2017/9/16 Rice Canyon Trail, Ojai, SYVR

A ride in Ojai, the Valley of the Moon.
The Ventura River Preserve is a quite sensibly managed section of river bottom and adjacent canyons passing through Ojai, very close for residents to access for riding, biking, and hiking, making it a true multi-use recreation area.

Today Tobe Mule & I joined eight of the Santa Ynez Valley Riders for a 2 hour 4.7 mile stroll up Rice Canyon and then back down Wills Canyon. Extremely easy riding.

 Tobe and I are good citizens on the trail, obeying the rules of the road.

Even no martinis.
Frankly, Tobe has never even seen me tipsy. It just wouldn't DO to have him think I was less than his eternally capable leader.

No fishing!
And the Rice Canyon sign quite clearly warns we on 4-footeds that off-road mountain bikers will be sharing the trails with us.
Fortunately today all of the people we encountered on wheels were nice, and were willing to go by slowly so there were no major equine panics. Tobe Mule can hear a bike's tread on dirt a city block away, and will flip an ear and track the sound...... so I turn him to face it and we have no problems.

The first obstacle on our course is the riverbed, entirely dry at this season and filled with tumbled round rocks as far as the eye can see, evidence of the winter storms that have washed them down from the mountains.

Sure footed goes the mighty mule.

As we come up out of the river we hit the Fish Diversion, built to allow spawning runs to reach a lake far upstream.

No horses, yes fish, no mention of mules.

At this dry end-of-summer season there is clearly no water and the grasses are tinder dry. Looming above on the horizon are the Topa Topa mountains, a wonderful orienting landmark. Pretty hard to get lost on any of these trails, because climbing to a ridge will always give you a view of the Topa Topas and instantly you know where you are.

Fairly soon we are under the canopy of oaks in dappled shade, and moving through the forest.

Silly horses, can't they read the COWS ONLY spray painted on the trough?




Well, no worries,  after an uphill walk on a warm day, all the equines had a drink.

 

Soon we came to the high point on the Rice Canyon Trail, 

and looked out over the valley to the West.

And THIS is the BEST panoramic I have ever taken from mule back.
Almost always there are blurry bits as horses fidgit, but not this time!

Of course give credit to the mule, Tobe WAS standing perfectly still, glad for a bit of a breather after climbing up to this point.

There are gates in the preserve, ostensibly to contain cattle in certain sections.

And our Trail Boss dismounted and held them open for us to pass through.

Some of the best things about this riding group are sensible trail bosses, riders with solid animals, and a generous spirit of willingness to help each other.

One guest was a girl whose 18th birthday present from her grandfather was to rent her a horse and come along for the ride.

 Funny how the configurations of trees, the play of light and shade, are so engrossing and soothing as you pass through them at the steady 2.5mph of a strolling equine, and yet trying to capture the feeling in a photo is so very difficult.

 No virtual reality could match the 3D experience.

This picturesque rural bridge is clearly marked as NOT safe for equines, and the trail bends around it.

Benches like this one are scattered along the trail, often dedicated to someone who loved this place in life. We'd often come across hikers taking a breather on them.

But I don't need a break,
all I have to do is sit on my gliding gaited mule and enjoy the ride.

Well, I DO have to pay attention to the ears alerting me to things he is paying attention to, it isn't quite like letting him be the self-driving vehicle.

Coming down the Wills Canyon eventually the trees clear and we start to see the inhabited valley below.

This is looking back across the river bottom, on to farmland, not onto the cities of Ojai and Meiners Oaks. Like so much of Southern California, you can be inside the urban world and in just minutes explore the wilderness.

So lastly, we once again crossed the river bottom rock world, and proceeded back to the Oso trailhead.

Then, one last morbid moment.
On the way in I had hit a cute as a bunny little rabbit. I did. I refused to swerve and have the weight of the horse trailer pull me off kilter, so when the suicidal brush rabbit Sylvilagus bachmani ran forward into the road I let nature take its course.
Then oh my, on the way out half a dozen vultures, Aegypius Monachus, were in the road eating it. Not the condors that inhabit the peaks near here, brought back from extinction and such a proud symbol. Nope. Vultures.

I had determined NOT to let it seem like an omen, and certainly nothing untoward happened on the ride. But coming back out and heading home there it was, evidence of the mortality that waits for us all.

“Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.”


