Cedar Peak Attempt

[David R]

I had read about the SVS(Seldom Visited Summits) in the Los Padres and decided to give one of them a shot as it would allow me to access a trail that I've never hiked. As far as remoteness I really love the Ventura County back country it takes a while to get out there and you rarely see people. This trail was off of Lockwood Valley and is the turnoff before the hike to Thorn Point at Cedar Creek TH. The trail gets very little traffic as most footprints were those of deer. The trail takes a while walking though a park like expanse of pine as it makes its way towards the mountains. The quiet was breathtaking and when some noise did occur it was typically a covey of quail exploding out of the bush or a hawk in flight. The trail is pretty straightforward with a couple of places to get mixed up on stream crossing but nothing too complicated.

After about 2.5 miles you get to delightful Cedar Creek camp which is indeed under some large cedar trees. The lack of rain has not been kind to this area with lots of creek crossings and most completely dry. From here you begin to ascend the ridge with nice mellow switchbacks through a chaparral environment. This section was hot and it was nice to access the ridge and the pine trees once again. From here more switchbacking takes you to the junction with the Fishbowl Trail to the north. The cut by the firefighters is quite evident on the ridge directly from the previous burns.

Finally you reach a flat section of trail on the ridge which oddly becomes oak woodland and you near the crest of the ridge in just over 5 miles. As the trail skirted the first bump on the crest I went directly up the ridge along an old cut by the firefighters. It was steep but short. From here it was a mix of pine and brush to get to the next high point. Another high point later had me in view of my destination. Alas from this point on, the trees disappeared and it was all brush. The climb up to the high point was going to be steep and with very thick brush. I pushed my way almost to the saddle and looked up through 6 foot brush and told myself this is going to be ugly and possibly not doable without some tools. I had only seen one write up of this summit and that was over five years ago allowing for a brushy experience to become an impenetrable one.

I had also hoped for an option of getting to Thorn Point but realized quickly that the south side while less steep then the north was completely choked with brush. I retreated back to my first summit and sat on some chopped logs left by the firefighters from the Day Fire back in 2006, a bit disappointed at my near success. On the way back down I did notice a ridge that would allow you to access on the north side, stay out of the majority of brush and it would hit the summit, maybe another try via that route for next time. This area isn't great in the summer but was tolerable at about 90 degrees at the bottom when I got back at two. Only saw one person driving on the road and there were cows wandering around as well.

[Uncle Rico]

Valiant attempt. I guess there's a reason Cedar is on the SVS list.

What does that ridgeline from Thorn look like? Is it all brushed out? Satellite imagery makes it look doable if you stay on the north side just below the spine. Don't know what the distance would be.

[David R]

The North side is an escarpment and other then where ridges intersect is too steep to hike on. The south side is much more gentle but much of it is open with no trees and hence all brush. From my vantage point it was all brush for quite a distance. Cedar would have been easy if it wasn't for the brush and that was why it was originally hiked shortly after the fire went through, not sure if tree cover had been there pre-fire.