Hike Zaca Peak via Grass Mountain Trail Los Padres National Forest, CA

Apr 26, 2023 — Accompanied by my friend Chris for the next few days, we found Zaca Peak to be a good starting point. I'd hiked Ranger Peak the day before, a less-traveled and meadowy wonderland only a few miles away, so I had high hopes for Zaca Peak. I found it to be a lovely hike that was full of wildflowers, but a bit less magical. The parking lot is on the nearby Midland School's property, but they only ask hikers sign a register serving as a permit. It's a less official process than we anticipated, and the row of cars parked already on a Wednesday morning alleviated our concerns about the private property restriction even more.

Most hikers seem to use this trailhead as a means for hiking the Lover's Loop Trail, but Chris and I have zero love for each other so we'd be doing a more strenuous out-and-back instead. The other marked trail access from this trailhead is for Grass Mountain, which is really just an unranked viewpoint along the way to Zaca Peak. Later on we only saw one other hiker past Grass Mountain, so it was clear that's the preferred turn-around point for most.

The hike started off along a well-maintained trail that followed a flowing stream, crossing it a couple of times. It passed a junction with the Maple Canyon Trail, so we kept right here and continued parallel to the watercourse. At about 0.7 mile, the Lovers Loop Trail bends to the east, the more obvious option. However, the Grass Mountain Trail instead continues north away from the water and up a steep slope. Starting off, it's a lovely trail through chaparral, slowly progressing into gorgeous meadows. Morning sunlight lit up the ground gloriously, and we enjoyed the trail as it snaked through the grasses and past little rock outcroppings. Mistakenly thinking the trail would continue in this well-maintained fashion, we were surprised when the hike steepened significantly as it progressed through alternating meadow and brush.

To my chagrin, I struggled to warm up as the slope angle increased, an acute reminder that this was day four of my trip. Chris being fresh, he made me very aware that I was moving more slowly, both by always being ahead of me and also, of course, by mocking me more explicitly. If there were a cliff nearby I'd toss him off. A 1200-foot vertical ascent to Grass Mountain on a dusty slope was completely unexpected. The trail was popular enough that we were surprised by the lack of switchbacks and that the "trail" hasn't been eroded into a canyon at this point. We wondered why a more official trail that can support this much human traffic hasn't been constructed up the slope. It was hard to complain about the steepness while abundant wildflowers flounced around us, colorful lupines and poppies serving as an amazing foreground for the grassy hills overlooking Los Olivos CA below.

When we reached Grass Mountain, we noted Zaca Peak's forested summit to the east. We'd have to descend from Grass Mountain, then go up and over some large lump along the way to reach the base of the peak. Fortunately, a decent trail kept the hike pleasant, since otherwise there'd be a lot of brush to contend with. Short spurts of meadows full of flowers gave us nice views as we went, separated by forested and brushy sections. I enjoyed the variety in foliage. The trail was thin enough to confuse us only a couple of times, but it's hard to get too lost along a sloped ridgeline like this. Along the way we noted an old trail sign, so clearly at some point this was a real trail.

As tempting as the trail was to continue following, we noted on a map that it wrapped around Zaca Peak's south side and would not actually reach the summit. So, once at the base of Zaca Peak, we left the trail and headed up the west slope of our peak. There were two short spurts of light Class 2, and some minimal bushwhacking. A social trail was present, and overall very helpful when navigating around various bits of foliage. I was hoping for a better view toward the tiny Zaca Lake below, but trees obscured it for the most part. Zaca Peak's summit was underwhelming, brush blocking our view, but we could see Figueroa Mountain to the east.