Old Man Mountain(5,538¡¯) & Monte Arido(6,010¡¯)

Location: Santa Barbara County, about 15 miles northwest of Ojai,

90 miles from Los Angeles

Date : Feb 16, 2020  07:09 ~ 20:05 ( 12h 56m )

Course :

Matilija Road Trailhead ( 07:09; 1377¡¯ ) ~ Creek ( 07:15; 0.45 Mile; 1484¡¯ ) ~ Trail Sign ( 07:40; 1.04 Mile; 1611¡¯ ) ~ Locked Gate ( 07:40; 1.4 Mile; 1680¡¯ ) ~Murrieta Divide, Saddle ( 09:04; 5.07 Miles; 3427¡¯ ) ~ High Point ( 11:18; 8.8 Miles; 5175¡¯ ) ~ Old Man Mountain Saddle ( 12:15; 10.6 Miles; 4995¡¯ ) ~ Old Man Mountain Summit ( 13:17; 11.2 Miles; 5538¡¯; 4972¡¯ Gain ) ~ Old Man Mountain Saddle ( 13:53; 11.83 Miles; 4995¡¯; 5061¡¯ Gain ) ~ Monte Arido Summit ( 14:52; 13.75 Miles; 6010¡¯; 6250¡¯ Gain ) ~ Old Man Mountain Saddle ( 15:47; 15.71 Miles; 4995¡¯; 6505¡¯ Gain ) ~ Murrieta Divide, Saddle ( 18:05; 21.12 Miles; 7937¡¯ Gain ) ~ Trailhead ( 20:05; 26.11 Miles; 1377¡¯; 7977¡¯ Gain )

With : Sierra Club HPS 9 Members ( Leaders : Peter & Ignacia Doggett, Jinoak Chung )

DRIVING ROUTE

• Take the US 101 freeway to Ventura.
• Go north on SR 33 to Ojai.
• From the intersection of SR 33 and SR 150 in Ojai, go north on SR 33 for 5 miles and turn left on paved Matilija Road.
• Go west 5.0 miles to a locked gate. Park here.

HIKING ROUTE

• From the parking area (1540'), hike up the road past the gate.
• Pass some houses, a small stream crossing, and then a larger one. A short distance past this crossing is a trailhead on the right. Continue on the road to another trailhead on the left with a sign "Murietta Canyon Trail 24W07".
• Turn left (south) on this trail and follow it about two miles to where it meets a road.
• Turn left (west) on this road and continue about 3 miles to a saddle. This is Murrieta Divide.
• Turn sharp right (north) and continue up the road about 4 miles to where the road crosses the ridge coming southwest down from the west summit of Old Man Mountain.
• Go northeast up this ridge and then contour left to a saddle (5300').
• Turn right and go east up to the summit.

This southwest ridge is likely to be extremely brushy. An alternative is to hike about another 1.2 miles along the road and go up the north ridge.

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