This garden is Southern California’s hidden treasure. It’s hard to find, but we’ve got directions
LOS ANGELES — For starters, just getting to Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve is an adventure. The entrance is not listed on Google maps, to discourage drop-in visitors. The only instructions are from an email printout that came with my tickets — the directions vague and confusing enough to make the trip slightly thrilling.
I’m driving toward the sandstone hills above Lake Casitas, just north of touristy Ojai, and the scenery is dusty, flat and relatively boring. I’m beginning to doubt that I found the right road. How can this lead to the beautiful oasis I admired online?
Suddenly, after two heart-stopping, roller-coaster-steep hills, I’m in another world, shaded by towering groves of oak and sycamore. The road narrows and is lined with boulders, a few modest buildings and seemingly abandoned horse trailers. We drive through a small stream bed just a bare trickle this time of year. I follow the blink-and-you’ll-miss-them signs, and suddenly I’m in the parking area, surrounded by spectacular views of boulders, canyons and hills scarred with sandstone slabs.
There’s a small, tidy restroom in the parking
