Printable Peak Guide

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK

Location: Ventura County, about 16 miles south-southwest of Frazier Park, 90 miles from Los Angeles

Auto Club	Ventura County, Los Angeles and Vicinity
Forest Service	Los Padres National Forest: Mt Pinos, Ojai and Santa Barbara Ranger Districts
USGS Topos	Topatopa Mountains 7½, Lockwood Valley 7½
Official HPS Maps	TPO file - Save to your computer then open with National Geographic TOPO!
	Viewable JPG file - Approximately 1.5 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)

Go north on I-5 to the town of Gorman. Get off on the signed Gorman exit.
Turn left at the bottom of the off-ramp and go under the freeway.
Go 0.1 mile to Peace Valley Road. Turn right.
Go 1 mile to the entrance to Hungry Valley Recreation Area on your left (paved). Turn left. Note your odometer and go as follows:
At 0.2 mile, entrance station. If manned, you can avoid payment of the fee by telling the State Park employee that you are passing through to Alamo Mountain.
At 5.2 miles, intersection. Turn right (west) toward "Piru Creek", signed.
At 11.2 miles, improved car camping area on right, with toilets. Often used as a meeting point.
At 11.4 miles, Piru Creek crossing. There is a seasonal gate just before this stream crossing.
At 13.4 miles, the pavement ends.
At 17.8 miles, fork to the left. Keep right.
At 17.9 miles, junction with the Alamo Mountain Road. Turn left. (To the right leads to Twin Pines Campground and Alamo Mountain Route 2.) Note your odometer again and go as follows:
At 3.3 miles, fork immediately beyond a small road cut through the ridge. (To the right leads to Alamo Mountain Route 1.) Turn left on 6S01.
At 4.0 miles the Little Mutau trailhead on the right. Park here.

From the parking area (6750'), follow the obvious trail to the south steeply uphill for about 1/2 mile, where it fades into intermittent use trail. (Proceeding east along the ridge from this point leads to McDonald Peak.)
Continue down the southwest trending ridge for about 1 1/2 miles, reaching Little Mutau Creek at about the 5800' contour, just north of point 5969'.
Follow Little Mutau Creek (can be very wet in the spring) for about 2 miles to about the 5200' contour where a tributary creek enters from the south (UTM coordinates 165343). (Continuing west along the Little Mutau trail would lead, in about 3/4 mile, to Route 1 at saddle 5729'.)
Turn southwest, crossing the creek, and bushwhack through thick willows up the tributary for about 200 yards, where the tributary bends to the southeast.
Leave the creek to the right and climb southerly up the north trending ridge about a mile to the saddle just west of the summit. Take care to note your route for the return trip down this ridge.
Hike east along the ridge to the summit.