Home ⎜ Hikes & Wanderings ⎜ California ⎜ Cathedral Peak

Distance: 5 miles

Time: 3 hours

Difficulty: Challenging

Elevation Gain: 2,385 feet

Dog Friendly: Dogs are allowed. Although this is the case, my dog who has accompanied me on some pretty crazy climbs, had a really tough time negotiating some of the rock scrambles toward the top. In hindsight, I would have left him home or brought him on a different hike.

Trail Notes: I highly recommend carrying a GPS unit on this excursion, as the trail is not marked and in parts it is quite easy to get lost. Also, bring enough water. When I undertook this hike, I thought I had more than enough water, but as there are few water sources (everything was dry when I was there), and it’s an incredibly exposed hike that involves intense hand-over-hand rock scrambling, I ended up giving most of my water to my dog figuring I could make do without water better than he could.

Trailhead GPS Address: 1493 Tunnel Road Santa Barbara, CA

Hike Directions: From the roadside parking area, walk uphill to the trailhead area. 0.12 miles from the parking area, you’ll cross through a gate with signage for the Tunnel and Jesusita Trail. Continue uphill on the vehicle-prohibited part of tunnel road. At 0.87 miles from the start of the hike, you’ll reach a three-way intersection, and continue straight/to the left along the Tunnel Trail. At 0.94 miles you’ll reach another three way intersection and continue straight uphill on the Jesusita Trail. 0.4 miles later, you’ll reach a fork in the road, and take the left fork uphill as the trail now narrows. Soon you’ll descend slightly, finding yourself losing a little elevation as you reach the canyon floor under a beautiful canopy of trees. From here there are two trails, one going left and one going right. Continue to the right and uphill again, now beginning the grueling ascent to Cathedral’s summit.

Scenery: 9/10