TopaTopa Bluff
Hines (attempt)

Taking advantage of an unusually warm January day (near 80) in the Ojai area I decided
to do some peaks around TopaTopa Bluff.  It was so warm that I wore shorts and
I sure didn't regret it.  At 9:00am I began my hike up Sisar Canyon.  The route
seemed exceptionally long and I didn't think I was ever going to reach the top.
In reality it took just over 2 hours to reach the top of the ridge.  There's quite
a bit of elevation gain which makes it quite strenuous.  At the top of the ridge
I followed the Nordhoff road past TopaTopa Bluff and on to Hines.  This too seemed
to take a long time.  There was a fair amount of snow on the road/trail as it
went around the North side of the bluff.  I hadn't anticipated this and it slowed 
me down putting me even more behind schedule.

My original goal was to do Hines and TopaTopa Bluff.  However, once I reached
the NW ridge of Hines Peak I had to stop.  I started up the knife-edge ridge
but a short way up I reached an obstacle.  There were a few bushes and a lot
of loose rock that after contemplating the situation I decided was just too
dangerous to attempt (especially since I was alone).  The problem is that 
both sides of the knife edge are steep and relatively hard (meaning you can't
get a foothold) yet are covered with loose gravel.  Thus, it appeared to me 
that if you slipped you could slide/tumble all the way down the mountain to your 
death.  I had encountered a similar situation the day before in Santa Paula 
Canyon and felt it was not worth pushing my luck.  I was also quickly running 
out of time so I turned around and headed back to TopaTopa Bluff.  At least I 
would summit one peak that day.

Not knowing which summit was the high point of TopaTopa I climbed 2 or 3 of
the high points just to be sure.  The view was unfortunately a bit hazy but
I could still make out the Channel Islands poking out of the haze in the distance.
After absorbing the view I headed down.  As expected the road/trail seemed to
never end but eventually I arrived back at my vehicle just before 5:30pm.  My
only regret is that I would have to do this same trip all over again later
to pick up Hines Peak.

1/5/03

Log:

09:00am - Started hike
10:05am - Reached point where trail departs from road
11:19am - Reached Nordhoff road at top of ridge
12:47pm - Reached Hines NW Ridge
02:22pm - Reached high point of TopaTopa Bluff
03:25pm - Reached top of the Sisar Canyon trail
05:22pm - Returned to trailhead

Stats:

Time from Trailhead to Hines NW Ridge: 3 hrs 47 mins