My Own 100 Hikes

Hike 2012.012 -- Hacienda Hills, Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Authority Land

2012-03-12T19:48:00.003-07:00

Hiked Sunday, March 11. From Seventh Avenue trailhead via Coyote Trail and Skyline Trail.

I took a short hike this afternoon. Decided to use the Seventh Avenue access because the ones from the south, I can visit after work.

To reach the trailhead, take the Pomona Freeway (CA-6), exit to Seventh Avenue north, and take it to the end of the road. There's a very small parking lot just north of Orange Grove Avenue, and a much larger parking area to the south. It's the same trailhead I used on my first hike of the year. There's a link to the trialhead map on that other post, too.

According to the Native Habitat Authority map, it's 1.35 miles from the trailhead to the ridge, where the Coyote Trail intersects with the Skyline trail, and 570 feet of altitude gain. Once at the junction, I headed east along the Skyline Trail to Turnbull Canyon Road. That took a little over five minutes, so it's about 1/4 mile each way. Figure on a total of 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 miles roundtrip for the day.

Because the Coyote Trail is on a north-facing slope, it's a lot moister than those facing south. That makes it greener and cooler than on the other side of the ridge. That means even if it were warmer, rattlesnake encounters would be less likely on this side than on the other side.

On the other hand, unlike just a few years previous, it wasn't very warm. High tempera-ture on Sunday was only supposed to be in the mid-60s, some 20 degrees cooler than on Friday.

I still walked in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, though with my sweater tossed over my back so I could use it on the downhill return hike.

As you climb, the white roofs of the many corporate offices and warehouses of the city of Industry sprawl out behind you. Off to the west-northwest, the Puente Hills landfill and the Nike missile site I visited at the start of the year are visible.

The San Gabriel Mountains naturally spread across the north, though it was hazy enough on Sunday that you really didn't notice them too much.

Lots of sights to share on the way up and back. First, a large-eyed rabbit. Later, many, many, many flowers. The wildflowers were not dense and did not carpet the hill in any way. Still, there was quite a variety of flowers, many of which I did not recall the names of. Among those I did recognize were monkey flower, Queen Anne's lace, blue-eyed grass, bird's eyes, common vetch, lupine, black nightshade, purple nighshade, and wild mustard.

In addition to the "pretty" flowers, I also noticed that the poison oak was in bloom. I guess I've photo-graphed that before, but it's still kind of odd to think about it.

Turned around as the sun approached the horizon. I could not resist taking as hot of my shadow on a below-the-horizon shrub. It's an old stunt, but still one I can rarely resist.

Both heading up and heading down, I kept an eye out for rattle-snakes, but saw none. I did see a falcon or small hawk that repeatedly dived below the tree-line, probably just to stay away from me.

About 2/3 of the way back down towards Seventh Avenue, I heard what sounded like a large animal walking through brush in the distance. I peaked over the ridge and looked across the ravine. One deer stared right back at me, while three of his friends kept eating.

I snapped a number of shots. However, because the sun was already below the horizon, it was getting pretty dark. When I zoomed in, the camera's shutter speed was down to 1/10th of a second. That meant all my zoomed shots were varying degrees of blurring. Turned out my first shot, with a wider view and a faster shutter speed, was the best. With that one, I could crop it, reduce the brightness, and get a good result.

(For some reason, when the background gets dark, my camera tends to overexpose everything. It's counter-productive, because exactly when I want the fastest shutter speed, my camera is over-exposing, and wasting light).

The cropped shot is at the top of the post; the uncropped shot is down here.

Hike 2012.011 -- Elderberry Trail, Turnbull Canyon

2012-03-10T11:28:00.001-08:00

Hiked Friday, March 9. After a two-week break from hiking, I finally managed to get back on the trail. It was a short hike, probably only about two or 2 1/2 miles. Had I kept a copy of the trailmap handy, I would have added a bit of distance to give myself the three miles.

This trailhead is off of Turnbull Canyon Road. From the 605 Freeway, there's a Beverly Blvd offramp, which you would take east. After what I would guess to be about five miles (wild guess, not looking at a map), Beverly turns into Turnbull Canyon Road.

