Reyes Creek Hideaway
November 17-18
Wolves and Turkeys
Back in April, shortly after I moved to Ventura,
I rode the Los Padres Four
County Triangle ride that
Matthew Lax led. Part of that ride was on Hwy 33 and Lockwood Valley Road, and I mentally made
plans to someday ride from home, up Hwy 33, and visit this area again on a
pannier tour. So when I saw Reyes Creek Hideaway in the schedule I knew it was
a ride I had to do.
Only three of us left from Ventura
on Saturday morning, Mike Wolfe, Ellie Antonio,
and me. Mike had a scenic back way of getting to Ojai that avoided the bike
path from Foster Park, and was new to me. We started up Hwy 33 from Ojai and
made a rest stop at Wheeler Gorge Campground. The ranger station here was the
last opportunity to buy snacks or bottled water, as the water at the campground
was shutoff due to environmental testing. I remembered some years ago that
Jerry had led a ride up Hwy 33 where we camped at Wheeler Gorge and did a day
ride the next day up to the Pine Mountain Inn.
We continued on, passing the rock climbing area at Sespe
Gorge, and a fresh motorcycle accident with no
official help at the scene yet, just bikers milling about. Traffic was
generally okay but lots of motorcycles and the occasional gravel truck.
Temperature was perfect for riding in just knickers and long sleeves.
We finally arrived at the Pine Mountain Inn, now known as Wolf's Pine
Mountain Inn. It's closed for remodeling but scheduled for a gala reopening on
April 28th. We spoke to the owner, Tom Wolf, who's hoping it will again become a destination for bikers and
bicyclists, and in fact his business card says “Motorcycle & Bicycle Pit
Stop”. I suggested he add Gardenburgers to the
menu, but we will see. His 70th birthday is April 28th,
and he said he'd owned the Inn for 30 years.
Pushing on we reached Pine
Mountain summit at 5084'
and had another short break at a fire road entrance. Everything off road here
is still closed due to the Zaca fire. Now we enjoyed
a downhill of maybe 2000' to Ozena Station at the Lockwood Valley Road
turnoff where we stopped for water. Another five miles, past the Pine Mountain
Buddhist Temple, and the steepest grades of the day took us through the
historic Camp Scheideck to Reyes Creek Campground,
right on the creek. Showers are available here for $3, although we didn't. I had 6150' of climbing logged for the day,
was pleasantly tired, and spent a comfortable but cool night (39°F in the
tent).
Sunday we reversed our previous day's ride descending 6060' and climbing
2330', again with pleasant weather. On Lockwood Valley Road we encountered a
flock of turkeys on the side of the road and stopped to have a look. I got my
camera out but was afraid they would run off before I could get a shot. No reason to be concerned, as they ran right
up to us and waited for Mike to feed them some trail mix. Towards the end of
the ride we elected to return directly to Ventura
rather than go around Lake
Casitas as the weather
was now becoming very cool and overcast.
I left Mike and Ellie at the Ventura
meeting place and biked the two miles home. That's it, a perfect trip and I was
able to ride it door to door, just like I had wanted. Thanks to Mike and Ellie
for the great ride.
--Don Porter
