On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Our celebration of beauty and joy continues – let’s make the most of today. It’s Wednesday, and Bill is taking us somewhere we haven’t been before, on a hike (alone) with his Dad! ~WaterGirl
BillinGlendaleCA
Just prior to the current unpleasantness shut down most activity in California, I paid a visit to the town where I grew up. I’ve not been back much since we sold off the house I grew up in after my mom’s passing in the late 80’s, but I wanted to return for a hike to Paradise Falls.
Paradise Falls is along the north fork of the Arroyo Conejo about a mile before it joins the south fork in Hill Canyon. The area was pretty undeveloped and being used for westerns (one season of Gunsmoke was filmed there) until the eastern portion was developed in the late 60’s. The western portion was acquired by the city as open space, now known as Wildwood Regional Park. There was even a fort at the eastern access to the arroyo.
In my teen years my dad and I explored the heights of Montcleff Ridge, the Indian Cave and often visited Paradise Falls. I believe the last time we made this hike was in 1977. I didn’t hike much after I went off to UCLA and dad passed away during my senior year, and I never really got back into hiking until recently.
This hike has been on my todo list for a while and I’ve not done it mainly due to traffic on weekdays and the prospect of crowds on weekends. With California pretty much starting to shutdown third week of March with traffic being almost non-existent, I decided to go. I took the same route that we took the last time we hiked there 43 years ago and not much had changed. Some of the arroyo crossings were a bit more developed and the area around the falls has a few more railings to keep folk from falling in the drink.
As Vice President Biden said, the thought of your (loved one), brings a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye. Dad seemed old then, now I realize after completing that hike, I’m older now than he was then.
Path down the middle of the plain between Montcleff Ridge on the north and the Arroyo Conejo canyon to the south. Lizard Rock looms in the distance.
The TeePee is where you begin your descent into the canyon. It’s been there for at least 45 years, I have pictures of me and my dad next to it from 1976.
As the trail heads down into the canyon the plain disappears but Montcleff Ridge still towers above the canyon rim. This IR show shows the extent of the vegetation on the ridge.
Montcleff Ridge begins to disappear as we head into the canyon and the foliage begins to become more dense.
Paradise Falls looks pretty much the same as they did 43 years ago. We had some rain earlier in the week and you can see the grasses in the foreground show how much water had been flowing through the canyon.
Jager
You sold me, I’m going today.
WaterGirl
I love your story, Bill. I allso love the last image with the waterfall.
My eyes are trying to make the canyon into some sort of animal, with the reeds for legs. Almost like a big cat with an arched back. I would love to see that in person.
edit: is “reeds” the right word for the straw-like things growing up out of the water?
JeanneT
Wow. A view of the open wild world – nice to wake up to!
Baud
Very nice.
Barbara
In Thousand Oaks no less. I am impressed!
arrieve
I really, really needed this this morning! Thanks, Bill — beautiful pictures as always. It’s a beautiful day here in NYC (though unseasonably cold) and I’d love to go outside. But leaving the apartment is just too stressful right now, and I hate wearing a mask for more than a few minutes. So a virtual hike is very much appreciated.
Mike in Oly
A lovely treat for the eyes. I am missing my hikes, and especially trips to the local NWR to see the wildlife.
MelissaM
You got me googling, and I found this which has more pictures and illustrates the closeness of the development you mentioned.
https://www.hikespeak.com/trails/paradise-falls-in-wildwood-park/
I can imagine the many westerns being filmed. Thanks for the journey!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jager: You’re not too far away, just head up the grade.
@WaterGirl: Thanks, it’s a pretty good sized waterfall for the area.
@JeanneT: They don’t call it Wildwood for nothing.
@Baud: Thanks.
SkyBluePink
Beautiful pics (as always) Bill. And what good memories.
When I would visit my parents my Dad and I would take the nightly walk around the neighborhood.
He died last year after a good and long life.
Wag
excellent post, as always.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Barbara: Starting in the late 60’s and continuing into the 70’s Thousand Oaks preserved a lot of the hillsides around the city as open space, so there’s a lot of parkland in the city.
@arrieve: Happy to provide a virtual “get out of the house”.
@Mike in Oly: I know the feeling, I’ve been wanting to do the drive up to the eastern Sierra.
@MelissaM: The Montclef ridge is a good backdrop for westerns. The canyon goes right through the Wildwood development.
@Jager: Since you’re local to the area, there’s another smaller waterfall on the south fork, the trail though the canyon starts at the end of Camino Dos Rios(get off the freeway at Lynn and make a left on Camino Do Rios).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@SkyBluePink: Most of our nightly walks were in the park near our house. It’s good to treasure those times.
@Wag: Thanks.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@?BillinGlendaleCA: @Jager: OK, looking at the map, forget the Camino Dos Rios directions, they closed off that. For the smaller falls on the south fork, there’s access from the Rancho Conejo playfields on Ventu Park north of the 101. If you go south on the 101 there’s the Stagecoach Inn museum, they have nice tours there.
