A notable locale (one of many) that pertains to the popular TV show “Gunsmoke” is Wildwood Regional Park, located just west of California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, southern California. This locale, hereafter referred to as “Mount Clef Ridge” is a recognizable landmark used in the filming of numerous western-themed movies and TV shows. In addition to Gunsmoke, some of these are “The Rifleman,” “Bonanza,” “Wagon Train,” “The Big Valley,” “Tales of Wells Fargo,” and many more. Also, many non-western themed movies have used this location (e.g., "Spartacus," "Wuthering Heights," and the list is long!). This park is in the “30-mile zone.” Than is to say, close enough to Hollywood so that studios do not have to pay extra for on-location shooting.
Figure 1. The "Mount Clef" location, as it looked in June of 2025.
This location was used in the filming of some episodes of "Gunsmoke." This mountain, also known as, “Mount Clef Ridge,” is 1,076 feet (or 994 feet) in elevation, [the elevation depending on the map you use]. It is a ridge of volcanic deposits of middle Miocene age (16 to 13 million years old). It is a basalt-flow breccia, and Dibblee (1993) mapped the deposit as unit “Tccbb,” in the upper part of the Conjeo Volcanic rocks.
There is no longer any evidence on the ground that suggests this site was used by filming crews. Homes now occupy the areas immediately east, south, and west of the locale. For more details of how this movie site once looked, please see the informative website: https:www.youtube.com/watch
Reference:
Dibble Foundation [year 1993] Geologic Map #DF-49).
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