The posts Boney Mountain – Big Sycamore Canyon Circuit and Boney Mountain Western Ridge & Loop describe two routes that ascend the north side of Boney Mountain — a circuitous eastern ridge route, and a more difficult western ridge.

These two routes can be combined into an adventurous loop that starts and ends at the junction of Danielson Road and the Old Boney Trail. The loop, with no side trips, works out to about 4 miles. Add in the 2.5 mile approach from the Wendy Drive trailhead, and the total distance for the course is about 9 miles, with an elevation gain of a bit over 2000 ft.

I did the loop counterclockwise — up the western ridge and then down the eastern. The New Year’s weather could not have been better. Dense fog clung to the coast, but a brisk offshore breeze kept inland views crystal-clear. On the way up the western ridge I couldn’t resist doing a short detour to climb one of the crag’s appealing summits.

At the top of the western ridge, I briefly debated doing Tri-Peaks and Big Dome, but was hoping to make it home by noon, so skipped those side trips.

With gravity on my side, the run down the eastern ridge was not nearly as gnarly as I thought it might be. I was running in Inov-8 Roclite 305s — nimble shoes with a fell running heritage. Mine weigh only 21.1 oz./pair (US 9.0) and were particularly well-suited to the rough terrain.

This climb and adventure run was a great way to start the New Year — and I did make it home in time for lunch with my wife!

Here’s a Google Earth image of a GPS trace of my route.

Two routes are commonly used to climb the rugged north side of Boney Mountain. One route ascends a ridge to the east of the Danielson cabin site, and the other a rocky ridge to the west of the site. Today, I was planning to do the western ridge, and then continue up and over Tri-Peaks to the Chamberlain segment of the Backbone Trail.

The day was chilly. In the deep shadows along Danielson Road, puddles of water were frozen, and frosty soil crunched underfoot. Shadow turned to sun at the turnoff to the cabin site, and I paused for a moment to enjoy the warm sunshine and gaze at the rocks towering above Danielson’s canyon. This impressive formation straddles the western ridge and I wondered just how spectacular the crags would be.

Spurred by a small surge of adrenalin, I turned and continued up the Old Boney Trail. From its highpoint I followed a use trail to the top of benchmarked “Hill 1918.” The first big outcrops loom above this point, and they mark the start of the more challenging part of the western ridge.

Although some sections were a bit overgrown, the route was fairly well defined. Despite appearances, there was no significant bushwacking, and only a little scrambling up, or across, short sections of low angle rock. By usual mountaineering standards the climbing was not difficult — class 2 to marginal class 3 — but some skilled route finding is required. It was fun finding my way through the imposing outcrops of angular and pocketed Conejo volcanic rock.

Higher on the ridge the route played tag with the edge of the precipitous cliffs of the Boney Mountain escarpment. At various points there are craggy views of Pt. Mugu State Park, the Channel Islands, Oxnard Plain, and the mountains of Ventura and Santa Barbara. Eventually, the route emerges from a steep thicket of red shanks at a small saddle north of Tri-Peaks.

From here, I continued to Tri-Peaks and was soon enjoying the superlative downhill of the Chamberlain Trail. This time, instead taking one of several routes down to Big Sycamore Canyon, I looped back on the Old Boney Trail to the start of the climb. From here I retraced my route on the Danielson Road back to Satwiwa and the Wendy Drive trailhead.

The course worked out to about 16 miles with an elevation gain of over 4000 ft.

Some related posts: Boney Mountain – Big Sycamore Canyon Circuit – Coyote Trail Variation, Clearing Clouds on Boney Mountain