Sitting at 8,822 feet, the summit of Sawmill Mountain is the highest point in Kern County and the second highest in the Los Padres National Forest.
The East Tumamait Trail – 21W03 to Sawmill Mountain is closed in winter and opens May 1. I gave it a few weeks before leading a group hike. There were still patches of snow on the trails leading to Mount Pinos and the Sawmill Mountains. The dogs loved it.
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First, we climbed Sawmill Mountain. Mount Sawmill is located in the Chumash Desert on the line between Kern and Ventura counties in California.
To hike to Sawmill, you start from the same starting point as Mount Pinos – Chula Vista Trailhead – where the northern base of Mount Pinos is located. It appears in Google Maps. Hang your CA Forest Adventure Pass in your rearview mirror and begin your hike on Forest Rte 9N24.
We passed Mount Pinos (saved it for the last stop) and reached Mount Pinos Vista Point. Here you will see the weather Tumamait Trailhead sign.
Follow the path and it will take you to the top of the hill with a 360-degree views of the Chumash Wilderness and beyond. Go down the hill and turn right.
When snow does not cover the trail, it is easy to follow the trail although there are no signs except one for Chumash Wildnerness. There aren’t many forks in the road. Stay on the laces.
But with the snow it was hard to know where the trail was. I just had to make sure we were going in the right direction. Since Xena and I have done this hike before, I knew there was no elevation change to worry about.
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Since there are no trail signs, you will need to follow your GPS to find the side trail to the summit. They tried to make the side trail stand out, but it’s only obvious if you look for it. Knowing the approximate location will be helpful.
There isn’t much shade at the top, so having the clouds to cover us was nice.
Next, Mount Pinos.
We retraced our steps to the Tumamait trailhead and returned to the fire road. When the trail split, we followed the short climb on the left to Mount Pinos. Go towards the towers.
Since I published a separate article about Mount Pinos in 2022, I will not go into detail about Mount Pinos. I leave the link below for anyone interested.
Good to know:
- Date of the hike: 05/21/23
- Distance: 7.3 miles
- Elevation gain: 1,404 feet.
- Difficulty level: Moderately difficult
- Maximum altitude: 8,850 feet.
- Fees/permit: CA Forest Adventure Pass
- Trailhead: Chula Vista Trailhead (34.813392, -119.126497)
- Please note: fire road, Los Padres National Forest, round trip, high altitude
- Mount Pinos Trail Guide
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Happy hiking!
