Cave Munits to Castle Peak is a 1.8 mile moderately trafficked loop trail located near Los Angeles, California that features beautiful wild flowers and is rated as moderate. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and birding and is best used from April until September. Dogs are also able to use this trail but must be kept on leash.
dogs on leash
birding
hiking
nature trips
walking
forest
views
wild flowers
This trail is just pure awesome and action packed. After trekking all around the hills admiring the beautiful landscapes and purple sage flowers we finally started our upward ascent towards the cave! It's a LEGIT cave that you can actually climb up through (no need to have rock climbing experience - just need to grab and scramble a bit). I felt like I was in some secret batman cave a bit and and there was actually a bat or two that flew out the cave. My friend and I climbed up through the cave at a pretty decent high and find a nice area to relax and chill out before our descent back to the bottom.
Pro Tip - After you leave the cave I would highly recommend taking the fire road back to the Victory Trailhead parking lot. This reminds me, when arriving at the trailhead make sure to have $3 cash so can pay for your parking spot.
UPDATE (2/20/18) : I just re-did this hike again with a close group of friends and extended it to Castle Peak! This is a must if you really want to make this a fully adventurous trail. After you explore the cave, you must climb out of the cave and go all the way to the top of the ridge. This portion is steep and also a good uphill workout that is doable. Once you reach the top, you will see in the distance two rocky peaks. The second one in the distance is Castle Peak. This trek is more isolated and rugged so make sure to watch your step. You will do some fun rock scrambling and will get incredible 360 views. Once at Castle Peak, there is a pathway down that will lead back to the trail. Take the pathway back in the direction of the caves and you will hit the parking lot trailhead.
- @justroc @just.trek
Really fun cave to stomp around in, not the most visibly hiker friendly trail. There are no trail markers that I remember and it's easy to feel like you've gotten lost. Still the north part of the loop is fantastic and if I lived nearby I'd hike this all the flipping time.
Take a glance at what this hike is like by virtual hiking it on my YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=shVjZu151N0
This lesser hiked path to Munits cave rates higher on the moderate scale. I've hiked easier "hard" hikes. This is a review going counterclockwise.
After a quick stroll through flat ground you'll ascend twice and complete the full elevation at Castle Peak. Breathtaking views up there.
The loop continues through a relatively maintained trail for about a mile, pants recommended to keep vegetation from scratching you up.
I was not prepared for the descent down.... Perhaps it was the exaggerated fear of the heights for the day, or maybe it was really that terrifying, whatever it was it is much more dangerous to travel this way to the cave.
There are approximately 5 tightly secure cables to assist you on the way up or down. They all vary in heights with the longest way down about 20 ft high. The cables are strong, but it feels sketchy to go down. I spent a good long time here and I advise everyone else to take their time and trust their footing. The rocks have a lot of traction, but it can still be scary.
Once you've made it to the cave you have to scramble up to get inside. Which should be cake at that point considering everything else you will go through.