Biking 15 Miles from Ojai to Ventura on the Ojai Valley Trail

[Music] lately i've been enjoying trying to find new bike trails in california so during a recent trip to ventura i heard about the 14 mile trail from ojai to the ventura coast i already had my bike with me so i headed up to ojai and grabbed vegan food with amy and the babies and then got dropped off to start the trail back to ventura here's all the information if you want to ride the ojai valley trail to the ventura river trail and let me know if i left anything off in the comments to start the trail i got dropped off right next to the bryant street entrance in ojai this bike path does allow class 1 and class 2 e-bikes there's the official map of what we're doing on this trail this bike trail is 14 miles from ojai to ventura and it's actually two different trails the first part is the ojai valley trail and the second part is the ventura river trail i started in ojai and then rode all the way back to the ventura coast where i met up with amy and the family doing it this direction it's basically flat and downhill most of the way so we're already about a half mile away from downtown ojai you can see this beautiful trail that we've been going through and that there are a lot of these stop signs though when you're in the town of ojai that you have to watch out for through most of the town of ojai the trail is incredibly beautiful with large trees providing shade as you ride through areas like libby park we're about a mile and a quarter in and there's a good parking area right here if you want to start the drive to ventura plus look at all this awesome tree tunnels you get to go through when you make it to this turn right here with the horse you actually have to cross the street in order to continue with the trail so make sure you follow the signs the trail is pretty easy to follow the entire way this is the only section that's a little bit confusing you basically just have to cross the street and then ride along the shopping center parking lot until you get back on the nature portion of the trail [Music] during this section it's still pretty beautiful but there was a lot more traffic from the cars and the bikes as i was riding by [Music] so this part of the trail is basically paralleling the main street from ventura to ohio [Music] as you're going along the path there's multiple benches like this that you can sit and take a break at also there's a walking i think equestrian path right there that's off of the bike path which is nice this portion of the trail has less shaded trees as it parallels highway 33 and there are a few sections where you actually have to wait for a street light in order to cross it's a really nice time of year we even got some wildflowers on the trail as i left the ojai area the amount of traffic on the trail dropped significantly and there was large sections where i didn't see any other people as i was riding this was a really great experience as i was able to just stop and pull over and take in the views whenever i wanted as i made my way down [Music] so when you come down this section right here there's a little cut out you definitely want to take that because it takes you out to this epic viewpoint i think that's supposed to be the ventura river right there but there's no water in it the view here was stunning looking out towards the mountains of the los padres national forest continuing onward the road is up there we're about five or so miles in and there's this area called oakview which is about a half mile away that has bathrooms food and something to fix your bike i'm not going there but it's here if you need it as you enter the oakview area you have to navigate a few stop signs and streets before making it back to the main bike path [Music] there's another little pull off right after that oak view area that has another beautiful view the forested area and then those mountains in the background now we're going alongside the houses on one side and there's still a trail for walkers on the right side for about a mile or so this section is the most remote on the trail as you can't even hear the cars or see the road anymore [Music] all right we just reached this really cool bridge it's pretty long and a little bit narrow but crosses over some water at some point in the year but it's pretty dry right now after researching online i found out that this is the san antonio creek bridge it was built in 2012 because this section of the trail was always prone to flooding there was basically no water when i was there but it was a really cool bridge to ride over as you leave this area you'll head through the community of casita springs whose claim to fame is that they were the home of johnny cash in the 1960s [Music] from there the trail enters foster's park which again has beautiful shaded trees and is the end of the ojai valley section of the trail this area also looks like another popular starting place there's people parked underneath the freeway right there and you can go either direction there's also a cool bridge area like lions and stuff that goes over the ventura river it says crossing over this section near the freeway means you are officially on the ventura river trail so right after recording that last clip by the freeway it looks like there's actually public art along this part of the trail so this is the wheel totem pole right along the trail we are now entering the ventura land trust i guess or we are going through it [Music] as you begin the ventura river trail you'll notice that you're going to be going along the highway for most of the way [Music] so we've now entered into the ventura portion we're kind of leaving the nature behind and we're definitely more an industrial area i think they said that this was like a waste treatment plant next to us or something but still try to make the trail pretty but definitely a more industrial area during this section we crossed another metal bridge i looked online but i wasn't able to find out any information about this bridge or what it crossed so let me know if you know in the comments continuing on the trail gets metal fencing on both sides of the path we've traded the nature for abandoned buildings and barbed wire fence you'll then cross under highway 33 and ride along the east side of the highway for the rest of the way here you'll cross through the ventura oil fields which were found in 1919 and are still producing to this day special truck crossing stop sign not for that guy apparently we're free to go getting real close to proper ventura as you cross over the major road at stanley avenue this last mile of the trail is unobstructed and along the highway with houses on one side of you and the highway on the other while it doesn't have the nature that the beginning of the trail had it's still a nice end to a great bike ride i noticed a few of these things but i have no idea what they are that doesn't really help me either but there's a couple of them along the trail here's another one again i have no idea what these are let me know in the comments what i missed out on these as we enter ventura you can see the sarah cross park right up there so this is where we just came out of right here you can see the sign says ojai 15 miles that's where we came from i think that might be the official end of the trail looks like there's a sign up there but this is probably where most people would start we left the bike trail behind but i guess we're still following the ventura river trail i'm not sure where it actually ends my plan was always to try to make it all the way to the ventura pier as that's where i was meeting amy and the family so i connected with the bike path on the major road and headed towards the beach of course there's a lot more car traffic here as this is city riding so do make sure you note that as some people don't like to ride their bike in this type of area that being said it was only a seven to ten minute ride to get down to the coast as i came under the freeway and crossed over the railroad now i'm heading that way to the beach i put surfer's point in my gps and that's what i navigated to as i knew there was a nice cement bike path from here that took you down to the pier and just like that we made it to the beach that was an absolutely awesome ride really fun experience to have plus it's downhill like the entire way so definitely check it out if you can get dropped off up there now we just have a nice path all the way over to the pier where there's food and drinks in my future it's pretty hard to beat this awesome end of the trail riding along the coast like this if you're looking for a fun family-friendly adventure in ventura just riding along the coast on the nice bike path they have is a great thing to do with the family made it back to the venture up here loaded up the bike met up with the crew and we're uh going to get some food [Applause] at the ventura pier i love beach house tacos and made west brewery both are great stops made it back got our elite for a snack if you're into biking and you're in the ventura area that's an awesome trail especially because it goes downhill all the way to ventura that's it for this adventure thanks for coming along with me we'll see you on the next one

Channel: California Through My Lens

Views: 38,209

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Id: zms9bby08oA

Length: 10min 54sec (654 seconds)

Published: Sun May 16 2021