Kyle and I drove over to Sulphur Mountain Road in Ojai to go on a hike. Now really, the hiking trail is 10 miles long and puts you somewhere on the other side of the mountain, but we aren't that crazy. A good hike to the top of the mountain and back is really all the fun we can handle in one day. We grabbed some water, packed up a few PB&J's, and off we went.
The cows show up about mile 3. This is a fire road, and there is private property up there, so there has to be a ranch or something up there, but you never see it. Once you get back in the hills, you might as well be in the middle of Ireland for all you know. You don't see a house for miles.
Here is a picture of a mom and baby. They guarded the road we had to walk on. We called them ninja cows because they were so quiet and stealth-like that you wouldn't even know they were there, except that they were blocking the road. Luckily, they let us pass without even answering a riddle or paying a toll. They did radio ahead to their ninja cow friends, because when we turned the corner, they all acted as if they were just spread out on the grass eating lunch, but we knew they were watching us.
Right about mile marker 3 is also where you get out of the hills enough to be able to see the landscape around you. That's the ocean behind those hills, and if you look in the background, you can see the shapes of the Channel Islands. Very cool. It is so quiet up there, you swear you could shout across to those islands and someone would hear you. I wonder if the ninja cows look at those islands and wonder how to get over there?
Mile 4 through 5 is really when the view makes it worth it. Everything is so lush and green. We did see a fox in the hills, and thought we saw a deer too. This view made every step of the 5 mile hike completely worth it. This is where we finally stopped to cop a squat and eat our lunch. PB&J never tasted so good. Followed by an apple, an orange, and a few almonds, we were ready to head back down the hill. If you remember from basic math, 5 miles into the hike means 5 miles back out. We want to keep going back until one day we can do the entire hike from start to finish and wind up on the other side. 
But for now, here you are, eating lunch with us, looking at the same view we saw. Thanks for joining us!
