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December 13-16, 2024
The Santa Ynez Range is one of the longest west-east-running mountain ranges in the Transverse Ranges of Southern California, with a prominent crest stretching over 70 linear miles from Point Conception to Ojai. It borders the northern sides of the beach towns of Santa Barbra, Goleta, and Carpinteria, forming a 3-4,000 ft high backdrop of chaparral-covered mountains. Having noticed this very linear crest on several occasions, I set about mapping a traverse of the entire crest and every peak on it, for a total of 30 peaks.
Researching the range online, I stumbled upon several reports of prior ascents of sections of the Santa Ynez Crest, but never the entire crest. This was because the western 23 miles of the crest lay on private property, and all recorded ascents I found online included only the public portions. If you are not able to traverse through the private section, you can still traverse 70% of the range, but not the full geographical Santa Ynez Crest. This report details a traverse of the full crest.
I divided the traverse into 3 distinct sections from west to east. The entire route took us around 3 days to complete and involved a car shuttle.
Section 1 (24 mi) started at Jalama Beach and ended at Las Cruces where US-101 crossed the crest. This section primarily crossed through active ranch and homestead lands, and ended with a short stretch through Gaviota State Park. This entire section was traveled on foot. This section involved traveling through private property. For those who are uncomfortable with this, please skip section 1 and start with section 2.
Section 2 (60 mi) started at Las Cruces and ended at Romero Saddle. This section started with the eastern section of Gaviota State Park, then continued along a mix of dirt and paved roads through a patchwork of Los Padres National Forest land and easements through private land. The mountains quickly rose above 3,000 ft here, dwarfing the lower lying ridge of section 1. Due to copious amounts of roads in this section, we primarily traveled through it on bike. We cached our bikes off the road in Las Cruces and then ditched them in the bushes around Romero Saddle at the conclusion of section 2.
Section 3 (31 mi) started at Romero Saddle and ended at Meyer Rd Trailhead near Ojai. This consisted of single track trails and summited the highest point in the Santa Ynez Range. This was in my opinion the most scenic section of the traverse. This entire section was traveled on foot.
Peaks Climbed
| Peak | Elevation | Topographic Prominence | Summit Coordinates (lat/lon) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Del Norte Benchmark | 992 ft | 50 ft | 34.49080, -120.46290 |
| Palo Alto Hill | 1,394 ft | 54 ft | 34.49460, -120.41713 |
| Bilby Benchmark | 1,757 ft | 692 ft | 34.49441, -120.37490 |
| "Soft Ridge Peak" | 1,706 ft | 338 ft | 34.50012, -120.36531 |
| Dome Benchmark | 1,485 ft | 180 ft | 34.50796, -120.28850 |
| "Annoying Cow Peak" | 1,510 ft | 443 ft | 34.51147, -120.27830 |
| "Orford Peak" | 1,717 ft | 302 ft | 34.49069, -120.20830 |
| Gaviota Peak | 2,462 ft | 176 ft | 34.50184, -120.19878 |
| "Nojoqui Peak'' | 2,867 ft | 609 ft | 34.51309, -120.16996 |
| "Monjas Peak" | 2,596 ft | 296 ft | 34.52065, -120.13035 |
| Bald Mountain | 2,617 ft | 321 ft | 34.53123, -120.09115 |
| Santa Ynez Peak | 4,300 ft | 2,116 ft | 34.52700, -119.97859 |
| Broadcast Peak | 4,033 ft | 263 ft | 34.52535, -119.95890 |
| "Condor Hill" | 3,336 ft | 233 ft | 34.52281, -119.92015 |
| "Rev Peak" | 3,011 ft | 247 ft | 34.51920, -119.90367 |
| Burro Benchmark | 3,599 ft | 527 ft | 34.50940, -119.76999 |
| La Cumbre Peak | 3,991 ft | 1,031 ft | 34.49459, -119.71267 |
| "Firebreak Peak" | 3,870 ft | 462 ft | 34.49582, -119.68956 |
| Blue Benchmark | 3,677 ft | 326 ft | 34.47717, -119.60393 |
| "Serena Peak" | 3,356 ft | 323 ft | 34.47288, -119.57704 |
| "Sandyland Peak" | 3,937 ft | 469 ft | 34.46977, -119.54196 |
| "Carpinteria Peak" | 3,921 ft | 408 ft | 34.46839, -119.51340 |
| Noon Peak | 4,084 ft | 44 ft | 34.46923, -119.47463 |
| Juncal Benchmark | 4,690 ft | 40 ft | 34.47601, -119.44585 |
| Divide Peak | 4,710 ft | 207 ft | 34.47686, -119.44450 |
| Santa Ynez Mountains Highpoint | 4,866 ft | 1,415 ft | 34.47957, -119.43158 |
| "No Ledge Peak" | 4,675 ft | 208 ft | 34.47469, -119.39841 |
| White Ledge Peak | 4,642 ft | 305 ft | 34.46980, -119.39209 |
| "Lime Peak" | 4,821 ft | 465 ft | 34.47927, -119.38806 |
| Matilaja Mountain | 4,651 ft | 207 ft | 34.47929, -119.37368 |
Total Stats
115 miles
24,200 ft/ 23,500 ft gain/loss
After spending half a day driving along the crest caching our bikes and water in various spots in section 2, we drove the quiet winding road to Jalama Beach. We spent just a few moments to sort gear and brush teeth before setting off at 6:20pm, walking along Jalama Rd for just over a quarter mile before turning south onto a dirt road which marked the start of the crest. We followed this road for a couple miles before reaching a junction where we followed another road to our first peak, Del Norte BM, for about 0.7 miles south out-and-back. We could still hear the waves crashing onto the beach below.
