. -Kurt

This hike occurs in two different locations. Remember this rule: EVEN numbered days will be at Mt McCoy (beginner hikes) and ODD numbered days at the Long Canyon (Wood Ranch) Trailhead (intermediate hikes), both locations in Simi Valley.

Mt McCoy location on even numbered days: This link will show you the meeting location for the Mt McCoy hike: CLICK FOR MCCOY. (https://www.google.com/maps/place/100+Royal+Ave/@34.2644082,-118.7961953,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x80e82ee5e0829f29:0xf1cc5e656aea2a86?hl=en) We meet at the parking lot to the right of Donut Delite and walk from there to the trailhead which affords limited parking. This Mt McCoy event is actually a weekly hike sponsored by a hiking club I belong to, the Rancho Simi Trail Blazers (http://www.simitrailblazers.com/index.html) (RSTB), who have given me permission to cross-post it here since many of our members live nearby. RSTB has created their own Meetup, which you can see/join by clicking here (https://www.meetup.com/Rancho-Simi-Trail-Blazers/). I have been a member of the RSTB for a few years now.

Distance: 3.2 Miles
Elevation Gain: 500'

Difficulty: Beginner

Time: 6:00 p.m. (approx 1.5 hours in duration)

Leashed dogs are allowed.

The Rancho Simi Trail Blazers hike Mt McCoy every Tuesday evening year round, and while not difficult, still provides a hike that is satisfying to the legs as well as the eyes. This accessible location is on the west side of Simi Valley, a very short drive from the 118.

You may read a very interesting description and history of Mt McCoy by clicking here (http://www.simitrailblazers.com/hikes/mtmccoy.html), but from the top of McCoy you will have a breathtaking 360-degree panoramic view of Simi Valley, Moorpark, the Simi Hills, the Santa Susana Mountains, the Santa Monica Mountains, and on a clear day, the Channel Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

As an official event of the RSTB, you will be asked to sign the standard Park District "hold harmless" agreement.

While I will often be found in attendance (as this hike is very close to where I live), it's not my hike. The leader will generally be Mike Kuhn (known to many as a human encyclopedia of local flora, fauna, geology and history) or one of the other sanctioned RSTB hiking leaders.

In the winter months you will need to bring a flashlight.

The Long Canyon Trailhead on Odd-Numbered days:

Here is a link to the location: CLICK ME (https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!q=Long+Canyon+Rd+and+Wood+Ranch+Parkway%2C+Simi+Valley%2C+ca%2C+93065%2C+us&data=!1m4!1m3!1d3677!2d-118.8021909!3d34.2288005!4m15!2m14!1m13!1s0x80e82f721a514d89%3A0xf43e7c75eea29158!3m8!1m3!1d105498!2d-118.7732875!3d34.2787415!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!4m2!3d34.2288005!4d-118.8021909) To get there, just drive to where Wood Ranch Pkwy and First Street intersect in Simi Valley. The free, paved parking lot is right there, up a short entrance.

This location is where I discovered hiking, quite by accident, and I have been addicted to it ever since. The trailhead links us into a large network of trails from which we can do various different hikes, and we will generally rotate among 4 alternatives when we hike here. The short one is about 3.5 miles, the medium one about 4.4 and there are two longer ones about 5.5 or so. All are beautiful, and all involve hiking on fire roads and single-track trails. The easiest hike in my opinion is the 4.4 mile one just because of the relative steepness of some of the sections on the shorter 3.5 miler. All 4 of these hikes fall into our intermediate category, as defined below.

In the winter months you will need to bring a flashlight.

Our categories for hike difficulty:

Beginner: No steep sections. Up to 4 miles in distance and no more than 750' elevation gain.
Intermediate: 4-10 miles, and/or up to 2000' elevation gain.
Advanced: More than 10 miles, and/or more than 2000' elevation gain.

Here are some pictures I have taken from Mt McCoy, beginning with a shot of the real McCoy:

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/2/2/6/event_193789702.jpeg

Mt McCoy is distinguished by the huge concrete cross at the top. (See the history link above to learn about this. It has been there since the early recorded history of this area.)

http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/5/a/0/event_193790592.jpeg

Looking north to the Santa Susana mountains:

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/9/4/2/event_193791522.jpeg

This was a PM Hikers daytime event in 2012:

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/c/f/a/a/event_193793162.jpeg

The next one predates the PM Hikers, when I led weekly Wednesday night hikes here for another meetup group:

http://photos2.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/3/0/6/event_193794022.jpeg

The most amazing sunset of my life was on Mt McCoy:

http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/5/e/0/event_193794752.jpeg