Peak Bagging Without the Pain
Southern California’s best-kept alpine secrets! The trek from Mount Pinos to Sawmill Mountain offers a fantastic “two-peak” adventure in the Los Padres National Forest. Because we are starting at the Chula Vista/Nordic Base trailhead at over 8,300 feet, we get to skip the grueling initial ascent and immediately dive into sweeping views.

Clocking in at about 7.5 miles round-trip with roughly 1,600 feet of rolling elevation gain, it’s a moderately strenuous hike—mostly due to the high altitude—that will reward us with the rugged beauty of the Chumash Wilderness.

Vanilla Pines & Condor Skies
We start by following a gently sloping dirt access road through alpine meadows to the summit of Mount Pinos (8,831 feet). After checking out the broad peak, we’ll continue west to the Condor Observation Site for phenomenal views over the San Joaquin Valley.

Just past the observation deck, the real wilderness experience begins. Our path narrows to a single track and drops down rocky switchbacks into a forested saddle. From the bottom, we climb up the ridge toward Sawmill Mountain until the trail mellows onto a high plateau. A spur will take us to a massive rock cairn marking Sawmill Mountain’s summit at 8,818 feet!

This route feels more like the High Sierra than typical Southern California chaparral. We’ll hike past vanilla-scented Jeffrey pines and resilient limber pines. It’s also a premier bird-watching destination where we might spot Clark’s Nutcrackers, Steller’s Jay and maybe, just maybe lucky, an endangered California Condor. Mule deer are common, while bears and mountain lions generally avoid the trails.

🏕️Optional camping is available. I have a spot at Mt Pinos Campground