Midweek Mountaineers 2025

JANUARY

January 29th – Mt McCoy

Eleven hikers and a cute dog gathered at 8:00 AM at the Donut Delight parking lot on a chilly [but wind-free] winter morning.  We crossed Madera Road, walked the short distance to the west end of Royal Avenue and then headed up Washburn Street to the trailhead.  We began our climb up the trail’s many switchbacks, enjoying our first opportunity to hike after the recent very strong winds and the resulting destructive wildfires in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties abated and the red-flag warnings stopped.  Upon reaching the cross at the top of Mt. McCoy, we stopped for a short break.  The sun was out and the morning had warmed up some.  We enjoyed the views in all directions.  Before long we headed toward the presidential library, passing the nearby water tank and then following the service road to Presidential Drive which we followed up to the library.  After we took a lengthy break at the tables outside the library enjoying what had become a very nice morning, we began returning the way we came.

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However, we decided to take a little-known alternative route back, so we kept walking downhill on Presidential Drive (past our usual left turn) until we reached a point where a “use trail” headed down to the right/west to a tunnel heading east under Presidential Drive.  After passing through the tunnel, we followed a trail eastward; the trail is north of the nearby homes.  Eventually the trail ended at the sidewalk parallel to Madera Road and we followed it for a while.  Soon we switched to the opposite side of the road and followed the sidewalk until we reached the junction with Royal Avenue which we crossed and then followed it the very short distance back to our vehicles having completed a pleasant 5.1-mile hike with 717’ of elevation gain/loss.

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January 1st – Wildwood Park Loop

The early winter morning sky was a bright blue behind scattered high clouds when 14 hikers with 2 dogs met at 8:00 AM at the main Wildwood Park parking lot at the west end of Avenida De Los Arboles in Thousand Oaks  The parking lot was nearly empty when we arrived (but completely full when we finished).  We began our counterclockwise loop hike by heading west on the Mesa Trail.  Soon we turned left (south) and hiked a short distance on the Tepee Trail until turning right (west) when we came to the Stagecoach Bluffs Trail which rose steadily uphill affording us with views of hillsides dotted with prickly pear cactus and soon we could look down into Wildwood Canyon below.

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Eventually the Stagecoach Trail came to a junction (further west) with the Mesa Trail.  We turned left (west) and followed the Mesa Trail fairly steeply up to its junction with the Lizard  Rock Trail.  After taking a short break we followed the Lizard Rock Trail southward down into Hill canyon (after descending a little over halfway down we were afforded with excellent views of the relatively new Conejo Canyons Bridge near the Hill Canyon Treatment Plant).

We then headed upstream into heavily shaded Wildwood Canyon (which was noticeably chillier than the previous trails we had hiked).  As we headed upstream we crossed flowing water several times on short wooden bridges. When we reached Hoegeman’s Hollow, there were several picnic tables (and bathrooms). We took a short break and continued on upstream to Paradise Falls where we enjoyed looking at and listening to the waterfall. Continuing on up Wildwood Canyon we eventually reached the always pleasant Indian Creek Trail and followed it up to a short unnamed trail that led us back to our vehicles, thus completing a very pleasant 4.8-mile hike with about 850’ of elevation gain/loss.

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