tower on the summit of Del Norte BM
The night started out clear, with a beautiful full moon lightning up the surrounding grassy hillsides. As the night went on, a bank of cirrus clouds gradually moved in from the northwest. These started out thin enough that the moonlight still made it's way through the clouds and we could still see just fine without headlamps. Gradually, the clouds would thicken, later making navigation increasingly difficult.
On and on went the scenic grassy crest. A light breeze rustled the golden grass. Hooting owls darted between oak trees. The temperature was in the mid 40s, which was quite comfortable to hike in with light jackets on.
We left our good dirt road and reached Palo Alto Hill around 9pm. The last few hundred feet to its summit was a short but nasty brush fest. It's highpoint was marked by a single block of sandstone surrounded by bushes and poison oak, without any views. Down the other side of the hill, we whacked through more brush and continued east for a short section of old overgrown dirt road before reaching the well graded dirt of De La Cresta Rd.
brushy summit of Palo Alto Hill
The next 6 miles involved weaving around multiple homesteads in beautiful oak forest, tip toeing on slightly crunchy leaves. The breeze was almost non-existent now, and we could hear every little crunch of foliage as critters made their way across the forest floor.
Bilby BM was my favorite peak on section 1, with a 30 ft summit block rising above the foliage, providing a great view. We reached it at 10pm, scrambling up a short class 3 section to its highpoint.
Bilby BM summit block
Bilby BM summit views
Shortly after Bilby, we left the well graded dirt and head north and then east along a semi-brushy firebreak to Soft Ridge Peak, which contained no views. The next several miles after this peak involved more difficult navigation, connecting several disjointed neglected dirt roads and long cross country stretches through tall grass.
In addition to the thickening cirrus cloud layer, a thicker stratus layer was quickly forming over the mountains, eventually completely blocking out the moonlight and making navigation extremely tedious. We decided to cowboy camp about 15 miles in at around 1:30am.
After a few hours of fitful sleep, the stratus layer rose and thinned, allowing weak muffled moonlight to filter through. Since it was just bright enough to navigate by, we resumed hiking at 5:30am.
The ridge was far more bushy than before, but we were able to avoid most of the bad brush by picking a careful line connecting grassy meadows. The eastern horizon was visibly lightening as we crossed Cañada de Santa Anita, where we soon picked up some ATV tracks which continued east.
The sun rose shortly before we reached Dome BM. I checked the radar and noticed a band of rain which would eventually reach us, but at that point we still had a few hours of dry weather. We picked up a herd of cows, which lowed loudly and followed us east, expecting treats that we didn't have. The fog rolled in as we crested our next peak, Annoying Cow Peak. Shortly after this peak, we crossed a fenceline and were able to get rid of the cows, which protested loudly as their forward progress was stymied by the fence.
summit views from Dome BM
The first few drops of rain began to fall as we passed the western boundary of Gaviota State Park. We reached our cached bikes and rode them across a bridge crossing over US-101, stopping at Gaviota Peak Trailhead to shelter from the rain for a couple hours.
waiting out the rain
As the rain gradually died down to a light drizzle, we hopped on our bikes and continued east. Our time on the bikes here was short lived however, as neither of us were well practiced cyclists, and our bikes were heavy and clunky, especially with mud building up on their tires. We would mostly push the bikes uphill for the next several miles, only occasionally riding them on flatter sections.
We parked our bikes at the saddle between Gaviota Peak and Orford Peak, taking about 30 minutes to complete the 1 mile out and back to Orford. A faint overgrown use-trail led up this peak, resulting in both of us receiving a good soaking from the wet brush.
Orford Peak views
We pushed our bikes up the majority of the remaining distance to Gaviota Peak, which was shrouded in clouds.
summit of Gaviota Peak
From Gaviota Peak, the terrain leveled off more, and we were finally able to enjoy the bikes. As the sky gradually cleared, the remainder of the day consisted of riding the bikes for several miles, parking them, and bushwhacking short distances to peaks. Good views abounded. Some highlights were a section of sandstone wind caves, and a stone turret overlooking the ocean.
