| Statistics: |
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| Difficulty: 2.5
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Route Finding: 1.5
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| Distance One Way
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3.3
miles |
| Trailhead Elev
950 feet |
Elev Gain 836 feet |
| Avg Time One Way
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1 hour 20 minutes |
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| Waypoints: |
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| Trailhead |
N 34° 09.724 W 118° 50.430
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Triunfo Canyon Trail
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N 34° 09.726 W 118° 51.248
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Los Robles Trail South
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N 34° 09.717 W 118° 51.259
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White Horse Trail
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N 34° 09.611 W 118° 52.081
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Janss Fire Road
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N 34° 09.758 W 118° 52.692
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Trailhead/End of trail
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N 34° 09.758 W 118° 52.692
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Topographic Route Map |
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Elevation Profile |
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By Scott Legal
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The Los Robles Trail is a very long trail that spans a mountain ridge that runs much of the length of Thousand Oaks. The eastern trailhead is located on Foothill Drive in Westlake Village, behind the now closed Kmart. The trail ends over 10.5 miles later at Potrero Road. Most people only travel on parts of the trail at any one outing. In consideration of this fact and to enable to provide more map detail, I’ve divided the trail up into three sections and associates adjacent trails to those sections. This trail description is for the eastern section of the Los Robles Trail.
The trailhead used to be a fire road that headed east then wrapped around to the west. The bottom section of the fire road has been closed off by yet another upscale neighborhood. The closed fire road has been replaced by a short steep single track trail that erodes readily in rainstorms.
After less than a quarter mile the single track trail joins the old fire road that you will stay on until the end of the eastern portion of the trail, at the Janss Fire Road. After the short steep climb up the single track it is a welcome relief that the fire road is relatively flat for close to a quarter mile. A quarter mile into the flat section you will pass a water tank and a trail junction with a trail the heads down to the water tank to the right and a very eroded trail the heads steeply up the hill to your left. You want to bear slightly to the left, rather than taking the steep trail that is a hard left or the tank trail to the right.
After the junction the trail heads up a winding section along the power lines. There is poison oak along sections of the downhill edge of the trail which is easily avoided since you are on a fire road. Be aware that this section of trail is on a north facing slope and takes longer to dry out after storms than trails elsewhere in the area.
At the top of the hill there is another junction with a fire road to the left and an eroding trail to the right. Continue straight where the trail heads briefly downhill as it wraps around the contour of the slope. The trail then heads up a short, steep and rocky section. Before reaching the top of this short section you will pass the Triunfo Canyon trailhead and just a few yards later you reach a junction with the Los Robles Trail South, to the left. Take a moment to look along the power lines to the west. You will see the long winding trail that lay ahead.
The trail travels downhill for about a half mile and it winds along the contours of the north slope of the ridge. After the trail bottoms out there is a long steep uphill. At the top of the uphill the trail flattens out and heads toward a junction with the northwestern trailhead of the White Horse Trail.
Shortly after passing the White Horse trailhead the trail heads up a steep incline that is usually in pretty poor shape. Much of the top soil washed away many years ago so even when the trail has been plowed it is usually very rocky and uneven. Near the top of this steep section very nice views of adjacent ranch property to the southwest appear. There is a nice oak lined meadow that is very pretty in the winter and early spring months when the grass is nice and green.
The trail travels along gently rolling terrain for a distance until heading downhill toward the Janss Fire Road. Again, there are more views of oak lined ranch meadows on the left side of the trail. At the end of this section of the Los Robles Trail, where the trail meets the Janss Fire Road, the trail continues on to the middle section of the Los Robles Trail.
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Looking north across the canyon |
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The trail heads west along the power lines |
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Looking down toward a very rocky section of the trail |
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The end of the Los Robles Trail East at the Janss Fire Road |
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