During our various hikes around Mt. Pinos, we have often looked southward across the scenic valleys and canyons of the southern Los Padres region to a long line of mountaintops – the western end of this range is Pine Mountain, over which Hwy 33 crosses between Maricopa and Ojai. Despite driving on Hwy 166 dozens of times on our way to Pismo Beach, we had never driven together down Hwy 33 through this area, although this section of highway is regarded as one of the prettier drives in the state. The high point on Pine Mountain ridge is Reyes Peak, elevation 7,514′, reached via a short mile-long use trail that extends from the end of a freshly-paved but narrow, winding road from Hwy 33 that runs for nine miles up the ridgeline. Three miles east of Reyes Peak is Haddock Mountain, elevation 7,431′, which is connected to the Reyes Peak road end by a maintained trail that follows the ridgeline between the two peaks. From our research, the two summits are often combined in a hike with a roundtrip total of just over 8 miles. We left home about 7:30 and, after getting gas and some sandwiches, made the two-hour drive to the trailhead, being surprised that the last half-mile of road is unpaved and quite rocky in places, making us wish we had driven the CRV instead of the low-slung van. Oh well. We found one of the last spots in an otherwise full parking area and thus expected a lot of company on the trail – as it turned out, we were the only hikers, the rest of the dozen or so people we encountered being deer hunters (we both thought it fortunate that Jane wore a hot pink shirt today). We left the trailhead right at 10am, heading east for a few hundred yards up an old jeep road at a very gentle incline – shortly, we reached a junction at which the jeep road goes right, proceeding downhill around the south side of Reyes Peak, while the maintained trail goes left around the north side of the peak. We chose a faint use trail between the two – this path climbs steeply away from the junction before cresting the western shoulder of the mountain and leveling out somewhat. As we gained the shoulder, we found Reyes Peak directly east of us, the use trail leading northeast into a saddle before turning back southeast and climbing up to the summit – the use trail, though steep in places, did switchback when it needed to, and it was a comfortable walk up to the summit rocks. The views from here were impressive – though trees on a knoll to the north blocked the vista in that direction, the other 270 degrees were wide open and quite spectacular. To the east was Haddock Mountain and its west face of sheer cliffs, southeast were the Santa Monica mountains behind the Camarillo area, and south was Ojai hidden behind various intervening ridges (although we could see the shoreline of Oxnard’s beaches further south through the haze) as well as the spine of Santa Cruz Island poking up through the coastal fog – to the southwest were dozens of peaks and canyons between Ventura and Santa Barbara (for us, a vast expanse of California about which we know virtually nothing), and to the west Pine Mountain dominated the horizon with the Cuyama River valley and Caliente Mountain behind it to the northwest. It was quite the sight, and, evidently, perhaps the Forest Service had thought the same at some point since we found remnants of structural foundations – maybe from a fire lookout – on the summit. It was breezy on top, so much so that it felt precarious standing on the high point – Jane tried to but, worried that she might get blown off her perch, quickly retreated. After a few minutes to sign the register and snap lots of pictures, we scrambled down from the rocks and followed the use trail as it continued its way down the eastern ridge of Reyes Peak, departing from it cross-country down the slope as we discerned the main trail directly below us. Almost immediately after starting eastward on the main trail, we ran into our first group of hunters – scanning the cliffs below Haddock Mountain through powerful binoculars, the men were heading back westward after walking out to points further east. We continued, shortly coming to various windows in the ridgeline where the view again opened up to the south – it reminded us of the northeast ridge of Baden-Powell last weekend, the trail tucked just under the ridgeline to the north. Rounding a tall hill on its north side, we began to climb higher toward Haddock Mountain – “climb” is a relative or average term, as those who routed the trail years before today seem undecided as to whether they should take the high road or the low, and the resulting trail drops and rises randomly as it gradually gains altitude (we both thought we had gained and lost the same 50′ about a dozen times on this section). We were looking for a duck that would signal our departure toward the Haddock Summit, so we got excited when we passed a duck before reaching a rocky area where the trail virtually disappeared – the patchy spots of soil had boot prints in them, and we followed a steep draw southward up the hill, anticipating that we’d quickly gain the summit. We were disappointed to discover that it was a false summit, higher ground being visible maybe a quarter-mile further east, and we found the well-defined trail again as we emerged from the rocks a short distance later. Here, the trail steepened once more as it wound upward to a cliff top at the head of very precipitous canyon – we could see at last the summit rocks maybe a hundred yards further east. We quickly made our way up the remaining trail (we never did find the telltale duck) and located the summit rock with the register at its base. The north side of this boulder was perhaps 10 feet tall, but the south side was about three times as high, the hillside dropping away steeply below. Again, the views were awesome from the top of the summit boulder – it was great to sit here at the cliff edge, eat our lunch, and take in the sights, and we did so for about 30 minutes before signing the register and heading back west down the trail. While the ups and down of the trail had been a nuisance on our way east, they were more problematic now in miles 5 and 6 since we were a little tired – still, we made good time, and the various high points along the trail were opportunities to catch our breath for a few moments before resuming our westward progress. Once we passed the point at which we had joined this trail from Reyes Peak, we were on new ground – here, as it rounded the north slope of Reyes, the trail was nearly level for about a mile before dropping into a steep gully at the northwest corner of the mountain. The forest was much less open here, and it reminded us of the deep cover we hiked through in the Kula Forest Preserve on Maui – it was dark enough for the flash on the camera to fire with every picture we took. We ascended moderately into more open forest as we gained the saddle where we first left the main trail, and we were back at the van within a few more minutes, arriving exactly at 3pm. This was one of our favorite hikes of the year – although the extremes of altitude across the 8+ miles only span about 500′, we actually gained nearly four times that with all the drops and rises. The scenery was nothing short of incredible, and it served for us as a wonderful introduction to this part of the southern Los Padres forest. Some of the camp sites up on Pine Mountain have beautiful, open views similar to those from the peaks, so we’ll likely try to camp up here in the spring. Couldn’t have asked for a better day.