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The public now has the chance to hike to an iconic Ventura landmark, a steep climb so popular that organizers started offering a staggered start.
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Two Trees has long stood on a hillside overlooking the city and coast, but hiking through Barlow Canyon to the spot included trespassing on private property. For decades, a ranch now owned by the Rangeland Ag Conservancy, formerly Rancho San Buenaventura Conservation Trust, was home to at least half of the trees.
Earlier this year, the organization started monthly hikes, opening the climb to community members. In the beginning, the events at times led to a crowded trek with 100-plus trail-goers. The turnout prompted a staggered system, asking people to sign up each hour.
“It’s a landmark. Everyone knows them,” said Rich Atmore, longtime rancher on the property and the conservancy’s founder and board member.
Lloyd Properties donated 860 acres to the trust, now called the conservancy, around a decade ago. Plans called for the working ranch, which spans thousands of acres, to continue to use the land for grazing but protect it from development in perpetuity. Over the years, developers had eyed the property for housing tracts, something the Atmore family said they didn’t want to see happen.
“This land means a lot to a lot of people in Ventura and to all the animals that are on it,” said Rich’s son George Atmore, also a conservancy board member.
The organization has started restoration projects that included planting hundreds of oak saplings throughout the property, Executive Director Eryn Wingate said. Plans also call for expanding ways for the public to access the site, from sunset yoga classes to the Two Trees hike.
“We’re bouncing around different ideas for public access,” George Atmore said. “We want to get people out here onto the property, so they can not only enjoy it, but learn about what we’re doing and what’s back here.”
What is Two Trees?
The trees themselves, once part of a grove of more than a dozen blue gum eucalyptus, were planted in the 1890s.
In recent decades, one of the two that remained stood on the conservancy’s land. The adjacent property, now part of the Ventura Hills Preserve, was home to the other.
The one on the conservancy’s land died first, but initially stayed standing, keeping the landmark mostly intact.
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In April 2017, the conservancy planted two new trees, just months before the massive Thomas Fire swept through the canyon. The century-old tree eventually fell, and one of the newly planted trees failed, likely because of predation from squirrels, gophers and other critters.
“After the Thomas Fire, there was nothing to eat,” Rich Atmore said. “They just turned on roots they normally wouldn’t.”
The other has since grown close to 16 feet high, and the conservancy planted a third to replace the one lost to predation.
For now, that leaves a total of three trees at the spot. The older one left on the Hills Preserve still stands, however, also has long since died.
How to get to Two Trees
The conservancy opens its gates off Foothill Road on the third Saturday of each month.
The next hike is scheduled for July 18. The trail, around 3 miles out and back, will open for self-paced hikes from 8 a.m. to noon. While the hike is free, trail-goers are asked to register to arrive at 8, 9 or 10 a.m. No dogs are allowed and parking is limited.
More information is available at facebook.com/RangelandAgConservancy.
The conservancy is developing a new website, Wingate said. For now, offerings, including future sunset yoga classes, will be posted on its Facebook and Instagram channels.
“We do it in the evening, and you can hear all the birds chirping and the wind through the grasses,” Wingate said of the yoga classes.
Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Here’s how to hike to Two Trees in Ventura without trespassing
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Reporting by Cheri Carlson, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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This story was originally published July 12, 2026 at 8:35 AM.