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** Use at Your Own Risk **
06O |
Old Man Mountain |
5538' |
Location: Santa Barbara County, about 13 miles northwest of Ojai, 90 miles from Los Angeles
Maps
| Auto Club | Santa Barbara County |
| Forest Service | Los Padres National Forest: Mt Pinos, Ojai and Santa Barbara Ranger Districts |
| USGS Topos | Old Man Mountain 7½, White Ledge Peak 7½ |
| Official HPS Maps | TPO file - Save to your computer then open with National Geographic TOPO! |
| Viewable JPG file - Approximately 880K | |
| 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) |
Nearby Peaks: Monte Arido
ROUTE 1
(USFS Adventure Pass may be required)- Distance: 36 miles round trip on road and cross-country
- Gain: 5300' total, 2800' out plus 2500' on return
- Time: Variable depending on whether hiking, backpacking, or biking.
- Rating: Class 1, very difficut - consider carefully your own conditioning, skills, water requirements (no water on route), etc.
- Navigation: Easy
Original: Warren E. von Pertz and Al Campbell, 1967
DRIVING ROUTE 1
- Take US 101 west to Ventura.
- Go north on SR 33 to the town of Ojai.
- From the intersection of SR 150 and SR 33 in Ojai, go north on SR 33 for 32 miles to Pine Mountain Summit. Turn left on a gated and locked dirt road. This is the Potrero Seco Road. Park here.
HIKING ROUTE 1
- Hike or bike past the gate, and go as follows:
- At 3.4 miles, keeping right at all forks, a cattle guard. Continue straight.
- At 4.9 miles, Don Victor trail on the right. Continue straight.
- At 7.3 miles, fork. Go right.
- At 8.1 miles is a set of large gendarmes marked on the TOPO as "Three Sisters". This is the turnoff for Hildreth Peak.
- At 8.6 miles, gate. Keep straight ahead.
- At 14.1 miles, gate at a road fork.
- From this point (5800'+), take the left road fork.
- At 0.8 mile, the summit of Monte Arido is just west of the road.
- Continue down the road (south) another 1.9 miles to the bottom of a long downhill.
- Leave the road here (4980'+) and climb south up the open ridge to the prominent saddle (5300').
- From here go east up the brushy ridge to the summit.
Note: In November 2018, sections of Potrero Seco Road were reported to be in bad condition for mountain biking.
NOTE
Monte Arido is next to the road that leads to Old Man Mountain. Both of these peaks are usually done on the same outing.
ROUTE 2
(USFS Adventure Pass may be required)- Distance: 20 miles round trip on trail, road, and cross-country
- Gain: 5100' total, 4500' out plus 600' on return
- Time: 9-10 hours round trip
- Rating: Class 1, very strenuous
- Navigation: Moderate
- Leader Rating: "I", normal conditions
Original: Warren E. von Pertz and Al Campbell, 1967
DRIVING ROUTE 2
- Take the US 101 freeway to Ventura.
- Go north on SR 33 to Ojai.
- From the intersection of SR 33 and SR 150 in Ojai, go north on SR 33 for 5 miles and turn left on paved Matilija Road.
- Go west 5.0 miles to a locked gate. Park here.
HIKING ROUTE 2
- From the parking area (1540'), hike up the road past the gate.
- Pass some houses, a small stream crossing, and then a larger one. A short distance past this crossing is a trailhead on the right. Continue on the road to another trailhead on the left with a sign "Murietta Canyon Trail 24W07".
- Turn left (south) on this trail and follow it about two miles to where it meets a road.
- Turn left (west) on this road and continue about 3 miles to a saddle. This is Murrieta Divide.
- Turn sharp right (north) and continue up the road about 4 miles to where the road crosses the ridge coming southwest down from the west summit of Old Man Mountain.
- Go northeast up this ridge and then contour left to a saddle (5300').
- Turn right and go east up to the summit.
This southwest ridge is likely to be extremely brushy and is rocky in places. An easier alternative is to hike another 1.0 miles and ascend from a small saddle before reaching the southwest ridge to join that ridge at 5200’ and continue up to the summit ridge and to the peak. Another longer alternative is to continue along the road 1.8 miles and go up the north ridge as in Route 1.
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
The second river crossing about 1/2 mile from the parking area is sometimes impassable after heavy rains.
The land on both sides of the road is part of the Murrieta Canyon Wildlife Study Area. Public entry is prohibited. Please stay on the road or trail.
Mountain bikes should not be used on the Murietta Canyon Trail. Continue on the road past the Murietta Canyon trailhead about 0.2 mile to a road fork with a sign "<-- ALL TRAILS". Keep left and continue another 0.2 mile to a road junction. Turn left at this junction and follow it up to Murietta Divide.
History of Summit Signature
Climbing Archives
Please report any corrections or changes to the Mountain Records Chair.