Printable Peak Guide

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

Location: Santa Barbara County, about 24 miles north of Santa Barbara, 145 miles from Los Angeles

Auto Club	Santa Barbara County
Forest Service	Los Padres National Forest: Mt Pinos, Ojai and Santa Barbara Ranger Districts
USGS Topos	Fox Mountain 7½, Salisbury Potrero 7½, Madulce Peak 7½, Big Pine Mountain 7½
Official HPS Maps	TPO file - Save to your computer then open with National Geographic TOPO!
	Viewable PDF file - Approximately 9 megs
	GPX file or Google Earth KML file to download to GPS units and other map software (How to use GPX and KML files)
	Routes as shown on CalTopo using the above files (How to use CalTopo)

(USFS Adventure Pass may be required)

Distance: 25 miles round trip on road and use trail
Gain: 4600' total, 4300' out plus 300' on return
Time: 15 hours round trip
Rating: Class 2, very strenuous
Original: John Backus, May 1981
Update: New route that bypasses Chokecherry Gully - Byron Prinzmetal and George Wysup, May 2002

Drive north on I-5 past the Grapevine to the SR 166 off-ramp. Turn left (west).
Head west 36.5 miles, passing through Maricopa, to the junction with SR 33 south. This junction may be reached by a slower route via SR 33 north from Ojai. (There is a junction with SR 33 north in Maricopa that you will pass in Maricopa.) Turn left (south).
Go 2.7 miles to Foothill Road on the right. Turn right (west).
Go 2.1 miles, crossing the Cuyama River, to the Santa Barbara Canyon Road (9N11) on the left. Turn left, note your odometer, and go as follows:
At 3.1 miles, just past a ranch house, junction with a dirt road on the left and a paved road on the right with a sign "Santa Barbara Canyon Road". Turn right.
At 7.5 miles, fork with Santa Barbara Ranch visible ahead. Go right and cross a creek. The pavement ends.
At 9.5 miles, a cattle guard and gate.
At 10.0 miles, a hard to see dirt road on right. This is the turnoff for Fox Mountain #1. Keep straight.
At 10.8 miles, fork with Dry Canyon Road on the left. This is the turnoff for Lizard Head and Cuyama Peak (LO). Keep straight.
At 12.6 miles, a locked gate. Park here.

From the parking area (3440'), hike through the small gate (close it after you) and continue up the road.
At 4 miles there are the posts of a second gate; off the road to the right is a flat area suitable for camping.
Continue up the road, keeping left at a fork with Sierra Madre Road about 1/2 mile farther, and go about 5 miles farther to Chokecherry Spring (5500'), marked by a water trough and a large water tank. This is the turnoff for all nearby peaks.
From Chokecherry Spring, go north down the road about 1/4 mile to a narrow gully on the left (west).
Climb up this gully and where it gets tricky, zigzag up the slope to your left to the ridgeline. Be sure to mark this location for your return. (Please note: this route while steep with the potential for some dangerous rock fall is much safer than the old route up Chokecherry Gully). Continue about 200 meters to the top ridge.
At the top, turn left on an old trail cut through the brush. Follow this up the ridge, then down to the right to a meadow. Pick up the trail again at ducks at the north end of the meadow and follow it to the top of the main ridge.
Turn right on the ridge and follow the trail, which goes generally around the first bump on the east, around the second bump on the west, and over the top of the third bump.
From this bump go down along the ridge and up to the summit, marked by a benchmark, 'SAMON'.