EISPIRATEN

I kinda' felt like Lilbitmo yesterday, since i have been jonesing to do Hines Peak for 2.5 years. It is a pyramid shaped peak that stands east of the beautiful Topatopa Bluff in the Los Padres National Forest not far from where i live. Jim (Calicokat) suggested the hike for the day when a forecast of high winds made San Gorgonio look uninviting.

We took off from the trailhead on Sisar Canyon Road at 7:30 am on a day of relatively cool temps as we headed up Sisar Canyon to the forest service road then east to the Red Reef Trail. This was Jim's first Sespe hike and he was not disappointed. We enjoyed the riparian forest provided by the creek, the coastal chaparral when we topped out on the ridge and the two peaks we tagged since Topatopa Bluff is an easy hit after the long ascent and travel to Hines. I had been warned about the knife-edged ridge to the summit and we found it pretty benign after all the Sierra scrambling we have done. Falling could cause very serious injury or worse, but since the exposure was less than 1k, it felt pretty tame.

Our views from the summits were spotty with the marine layer that was shrouding the coast and playing tag with the summits all day. Nonetheless, we had a great hike of two fun peaks, saw two beautiful lizards, lots of flowers and even some fresh bear tracks. Aw... the Sespe! Total stats: 21.5 miles, 5976 elevation gain, 11 hours and a couple hundred photos that i narrowed down to 175. (Bet i could have done the hike in 9 hrs if i didn't have a camera! But speed isn't my goal. Enjoying the outdoors and the beauty it holds, is.)

Our objective, Hines Peak 6704 (or 6716) feet elevation


Creek crossing


Dew dropped spider webs


Early morning hide & seek between the clouds and the mountains


Out of the forest and into the coastal chaparral


View northwest of the LPNF with Chief Peak on the left and the Santa Barbara Mountains in the far distance


Tree of the day, Bigcone Spruce aka Bigcone Douglas Fir. Correct me if i'm wrong HJ.


View north of the backcountry of the LPNF including Mount Pinos in distance, at 8800 feet the highest peak in Ventura County


The beautiful Topatopa Mountain (not to be confused with Topatopa Bluff) which is closed to the public since it is the Sespe Condor Sanctuary


A craggy section of the knife-edged ridge


False summit of Hines Peak


So we head east to the true summit


It's about time! On the summit of Hines Peak.


Descending down the knife-edged ridge


Heading back on the Red Reef Trail to Topatopa Bluff


We got to walk in some snow and someone even mtn biked it. Cool!


Watching the clouds lick the peaks


Topatopa Bluff summit rock furniiture


Topatopa Bluff elev 6367 feet celebratory High-5. I finally tagged Hines and Jim's first Sespe hike.


Coast Range Fence Lizard


Back to the beauty of the riparian forest


Sedementary rock


Heading out


Driving home on the 126 as the marine layer comes over the mountains into the Santa Paula plain


rest of my pix are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ryan.norma ... Bluff42111#

I love to see hikes that traverse multiple environments, from stream beds to mountain tops. The stats suggest the hike itself was quite epic. Congrats, and beautiful pics.

I've hiked to Hines twice but drove up to the Red Reef TH

I was out that way last week on a possible exploration of "Bluff Cyn" I bailed after looking at the dense 50+ YO Brush choked with seas of poison oak. It was also hotter than hell out of White Ledge through the coastal chaparral last weekend. I estimated 90°+.The thermometer at the general store at summit was 92° in the shade at 5pm.

3 of our group descended from Topatopa Bluff and exited to White ledge trail camp the following day around 4pm

From what I gather it was mostly a bushwhack

It is hard to tell from a distance if a rappel is really there. From a distance Topatopa Bluff looks like you'll need a 1000ft rope, but it is tough to discern the difference from vertical to hikeable from miles away

I identified that plant on Picasa as "Southern Umbrellawort"

It was a nice show of Foothill Larkspur on the first bit of Sisar Trail.

Epic, Norma! I didn't know all of the snow was gone from Hines. I'm so going back there on my first day off from work (probably in two weeks or so). Thanks for posting, great pics.

Dew dropped spider webs is a great picture - that's a classic hike, very very nice. Illusive is right multiple Eco zones makes the exploration that much more fun - nice work Norma & Calico

thanx all! it was a great hike and fun to see Jim enjoying it so much. it's truly a gift to share a treasure and see someone else find the same joy in it. i was also thrilled not to feel the knee pain i usually experience in 20+ mile hikes. maybe that Omega-3 really works? hiking The Sespe is a great alternative to a Sierra, San Gabriel or San Gorgonio hike. hope you all have a chance to get there.

Matt M,
i climbed with Ron today and he told me a bit about the canyon exploration. that was quite an ambitious effort! i couldn't believe this sentance in his TR... Between the brush thickets, we did some normal walking for the first time in 24 hours! Yowza! i don't know if Ron told you but on the Jackson Falls/Last Chance Trail hike we did in February, the intense uphill bushwhack through the Ceanothus Spinosus sent me to the "bad place" as Tinaballina has so aptly named the antithesis of having a good time on a hike. the coastal chaparral has become so thick that when the area does experience a wildfire, it will be one hot fire. like you, i also do not do well in warm temps. maybe that is why i like snow climbing so much. i rarely ever overheat. thanx for the plant ID. sadly, all my pix of the Larkspur/Delphinium weren't focused enough to post. i don't seem to have a good handle on the macro with my Panasonic.

the only disappointment that day was that we never had a great view of Topatopa Bluff since it was hidden in clouds all day. here is a pix from a previous hike when the spectacular formation commanded the view.

norma r wrote: ↑ TR... Between the brush thickets, we did some normal walking for the first time in 24 hours! Yowza! i don't know if Ron told you but on the Jackson Falls/Last Chance Trail hike we did in February, the intense uphill bushwhack through the Ceanothus Spinosus sent me to the "bad place" as Tinaballina has so aptly named the antithesis of having a good time on a hike.

I could see from the road & trail I'd be going to the "bad place" if I went down Topatopa Bluff on that day

TR: Topatopa Bluff / Cyn descent -Aborted-

I've been there and do try to avoid trips to the "bad place", it seems rather pointless if it isn't fun!

Buckthorn Ceanothus Spinosus is like living barbed wire, I'd rather walk through a mile of dense yucca than a 1/10th of a mile of buckthorn

Nice outing norma and jim, beautiful pictures norma, it looks like you had some nice cloud formations like we had on baldy saturday..thanks for sharing

mark

Nice report. Hines Peak from Sisar is a great hike and this is the best time of the year to do it, well done.