Fall in Ojai
O, hi!
I've started taking some sessions with my photography mentor this summer but we recently decided to end our sessions because I graduated! To celebrate it, partner in crime and I decided to rent a cool Airbnb house, and wanted to use this opportunity for taking hundreds of pictures. The location didn't matter so we ended up booking a place in Ojai.
Ojai also known as the valley of the moon. Chumash Indians were the early inhabitants of this valley so it takes its name from the Indian word A'hwai, meaning “nest” or “moon". It's truly an amazing place with its nature, outdoor recreations, small boutiques, antique shops and of course, WINE tastings!
This is going to be a long post so thanks in advance for bearing with me till the end!
Before you start scrolling down into this journey, I want to pause and show you some details of our Airbnb.
The place was a guesthouse made of bamboo.
The owners had a private hill top and the view was amazing.
DAY 1
Our first stop was in Downtown, Ojai. We just walked around and tasted some local beer and wine.
We ate at The Nest. They have an amazing blood orange beer.
Day 2
We've been hungry for some hiking for a while so we started our day way earlier. We ate breakfast at Ojai Coffee Roasting Co. They have an amazing bagel and lox.
We started hiking at Rose Valley Falls in Los Padres National Forest, an easy one with a beautiful sight and waterfall.
Beautiful fall scenes.
Amazing details of the wilderness.
After this little hike, we decided to hang around the lake.
One of my favorite photos from the trip.
Los Padres National Forest' elevations range from sea level to 8,847 feet (2,697 m) so we still were at the sea level. When we went higher my body started to act weirdly. I was high from oxygen and high-altitude.
Later on, we found a trail called Sespe Wilderness and it was the gnarliest hike we ever did.
It was one of those rugged, maintained and least-visited trails.
When bunch of ladybugs are hanging out all together.
Finally, we made it and it felt great. Only downside was that I lost my anklet from Turkey along the way. It was my mother's gift, and had an evil eye on it.
Bonus:
We saw this abadoned and partly destroyed house when we were looking for some hiking trails. I couldn't help myself but taking pictures of it.
I've always loved abandoned, destroyed places like this. There’s something charming about them. They’re nostalgic, they’re wistful. They’re about time, nature and mortality.
This place also reminded me of the movie that I’ve watched recently: A Ghost Story. I highly recommend the movie, and here’s a favorite quote from that movie:
“A writer writes a novel, a songwriter writes a song. We do what we can to endure. We build our legacy piece by piece and maybe the whole world will remember you or maybe just a couple of people but… you do what you can to make sure you’re still around after you’re gone."
The End
Congrats! You reached the end :)
Long story short, I loved everything about this little trip, and again I realized how much I missed being in the wilderness. I don't think you can separate man from nature. We are part of the nature and we crave for nature in our little apartments. We just want to go back to our roots.
Thanks for reading! xx