WaterGirl
@?BillinGlendaleCA: We lived in the city, so no nightly walks in nature for us, But one of my most treasured memories is of me and my dad, just the two of us out to dinner for some unremembered reason, when I was a senior in high school.
Seems to me that one-on-one time, between parents and kids, is a place where memories are often made.
opiejeanne
Thanks Bill. Your photos remind me of how much I love Southern California. I miss it.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Those times are special, TO was a good sized city even when I left in ’78, but they preserved lots of open space around it.
@opiejeanne: Except the shaking, eh? We had a small earthquake this morning, just after midnight(3.7 in the Baldwin Hills).
suilebhan
Bill, I just want to say thank you. I grew up in Woodland Hills in the Sixties and Seventies, but I’ve been a Californian in exile since 1986. I so appreciate your photographs; they help keep the my memories alive. Thanks, again.
JustRuss
I grew up in Ventura, left the state in ’92. Did a bit of hiking in those hills, though never to Paradise Falls. Dad passed a couple years after I finished college. This post really resonated with me, thanks.
J R in WV
Nice work, as usual. Thanks Bill for the glimpse of outdoors in CA.
pluky
Is this arroyo like the ones I used to hike next to as I boy scout when my dad was stationed at Ft. Ord?I.e., if there is any chance of a rain storm, stay out of the arroyo lest a flash flood wash you away!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@suilebhan: You’re most welcome, I’ve got some more waterfalls(though from the San Gabriels). We used to do most of our shopping in the Valley in the 60’s and early 70’s(TO didn’t have a real mall), Topanga and the Sears at Fallbrook(always a favorite with my dad).
@JustRuss: Then my OTR submission from a couple of weeks ago must look familiar, it was Mission San Buenaventura.
@J R in WV: The next 3 posts that I’ve submitted are missions, though one is a rural one, I’ll put up some more outdoorsy shots after that(more waterfalls!).
@pluky: While I love waterfalls with, well, water; I avoid these spots if there’s any chance of rain. Probably less so with Paradise Falls since it doesn’t have a huge watershed, but the ones in the San Gabriels where it can be sunny in the basin but pouring up in the mountains.
Brachiator
Thanks Bill, for the wonderful photos, and for the story about you and your father.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator: Glad you enjoyed it.
cckids
Wonderful pics, Bill – as always! I love the way your pictures illustrate your story, and the way your story enhances the pictures. Hiking with your dad sounds like it was fun.
Today’s the “anniversary” of my dad’s death; six years. Five of us, out of his seven kids were with him when he passed, after a long fight with leukemia. I’ll always miss him, but I also remember feeling ? relief? that he was finally at peace; he hated being sick so much. As time has passed, the older, better memories of him are more in the forefront.
BigJimSlade
@BillinGlendaleCA – I was just going through pictures from here in 2016 yesterday!! I was deleting stuff I didn’t need, and came across pictures from a hike we (my wife and I) did there with our meetup group! Here are a handfull of shots (compare the first 2 in particular, to your first 2 – then the next 3 are panoramas):
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/0/e/8/highres_453976616.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/0/d/c/highres_453976604.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/0/b/6/highres_453976566.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/0/c/1/highres_453976577.jpeg
https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/4/0/d/4/highres_453976596.jpeg
Dmbeaster
I live a few miles away, and it is a nice place to hike. My faves are in the Santa Monicas though. Nice pics. I like the approach along the creek bottom.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: Wow, that area looks familiar, great shots. I love the pano. Here’s a a companion to your first shot of your humble photographer in front of the TeePee in 1976.
@cckids: I still remember the day my dad passed(it was Elivis’ b-day, my uncle’s b-day and a friend’s b-day). Though he’d had heart problems, including bypass surgery, his passing was sudden and unexpected.
@Dmbeaster: Another place my dad and I hiked was down Sycamore Canyon from Newbury Park, I’d like to do that hike once they open things back up. The other place is Malibu State Park from the entrance to the M*A*S*H set. When I was last there it was still an active set and all the buildings were still there.
BigJimSlade
@?BillinGlendaleCA: fantastic! It looks like the teepee still has the same bird crap-like stains, lol!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: As I said in the original post, not much had changed in 43 years.
ETA: I should apologize for the quality of the photo, it was scanned from a small format(110, I think) Kodachrome slide as a jpg.
BigJimSlade
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I was going through some old pictures from backpacking trips back when I had a 110 Vivitar camera – good lord they are terrible. Great scenery in the Sierras wasted in a washed out mess. Of course, I didn’t know anything about taking pictures yet, but there was nothing to adjust anyway, just point and shoot and take the cartridge to the fotomat. Any recent phone does a hugely better job. We’re spoiled now, but that’s good :-)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: One of the best decisions I made was taking my OM-1 on my hike to the little Yosemite Valley and up Half Dome, on the other hand I screwed up not taking it with me to grad school in Seattle. Some of these slides I may just need to rescan(I’ve got a slide/film scanner) in TIFF or DNG and reprocess them.
BigJimSlade
@?BillinGlendaleCA:?(at least for the Yosemite part, too bad for the Seattle part)