The sun set as we reached Bald Mountain, which was crowned with a VOR station. A few more minutes on the bikes brought us to a small hollow where we set up camp for the night. With only a few hours of sleep each for the past 24 hours, we were glad to finally rest.
Bald Mountain summit views
Dawn found us back on the bikes, coasting east at a considerably brisker pace than before, as the road was now paved and at much lower angles than before. We crossed Refugio Pass and began the long but gradual climb to Santa Ynez Peak. The road turned back to dirt shortly before the peak, but it was still easy riding.
great clear morning views on the ride up to Santa Ynez Peak
Santa Ynez Peak and the following peak, Broadcast Peak, were crowned by arrays of cell towers, somewhat marring the otherwise excellent views to all sides.
We continued east on the dirt road, repeating the process of parking the bikes below a peak, walking up to the peak, and getting back on the bikes until the next peak. We were now closer to Santa Barbra, and passed several other cyclists and dirtbikers along this stretch.
An exhilarating descent on paved roads brought us to San Marcos Pass, where we had to wait for a break in the traffic to ride across HWY 154. We picked up a water cache shortly after, and began the climb to La Cumbre, summiting Burro BM along the way.
looking towards La Cumbre from Burro BM
La Cumbre was developed as a nice little park, with several picnic benches and great views towards the ocean. The highpoint was an exposed class 2 summit block. We watched as a few people parked their car and tried gingerly walking up it, eventually giving up after realizing the exposure was too much to bear.
Sunset came as we crested the summit of Firebreak Peak, which was less bushwhacky than expected.
Another 5 miles on the bikes brought us to the west ridge of Blue BM, where we parked the bikes and hiked a short distance up to the summit. Great moonlit views of Santa Barbra were had from there.
Another mile or so of downhill brought us to Romero Saddle and the conclusion of section 2, where we retrieved our food cache and cooked dinner. I was extremely happy to finally have warm food, which felt like a grand feast with a million dollar view. After dinner, we cached the bikes, set up the tent, and were asleep pretty quickly. It would be an early wake-up the following day to complete all of section 3.
camp at Romero Saddle
We woke up promptly at 5:30am, packing up the tent and caching it with everything else. With light daypacks containing mostly just food and water, we felt light and springy, and made short work up the single track trails to enjoy a nice red sunrise on Serena Peak.
The network of trails remained more or less directly on the crest, conveniently bringing us up and over the next several peaks. Amazing views towards Carpinteria and Ventura continued to get better as we ascended even more elevation further east.
Our first bout of bushwhacking for the day came as we ascended a brushy gully to the southwest of the Santa Ynez Mountains HP. The brush was moderate, and lasted about 10-15 minutes before we hit the rocky summit. We hung out here for a bit on the highest point on the traverse.
Back on the trail, we continued through sections of coniferous forest mixed in with the usual chaparral, passing several nice backcountry campsites, none of which were occupied. The mountains dropped off more dramatically to the west than before, and this part of the range felt the most rugged.
Eventually we reached No Ledge Peak with a short bushwhack from the trail, then continued cross country along the connecting ridge to White Ledge Peak. This was said by some as the most difficult-to-reach single peak in the Santa Ynez Range. I was initially worried that we would get bogged down in bushwhacking, but the brush was not dense and we made quick work of it. The last few hundred feet involved some fun class 3 scrambling as we stayed directly on the ridge. There was an option to keep it class 2 lower down, but the terrain looked unpleasant.
looking towards White Ledge Peak
some class 3
summit views from White Ledge Peak
After a quick summit break, we meandered back along the ridge to No Ledge Peak and the trail, and continued up to the last two peaks. These were both short brushy excursions from the trail, and were just icing on the cake. Somewhere along this section, we hit the 100 mile mark on the traverse.
We summited the last peak, Matilaja Mountain, 30 minutes before sunset. There were still 10 miles to go after this point, but they would all be on cruiser trails.
The trail meandered downhill at a very gradual rate, switchbacking all over the place. These would be very fun trails to run, but at this point we were pretty tired and only able to walk at a brisk pace. The last couple hours were spent in the dark with headlamps, with the trail tunneling through dense chaparral which seemed to go on forever.
sunset on Topatopa Ridge
Around 7pm, we finally reached the eastern terminus of the Santa Ynez Range and our waiting second car. We quickly threw our daypacks in the car and drove into town to stuff our faces at an all-you-can-eat buffet before they closed. Afterwards, we still had to drive back to Romero Saddle to pick up the bikes and other cached gear before driving more hours of winding roads to Jalama Beach. It was sometime around 11pm when I set up the tent and finally passed out at Jalama Beach, sleeping soundly until around 9am the following morning.
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