Alamo Mountain is one of the big summits in the Transverse Ranges, near the town of Gorman about an hour north of Los Angeles. Alamo is due south of the broad Frazier Mountain, and actually sits inside Ventura County. From Interstate-5 it is visible, but picking out the actual summit point isn’t so easy. Like many of the peaks in the Transverse Range, Alamo has a very broad profile, big but not pointed. The mountain owes its existence, presumably, to the action of the massive tectonic plates passing by one another along the San Andres Fault, which is just a few miles to the north.

As one of Southern California’s many peaks with 2,000 feet of prominence, Alamo had been in my sights for a few years now, but various delays and closures kept me away from the peak until now. I was first here in 2008, visiting nearby Frazier. Since Alamo is just down the road a bit, I looked into hiking it as well, but the Forest Service had closed the road “indefinitely” due to damage from the big 2006 Day Fire. I tried again in May 2009, but missed it when the road was seasonally closed, and the same thing happened again in May 2010. I gleaned they keep the road closed until about Memorial Day. Now August, and with a few days open before the new school year, I made a quick sortie into California to visit Alamo, and also Santa Ynez Peak near Santa Barbara. I left very early Saturday morning from Phoenix to Wrightwood, arriving mid-morning, and spending the day with my mom and my niece and nephew. We had good fun, including a small hike along a segment of the Pacific Crest Trail. Sunday, I left for Alamo via Palmdale and Gorman, about a 100-mile drive.

The “main” route to Alamo Mountain is from the east side, off the Gorman exit along I-5. I went north a mile on Peace Valley Road to the entrance to the Hungry Valley Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) State Park. I had my Los Padres Forest Adventure Pass so they let me in. Most people were here for the myriad of ATV and dirt-bike roads: the whole park is devoted to this pastime. I just followed the main Hungry Valley Road about 5.6 miles to a junction, where Gold Hill Road (FR 8-N-01) went right, signed for Alamo Mountain, 10.5 miles ahead. I stayed on this road past Piru Creek (flowing), then steeply up the foothills. The pavement finally ends at 12.8 miles from the entrance kiosk. The remaining 5.3 miles was up steep, moderately exposed road cut into the open, semi-desert mountainsides, some slopes showing the burn from 2006. Most of the off-roaders do not bother to come this far, but there were a few, as well as some people in Jeeps. The road itself is fine, 4-wheel drive not mandatory in dry conditions. Finally, 18.1 miles from the entrance, I came to Alamo Mountain Road, which circumnavigates the mountain. There were many choices from where to start the hike: I chose to start from the Twin Pines Campground shown on the map. From the Alamo Mountain Road junction, I went right for 0.4 mile, then hard-left another 0.4 mile to the primitive camping area (no facilities, just some cleared areas). I parked here and rested; it was about 2 p.m., and the weather was warm but very calm. A trio of ATVers rumbled by as I dressed for the hike. Otherwise I saw no one, but could always here some buzzing of a bike or ATV in the distance.

The route to the top starts at an old road closed to vehicle traffic, and not shown on the latest topographic maps. This road starts at the high-point of the road into Twin Pines Campground, and is marked by a small sign. I hiked up this road and followed it through the pine forest. The road itself is thickly vegetated and has essentially disappeared altogether, in places it was kind of tricky to discern it against the hillside. I walked up this road maybe 0.75 mile to where it was blocked by a giant downed tree. Passing this tree seemed more of a hassle, so I decided to charge up the steep hillside instead, aiming for a rock outcrop directly above me. The hillside was steep and kind of loose, but mostly open, with little undergrowth to impede me. I gained the main ridge near this rock outcrop, and walking past it, could make out the highpoint hill, about another quarter-mile northwest. The hike here was through pleasant grassy meadow with thickets of trees. Shortly I gained the last few dozen feet and scampered up the summit rocks of Alamo Mountain, the highest point a distinctive “mini” pillar of rock. I signed in the register, noting I was the first person here in two months, which seemed surprising to me. The views were very expansive: Big Frazier Peak to the north, and behind it to the northwest, the broad outlines of the San Emigdeo Range. To the east I could make out an expanse of grassy hills and summits. My view south was blocked by trees. The dry air allowed for some fine detail in the distant ranges; it’s surprising how rugged this land is, so close to Los Angeles. You’d never know there are 10 million people just down the road apiece.

After about 15 minutes I started my descent, which went very quickly. I followed the same route back to my truck, noting I was gone for just one hour and ten minutes. The Sierra Club Hundred Peaks Section calls this hike 2.5 miles round trip, but with my variation due to the downed tree, I figure I hiked a little less than that (I’d say 2.2). The gain was about 740 feet gross, and another hundred feet of up-and-down on the main ridge.

I considered staying here for the night, but the din of dirt-bikes, even from afar, was not pleasant. Plus, I didn’t want a whole bunch of them coming into my camp area. I decided to descend and get myself into Santa Barbara for my next hike up Santa Ynez Peak. The descent drive was fun, given the sheer drop-offs and amazing views. Since the actual hike is so short, Alamo Mountain is definitely a peak that falls into the “hike by truck” category, where most of the uphill effort and gain is done in the truck. I enjoy these as much as the regular hikes. Some of the people on this road were going a bit quick, though. One guy in a Jeep turned a blind bend coming my way going about 30 m.p.h., skidding to a stop and kicking up a boatload of dust. Another person was in a passenger vehicle, going haywire over the bumps. That kind of yahoo-driving was not cool, and was another reason I opted to leave sooner than later. That was the only downside of the whole hike and drive. Otherwise, I had fun on Alamo, and the entire journey from Gorman and back took about 4 hours at a very lenient pace.

Comment on the summit elevation and prominence figure: The map shows two regions enclosed inside 7,360-foot contours. The smaller one has a listed spot elevation of 7,367 feet, but the larger region is clearly higher, although no elevation is given. The prominence figure is based on the 7,367-foot elevation, placing it 90th on the California list. Even adding three feet to the summit elevation vaults Alamo to 88th place, which is how I list it here. My gut tells me the summit is higher by probably 8-10 feet than the 7,367-foot region.