Lake Piru, Agua Blanca Creek, and Devil's Gateway 03/13/11

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 6:27 pm

This one has been on the list for a while. The weather was perfect, so Matt, Bernd and I decided to make this the day to explore the Los Padres.

See bsmith's TR, with better information than I'm about to give: (mileages and such).

All photos: http://s484.photobucket.com/albums/rr20 ... u%20Creek/

We coughed up $12 to drive into the boat launch area, saving a few miles of road biking. The morning was cool and lovely (and a bit overexposed).

Riding on the paved road, without worrying about cars was a nice treat. The hills are steep enough for a workout, but never too bad.

Looking back at the top of Lake Piru:

We came to the first crossing of Piru Creek, and were unsure if we should try crossing it with the bikes. The current was deep, and we knew there would be one or two more crossings up the road. We decided to go for it, since we were more interested in this trail than the Agua Blanca trail. The water was up about mid-thigh, and cold, and it's always tough to cross a stream when you can't see the bowling ball boulders you're about to stub your toes on. Nevertheless, our intrepid band soldiered on without much more than wet feet.

The trail was a bit hard to find at first (because we decided ahead of time that it would be, and didn't bother to look for or notice the cairns and flagging tape pointing the way to a pretty nicely maintained trail)

The trail climbs about 100' above the stream a few times, giving nice views up and down the canyon.

Sometimes it's just easier to wander in the streambed:

This lovely thing is probably 300' high. If I were the kind of person who liked to climb things, I would definitely want to climb that.

Sandcastles:

As we neared the Devil's Gateway, the kitty prints appeared. From here on out, I mostly have close up pictures of dirt!

Big impressive gateway, blah blah blah:

Tiny bobcat:

Big cousin cougar:

Big Ursine beastie:

Gosh, this sure would be a great place for someone to put a trail camera - if some person wasn't too damn lazy to carry one along today.

Utz - official Party Mix of Agua Blanca Creek:

Hiking back:

The hike back to the bikes took very little time and was quite easy and nice. The bike ride back for some reason was several miles longer, and much steeper, than it was when we rode in. I'm not sure how this happens - it seems to be a common feature of bike rides.

This was a great hike, and a beautiful place. We didn't see any condors, but there were many hawks, some herons, lizards, snakes, and of course plenty of tracks of all local species. Seems to be a great haven for the critters.

davantalus · Post by **davantalus** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:09 pm

Niiiice! I gotta see that gateway for myself.

norma r · Post by **norma r** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 10:58 pm

Great report CM! Loved the Gateway and especially like that the LPNF is teeming with critters.

Post by **Taco** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 12:05 am

Very cool wall there.

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 7:25 am

Nice concolor tracks. I can just imagine those kitties walking around Los Padres NF, er Angeles N.F..

TracieB · Post by **TracieB** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 5:32 pm

Nice! Love the creek/cyn shots!

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 6:07 pm

Nice!!

HJ

Post by **HikeUp** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:21 pm

Set up a cam and trap a Condor! Yeah...that's it.

He219 · Post by **He219** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:35 pm

Very cool, CM!

James · Post by **James** » Mon Mar 14, 2011 8:37 pm

Great TR and photos. Is that Piru Gorge? The creek runs through the canyons and comes out at Frenchmans Flats below Lake Pyramid?

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 8:03 am

James wrote: ↑Is that Piru Gorge? The creek runs through the canyons and comes out at Frenchmans Flats below Lake Pyramid?

Close - Agua Blanca creek feeds into Piru Gorge just above the lake. If I have time later today, I'll post an ACME map. I would also like to hike from Frenchman's Flat down to the lake someday.

And condors are on the list HU - I was thinking Tar Creek would be a good place.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:43 am

Acme? Yes please.

HJ

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 10:59 am

OK here goes:

http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=34.52296,-11 ... 0Piru%20CA

All markers are approximate...

"B" is where the bike ride on pavement starts
"D" the road becomes dirt
"C" is the junction of Piru Creek and Agua Blanca Creek. We went West (ish). If you wanted to go to Frenchman's Flat, you would go North on Piru Creek. This is also where we locked up the bikes, and continued on foot.
"A" is the Devil's Gateway

James · Post by **James** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 11:21 am

Thanks for the map. The hike from Lake Piru to Frenchmans Flat is fun (never went Flats to lake, only lake to flats). It can get very hot in that gorge but there is plenty of water to cool off in. I haven't hiked it in a very long time but there was lots of camping on sandbars and good trout fishing in both the pools and the running stream. There was also lots of poison oak from what I remember. Sometimes the trail would vanish and we just walked up the stream until we got to a bend and found the trail again.

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Tue Mar 15, 2011 7:08 pm

good stuff.....there was a tr for the big narrows as well...
http://vccanyoneering.blogspot.com/2010 ... lanca.html
"The walls squeezed to about ten to twenty feet wide, and rose 500 to 600 feet high"

youtube:

500 to 700? Hmm....seems suspect....but high none the less.

bsmith · Post by **bsmith** » Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:14 pm

cougarmagic wrote: ↑ All markers are approximate...

"B" is where the bike ride on pavement starts
"D" the road becomes dirt
"C" is the junction of Piru Creek and Agua Blanca Creek. We went West (ish). If you wanted to go to Frenchman's Flat, you would go North on Piru Creek. This is also where we locked up the bikes, and continued on foot.
"A" is the Devil's Gateway

i'm glad you had a great trip out there - it doesn't receive a lot of visitors and consequently more critters abound.

please forgive me, but i'd like to offer two minor corrections to the acme map markers in the hopes that future followers won't be surprised:

"A" is the gate / start of the bike ride; and
"B" is close to devil's gateway - but actually actually shy of there by about 1/3. it is located at 34.549.16, -118.80272.

now is the time to go - before it gets too hot - but be mindful of any storms and subsequent runoffs. they rescued over 30 people out of the ojai ranger district alone this past weekend. twenty boy scouts were rescued from the santa barbara district. all were due to hypothermia, wet, and being effectively cut off by rising creek waters from the previously advertised storm.