JAUNTS : Convenient Cozy Dell Trail Is Pleasant Trek for Nature Lovers : Path outside Ojai is an easy escape to the outdoors, with wildflowers and a creek along the way.

Cars packed with hikers, campers and other outdoor enthusiasts whiz up California 33 outside Ojai, looking for a patch of wilderness in Los Padres National Forest.

How many of them notice the sign for Cozy Dell Trail, right next to the road, even before it leaves the valley floor for the winding drive up the canyon?

This is an easy trail to get to, close to Ojai and, maybe best of all, it’s next to Friend’s Ranches, a roadside fruit stand and packinghouse where you can buy trail mix, along with something called “energy delights,” little bars packed with seeds, nuts and oats. If fresh orange juice doesn’t hit the spot, you can get an all-natural root beer.

To get to the trail head, drive 3 1/2 miles up State 33 from the spot where it branches off California 150, just before downtown Ojai. Park on the left side of the highway in a big turnout. Then cross the road to get to the trail.

The convenience factor ends there. The two-mile trail was groomed last year, according to ranger John Boggs of the U.S. Forest Service’s Ojai station. But then the rains came last winter and the trail was washed out in spots. Despite all that, it still attracts hikers and even mountain bikers.

“We have a lot of traffic on that trail,” Boggs said.

It begins along dry, boulder-strewn Cozy Dell Creek. You’ll cross it twice before climbing up some switchbacks that will take you into Cozy Dell Canyon.

Because of the rain, footing is tricky in places. The water created deep gullies that you’ll have to carefully inch around or jump over. And, in places, the trail has narrowed to a sliver.

Regardless of the heat that bakes the Ojai area in the summer, wear long pants on this hike. Bushes hug the narrow trail and scratch bare legs, but the dense growth gives the trail a lush feel. In places, the rye grass is so tall it sways at eye level.

If you look behind you, you’ll see how State 33 heads into the canyon from the valley. After the turn of the century, the road, then a stagecoach route, led to several spas and resorts, including one at a spot called Ojala, just up the road from the Cozy Dell trail head. Long closed, it was a training camp for boxer Jack Dempsey. The only spa still operating is classy Wheeler Hot Springs (located six miles from the California 150 junction), where you can get dinner and a soak.

Back on the trail, a number of wildflowers are surprisingly in bloom: purple sage, black sage, sticky monkey flower, penstemons, morning glories, bush mallow, farewell to spring, deerweed, verbena, scarlet pimpernel, buckwheat.

After about a mile, the trail levels off in a grassy spot, and leading off to the right is a turnoff that offers views of the Ojai Valley to the west. Below you’ll see the Ventura River as it winds down to the ocean. Orchards dot the valley with their patchwork formation of trees.

The trail drops and then climbs again, offering another turnoff, with views farther to the east. Then it drops again, taking you under a cool grove of oak trees, where the sound of rushing water can be heard. After crossing a little creek, you’ll come to the larger Cozy Dell Creek and the end of the trail.

If you head downstream, and hop a few rocks to the other side of the creek, you’ll come to a dirt road. Bear left and you can hook into either the Foothill or the Pratt trails, which connect with the Gridley Trail and Nordhoff Ridge.

After the return trip, stop in at Friend’s Ranches to quench your post-hike thirst with fresh orange juice. The employees are used to seeing thirsty, grubby hikers and bikers after their trek up Cozy Dell.

“It used to be a relatively unknown trail,” said Tony Thacher, who manages the place. But now “increasing numbers” have found it.

The Friend family has been growing oranges in the Ojai area since 1870. They farm the orchards across the highway from Cozy Dell Trail. There have been some tough years. Thacher remembers the flood of 1969 when high water roared down the canyon, swept away the old roadside stand, and ripped out 10 acres of trees.

With the stand close to the trail, Thacher has seen the gamut of outdoor people. He gets several a week asking just where the trail is. Then there was the hiker who came in unknowingly holding a bouquet of poison oak.

“She thought it would look nice on the dining-room table,” Thacher said.

Details

* WHAT: Cozy Dell Trail.

* WHERE: Off California 33 outside Ojai (drive 3.5 miles from the intersection of 33 and California 150 just before downtown Ojai).

* FYI: Watch out for poison oak; bring water (there is none on the trail).

* CALL: 646-4348 (Los Padres National Forest Ojai station.)