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.
BillinGlendaleCA
Point Mugu State Park is situated in the western portion of the Santa Monica Mountains. The first two Milky Way photos from last week were taken just north of the park. I have hiked here before with my dad when I was in high school and planned to recreate our hike from Newbury Park down to Big Sycamore Canyon and then west to La Jolla Valley. Let’s just say, things didn’t quite go as planned.
Just after entering the state park, the road heads down a steep hill into the canyon. About 3 miles into the hike you arrive a the Danielson Ranch multi use area. From there you can follow the now non-paved road all the way to the ocean. According to the park map at Danielson Ranch, if I took the Wood Canyon road and turned left at the first road, I’d end up in La Jolla Valley. It did not indicate that the portion of the trail after leaving Wood Canyon is called “Hell Hill”.
So I followed these directions and the trail started climbing and I looked up to see a cut in the hillside far above me, and decided to try a different route. I headed back to Wood Canyon and took another trail that took me though another canyon and then up a bunch of switchbacks until I ended up on the trail I’d been looking at from “Hell Hill”. By that time I’d spent a hour on the second trail and the clouds had moved in, so I just took a shot of La Jolla Valley from the trail overlook. I headed back, this time down “Hell Hill” and as I reached the intersection of that trail and Wood Canyon both of my feet slipped out from under me and I ended up on my butt.
Park entrance in the Conejo Valley.
A panorama of the view near the park entrance. Conejo Mountain, left of center, is an extinct volcano.
Picnic area near Danielson Ranch, shot with my infrared camera using the 590nm filter.
California poppy shot with my infrared camera using the IRChrome filter.
California poppy shot in visible light.
California State University, Channel Islands in the foreground with Camarillo in the background. The university used to be a California State Hospital that was well known for drug treatment therapy.
Looking down into La Jolla Valley.
Boney Mountain and Tripeaks. These are some of the peaks visable in the Milky Way shots from last week.
An Ambassador for his Country
Baud
I thought that second shot was of the Milky Way in the daytime. I was impressed.
Rusty
The poppy taken with IR is so simple yet so beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Heh, the clouds do sort of look like that. Monday night I actually got a not great, but a Milky Way shot from here in Glendale.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Rusty: Thanks, I love a IRChrome filter.
BillinGlendaleCA
The comment for my last shot of Boney Mountain and it’s reference to the Milky Way shots “last week” was penned before the website fire.
eclare
BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare: Thanks, I might have made something of it if I had a bit more time to venture into the valley, but it was getting late.
Benw
The picnic area pic is unreal
Wag
Great to have your unique visuals of SoCal again!
zhena gogolia
She had that Camarillo brillo / Streaming out along her head
Beautiful!
arrieve
The dappled light in the infrared shot is especially gorgeous.
Torrey
These are wonderful. A good way to start the day. I confess, Bill, to being envious both of your camera skills and of your proximity to these wonderful places. Thank you for sharing these.
J R in WV
The typically great work we have come to expect from Glendale! Thanks for sharing, Bill…
Almost Retired
Great photos, and once again you’ve provided a destination for my weekend hike!
BigJimSlade
Regarding the history of drug treatment at Camarillo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F22y1pHsCdo
TriassicSands
If only California had been made a national park in 1845.
BigJimSlade
@ BillinGlendaleCA: I like how the IR doesn’t change the color of the poppy!
We were just in the area last Saturday (got a state park parking pass from the library)! We started on the other side, at the ocean. We hiked up Sycamore Canyon, headed off into Serrano Canyon (almost no one goes over there – it’s very quiet – also, a group we know saw a rattlesnake swallowing a rabbit back there last summer, so, yikes!), back over to Sycamore, over to Wood Canyon and up Hell Hill :-). That other trail with the switchbacks you took is our normal way up that hill. I really like that trail for pushing hard – it’s a perfect steepness to be work, but not so steep that you can’t step out a bit. Admittedly we have a history of eating up big hills. It’s not for everyone. Anyway, we continued back along that ridge all the way to where it drops back down near the ocean. Nearly 12 miles with about 2K feet of elevation.
The flowers in Serrano Canyon were in good shape! (Though I only saw one little group of poppies, but tons and tons of these little pink cups – I looked for the name, but couldn’t find it.
BTW, my youtube link above is Relaxin at Camarillo by Charlie Parker.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Benw: I thought it’d make a nice IR shot with the stonework and the trees.
@Wag: Glad you like ’em.
@zhena gogolia: I’m hoping to get out to CSUCI for some on the ground shots, the old buildings from it’s days as a mental hospital are really nice.
BillinGlendaleCA
@arrieve: Thanks.
@Torrey: Thanks, glad to help start out a great day. We have some nice subjects here in the area.
@J R in WV: Glad you enjoy them.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Almost Retired: It is really a nice hike, either from the coast or hiking down into the canyon from TO. I may try it in the fall given all the sycamore trees in the canyon.
@BigJimSlade: I’ve been by it many times back when it was still a State Hospital.
@TriassicSands: Oh no, then I’d have no place to fly my drone.
BillinGlendaleCA
@BigJimSlade: The color on the IR shot of the poppy was shot using the IRChrome filter, so it retains a lot of the color, but turns the vegetation a red/orange/purple. There’s an old ranch up in Serrano Valley that looks like it would be an interesting foreground for Milky Way shots, but is probably a bit too difficult to get to. A rattler eating a rabbit, yikes that’s a big one.