{"id":1909,"date":"2021-01-15T17:46:49","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T01:46:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2022-08-02T16:54:20","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T23:54:20","slug":"hike-to-the-cave-of-muntis-and-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/2021\/01\/15\/hike-to-the-cave-of-muntis-and-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Hike to the Cave of Munits, and others"},"content":{"rendered":"

If your New Year\u2019s resolution was to hike more but you\u2019re bored with your local trails, check out some nearby hikes with caves to keep your repertoire fresh.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Source of this article, the Thousand Oaks Acorn, January 14, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The Cave of Munits is in the Upper Las Virgenes Open Space Preserve and features a chimney cave that is open for exploration by able-bodied hikers. The cave, which can be reached on a two mile round-trip hike, has soaring ceilings. Though you don\u2019t need equipment to explore the cave top to bottom, rock climbers can often be seen practicing inside.<\/p>\n

The Cave of Munits and nearby Castle Peak are said to be culturally significant in Chumash culture and were preserved as open space in 2004 along with 2,650 acres of the Ahmanson Ranch.<\/p>\n

Castle Peak is a corruption of the Chumash name, Kas\u2019elew. It was used as a ceremonial site during solstices, according to ModernHiker.com.<\/p>\n

After exploring, hikers can return the way they came or climb out through the top of the cave and head to Castle Peak, also known as Escorpi\u00f3n Peak, a 1,475-foot-tall summit that offers sweeping views of the San Fernando Valley.<\/p>\n

The cave can be reached from the Victory trailhead or El Escorpi\u00f3n Park in West Hills.<\/p>\n

Other caves<\/strong><\/p>\n

To see a cave from a shorter trail, check out Vanalden cave near Tarzana. The sandstone cave can be reached in less than half a mile from the trailhead on Vanalden Avenue.<\/p>\n

Holes in the top of the cave allow sunlight to illuminate it, showing graffiti and drawings. Hikers can return the way they came for a 0.6-mile round trip or continue to a vista point on Vanalden Trail, which adds nearly a mile to the trip and offers panoramic views of the Santa Monica Mountains.<\/p>\n

Off Yerba Buena Road, the 1.5-mile trail to the Grotto<\/a> ends in a series of small talus caves that are formed by piled boulders. Park at Circle X Ranch for a three-mile round trip.<\/p>\n

In the Conejo Valley, there\u2019s Indian Cave in Wildwood Regional Park if you\u2019re looking to stay close to home. The cave sits on a signed spur off the Wildwood Canyon Trail.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If your New Year\u2019s resolution was to hike more but you\u2019re bored with your local trails, check out some nearby hikes with caves to keep your repertoire fresh. Source of this article, the Thousand Oaks Acorn, January 14, 2021 The Cave of Munits is in the Upper Las Virgenes Open […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,40,12,19,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hiking","category-history","category-los-angeles","category-santa-monica-mountains","category-southern-california"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3601,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions\/3601"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/venturacountytrails.org\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}