7D Reyes Peak

Location: Ventura County, California

Named for Rafael Reyes (ca.1834-1890), who settled with his family at the mouth of Reyes Creek (1854). Drought forced them to move from their Rancho Triunfo (2 miles southeast of Thousand Oaks) to the Cuyama Valley in search of better grazing conditions-they managed to transfer 2000 cattle and 1000 horses through the Tejon Pass. He is also remembered for his odd insistence that his was the property that once contained the fabulous Lost Padres Mine! But alas, he swore that its (imaginary?) deposits of limitless silver and gold dropped before his very eyes into cavernous fissures that opened and closed during a series of earthquakes before he could exploit his find. Jacinto Reyes, his son, was almost as legendary as USFS District Ranger of the old Santa Barbara N.F. (1901-32)-he became known as the “Dean of California Rangers”. In those days it sometimes took ten days for messages to get through to his remote post in Cuyama, but Reyes and his famous mule (who would work for no other), were frequently at the center of daring rescues and famous manhunts. In 1910 alone he almost single-handedly planted 163 acres with Jeffrey Pine in the Lockwood and Piru areas.

The USFS constructed a fire lookout here consisting of a 14′ timber tower with a 14’x 14’wood cab (ca.1925).

Could Jacinto Reyes have been incorrect [or could he have been misquoted in Edwin M. Sheridan Historical Writings vol.6, ca.19201 concerning the route his father Rafael followed to the Cuyama Valley? Jim Blakley insists it could not have been via the Tejon Pass, but one similar to the route one would follow today from the Triunfo Pass area-northward via the San Fernando and Lockwood Valley’s.

Name first mentioned in the Ventura County Directory (1898).

Name first appears on the GLO State of California map (1907)

Peak was on the original 1946 HPS Peak List. Weldon Heald climbed this peak in 1941.