101 Hikes in Southern California. Jerry Schad

      Paradise Falls

      To Reach the Trailhead: From the 101 Freeway at Exit 45 in Thousand Oaks, take Lynn Road north 2.5 miles to Avenida de los Arboles. Turn left and follow Avenida de los Arboles 1 mile west. At this point traffic goes sharply right on Big Sky Drive; you make a U-turn and park on the right at Wildwood Park’s principal trailhead, open 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Nearby curbside parking is also available.

      Description: Three trails radiate from the Avenida de los Arboles trailhead. Two are wide and relatively bland dirt roads. The third (the one you want), the narrow and scenic Moonridge Trail, descends sharply from the east side of the parking area. This is the left side of the parking area as you drive in. Right away you come to a T-intersection amid oak woods. Turn right, remaining on the Moonridge Trail. The trail descends a sunny slope covered with aromatic sage-scrub vegetation and dappled with succulent live-forever plants that sprout white, comical-looking flower stalks. Beware of the prickly pear cactus flanking the trail. There’s a brief passage across a shady ravine using wooden steps and a plank bridge. At 0.5 mile, you cross over a dirt road and continue on the narrow Moonridge Trail.

      Ahead, the trail curls around a deep ravine, edging into the crumbly sedimentary rock. At 0.9 mile you join another dirt road and use it to descend toward a large wooden teepee structure on a knoll just below. Make a right at the teepee, further descending into the Arroyo Conejo gorge. As you descend, watch for the narrow side trail on the left that will take you straight down to Paradise Falls—a beautiful, 30-foot-high cascade that makes its presence known by sound before sight. The high water table in the canyon bottom ensures a nearly year-round flow of water. Watch for poison oak, especially on the far side of the creek.

      After you’ve admired the falls, continue by climbing back up the slope in the direction you came, and take the fenced, cliff-hanging trail around the left (east) side of the falls. Beyond that fenced stretch, the narrow trail descends a little and sidles up alongside the creek, where large coast live oaks spread their shade. Soon, you continue on a path of dirt-road width. Stay with that path until you reach a major crossroads. It’s worth a 0.1-mile detour straight ahead to walk through Indian Cave. Then, returning to the junction, cross the bridge. The small Wildwood Nature Center is just around the bend to the right, and your return route up along Indian Creek is to the left.

      On the Indian Creek Trail, you pay your debt to gravity by ascending nearly 300 feet in about 0.7 mile. The beautifully tangled array of live oak and sycamore limbs along this trail keeps your mind off the climb. At one point, you can look down into a deep ravine where an inaccessible mini-waterfall and pool lie practically hidden. When you finally reach Avenida de los Arboles, turn left and then return a short distance to the trailhead parking lot.

      HIKE 2

      Happy Camp Canyon

      Location: Near Moorpark and Simi Valley

      Highlights: Prime oak woodland and strange rock formations

      Distance: 11 miles (loop)

      Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 1,300'/1,300'

      Hiking Time: 5 hours

      Optional Map: USGS 7.5-minute Simi

      Best Times: October–June

      Agency: SMMC

      Difficulty: Moderately strenuous

      Trail Use: Suitable for mountain bikes

      Happy Camp Canyon nuzzles in a crease between the long, rounded ridge called Big Mountain, just north of Simi Valley, and Oak Ridge, a taller parallel ridge to the north. These ridges and plenty more, like the Santa Monica Mountains, are caterpillarlike, parallel segments of the Transverse Ranges, which stretch from Santa Barbara County in the west to San Bernardino County to the east.

      Lupine on Middle Range Fire Trail

      Oil-bearing shales predominate in this region, evidenced by various oil wells and dirt roads built to access them scattered across the surrounding hillsides. On your ramble through the lower and middle parts of the canyon, keep an eye out for bright red stones, sometimes exhibiting a glassy texture, some right under your feet and others visible in outcrops. These rocks were formed by the slow combustion of organic material trapped in layers of shale.

      Happy Camp Canyon itself remains quite pristine. Several groups of Chumash Indians called this place home in past centuries; later it became a part of an immense cattle ranch founded by a pioneer Simi Valley family. Purchased as a future state park in the late 1960s, it was traded to Ventura County for use as a regional park. Today, save for a few dirt roads and a smattering of artifacts from the days of cattle ranching, the 3,000-acre canyon park serves as prime natural habitat for native plants and animals and a restful retreat for hikers seeking to escape from the sights and sounds of city and suburban life. Beware that you may still run into cattle in the canyon. The October 2003 Simi Fire consumed most of the canyon’s hillside sage-scrub and chaparral vegetation, and the scorched trees still show scars.

      To Reach the Trailhead: To get to the Happy Camp Canyon’s principal trailhead, follow the 118 Freeway west from Simi Valley or the 23 Freeway north from Thousand Oaks to the New Los Angeles Avenue exit. Go west 1 mile to Moorpark Avenue (signed Highway 23), turn right, and proceed 2.6 miles to where

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