- Marcus Aurelius, The Emperor's Handbook      

                                                            #   FIN   #

 

2016/6/14 Ojai Oso Trailhead Ride

A ride starting at the Oso Trailhead in Ojai, Southern California,
going up Rice Canyon, across to Wills Canyon, back down, then up the Ventura River bottom.

4.74 miles in 2 hours
Easy trails, well maintained by the Ojai Land Conservancy.

Once again a lovely bright summer day and we find ourselves at the Oso trailhead in the Ventura River Preserve, headed for a walk through the canyons. The sign explicitly forbids cocktails on the trails, and I agree with that!

The first obstacle is crossing the river of rocks, currently featuring an installation of rock piles in artful towers.

Then next we have to run the gauntlet of signs.

I like it being a Fish Diversion.
That's what trail riding is for me.

I don't like that it says no horses, but since Tobe is half-ass we consider ourselves exempt.
And besides, we couldn't climb that fence anyway.

As far as I can tell this cement trough is what is known as a fish diversion, and doing a bit of internet research tells me it is the Robles Fish Passage meant to enhance endangered Southern California steelhead.

Seriously? As if there was a drop of water in it.

Online I learn:  Robles diverts water into Lake Casitas from the Ventura River when enough flow is present. Historically, the facility also diverted steelhead smolt into the lake, while blocking upstream migration of adult fish. The fish passage facility was designed to solve these problems by screening diverted water and providing an artificial "ladder" over the diversion dam for migrating fish to swim upstream.


Looks pretty neat in the aerial photo I found online.


But right now from a mule's eye view it looks like one of the cement rivers in Los Angeles.

The trails are very well marked.

Whenever there is a place where trails cross they clearly tell you your options.

Cowboy Bob likes to know in advance where he is going, and follows along on a pre-loaded GPS map.

I only look at my GaiaGPS map afterwards to see where we went.

Dissimilar but compatible trail riding styles.

Then out of nowhere on the climb up Rice Canyon we met Rick Bisaccia and his Jack Russell terrier driving down the road. He is the Stewardship Director of the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, so it was a wonderful opportunity to thank him in person for the work he oversees that makes this such a wonderful community asset.

Plus he spoke Dutch, so he and Cowboy Bob had a big palaver that was mysterious to me.

Shortly after that we met even more locals, these being of the bovine persuasion. They are so boring.

They were hanging out next to the water trough which if you enlarge the photo and squint you can see has scrawled on it COWS ONLY.

Like the tree house fort labeled
NO GIRLS ALLOWED
in the old Spanky and Our Gang films.  

Did we care?
Heck no.
We left the steers to their sullen bunching,
as IF this was a very hot day.
Tell the cows in Texas about your problems!
75º and a light breeze.
                                                                                          After all....

The only animal around that Tobe is interested in is pretty Ananda Arabian.
Cowboy Bob is a lucky guy, he's got a girl who wants to go-go-go.

When the trail gets to this point it angles over, across a bit of ridge, and then goes into the Wills Canyon for a shady trip back downhill.
From here, wonderful views back into the Los Padres National Forest.

This interesting rock covered in lichens had cracked in place, perhaps in an earthquake?

It made a fine study in contrasts with the delicate dry grasses and chaparral bushes surrounding it.

And what a change once we entered the other canyon. Thick undergrowth of poison oak and massive trees providing shade.

In fact this is the fern grotto, lush and springtime green when the rest of the mountains are 

already looking like a dry hot summer.

Here's the Tobester, posing with a picturesque ruined wooden foot bridge in the background.
Dappled sunlight on a chocolate dappled mule, what could be better.

We glide along, quietly moving through the forest trees, and the birds take no notice of us and go about their lives.

We see nature without impacting it, and are at one with all we observe.

EXCEPT that once in a while I have to break the usual rule of no snacking on the trail and let Tobe munch up some of his very favorite: Poison Oak.

I know no hikers or others who will be passing through here will disagree with him trimming a bit of it back from the path.

This is the answer to the question "Why do you trail ride?"

Soon we were down to the bottom of the canyon, and it was time to track across the rocky zone again and get back to the trailhead.


This seemed to be a man-made rock reinforcement in a roadway, perhaps repairing erosion damage.

A dirt footpath was thoughtfully left on the side of it.

One more time across the river of rocks.

And finally, there are the rigs parked at the Oso Trailhead, and it is time to get the hard working creatures untacked and feed them apples and then head for home.

Another day well spent in the revitalizing natural world.

"In every walk with nature one receives more than he seeks." ~ John Muir