Near the mouth of the canyon is a heavily used trailhead that starts a trail that heads parallel to the road, running due north. I decided to take a less crowded alternative. About 1 mile up the road (again, rough guess, though the trail map is here.. After the road has begun a series of sharp turns as it heads up the canyon), there's a small space for roadside parking and an obvious white gate that blocks access to what is Rose Hills Fire Road 2, also known as the Elderberry Trail. Heading up this trail requires going under, over, or through the gate. I went under.

A sign marking the start of the Elderberry trail is also here. In 4/10ths of a mile, this trail briskly climbs 270 feet, where it intersects the Workman Ridge Trail. From there, you can go either left or right. It's a loop trail A(3.2 miles), so if you have the time and inclination, you can walk either way and get back where you started from.

I decided to go left, because left is up.

Both before and after the trail junction, I saw a smattering of wildflowers. Mustard is pretty common, though not as thick this year as last year. Lupine was also somewhat common along the dirt roadway that is the Elderberry and Workman Ridge trails.

I'm pretty sure I was shooting this very lupine when I heard a loud rattling sound above and about ten feet away. Took me a while to find the source of the noise as he slithered away. The brush was too thick here to get a decent picture.

About sixty yards later, just around the next turn, I saw this other guy. When I first saw him, he was just curled up near this other lupine. When I turned my camera on, he heard the "BEEP" and got very annoyed. Raised his head, flicked his tongue, and rattled vigorously.

I used my zoom to get closer pictures without actually having to get closer to him.

I knew from past experience that rattlesnakes are common here, but this is a little early in the season for them to be so numerous. Warm year.

If the first snake didn't get my attention, the second one surely had me watching the edge of the trail closely, in case anyone else was trying to warm up nearby. They seem to like the area because it mixes exposure to sunshine with cover from the many hawks and crows that cruise the thermals in the area, looking for snakes, rodents, or birds to eat.

Not long after the second snake, I came across a relatively thick (but small) stand of lupine.

Nice views in most directions by the time you get to Workman Ridge. Somewhat hazy on Friday, but the San Gabriels were still easy to the north, Whittier was to the south, Santa Catalina far off to the southwest, and the Santa Monica Mountains to the west. Santa Ana mountains were to the southeast.

As I continued along Workman Ridge, I could see several new, larger transmis-sion towers being erected. This is part of the Tehatchapi transmission project, the same one I saw when I hiked the segment of trail near Rio Hondo College.

I also caught some views of Hsi Lai Temple, an additional mile or so on the Schabarum trail (I'm pretty sure that trail sign was knocked over). Nice warm light on the temple and the transmission towers in the distance.

By the time I had gone a mile or so on Workman Mill Ridge, I was getting hungry, and the sun was getting low. Also, I had a little gathering I needed to get to in a little over an hour, so I called it a day. Chatted with one guy and his dog on the way back.

Caught the setting sun. Also got some nice "purple grass" (actually, just regular dried grass, but with the red-shifted light of the setting sun behind us, everything looked a little purple).

Took some more flower shots as the sun set. The mustard at the top of this post were taken at or near sunset. I also came across some blue dicks, shown here. Didn't notice at the time that some little critter was hiding behind one of the buds.

Also snapped a few shots of the warm light on the San Gabriels before getting back to my car.

I'm estimating 2 1/4 miles for the day, but still about 500 feet of vertical gain. Not bad for my first day back in two weeks!

BTW, while driving Turnbull Canyon Road, I saw several "Beware of Deer" signs. Didn't see any deer, though a guy I talked to later that night said he had a friend who bow hunted for deer here every year (not sure if that's legal or what). Also, thinking about things, I guess I did see a bunch of deer the one time, near the Sycamore Canyon trailhead, adjacent to Workman Mill Road.

Hike 2012.010 -- Puente Hills from Hellman Park Trailhead

2012-02-24T22:10:00.004-08:00

Hiked Friday, February 24.

Over the past few weeks, I determined that daylight was lasting long enough that I could manage a short hike in the Puente Hills after work. I get off at 4pm, and I'm working about 20 minutes south of the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Authority lands that marks the southern boundary of the east San Gabriel Valley.

The trail map is here. Hellman Park is on near the northern end of Greenleaf Avenue in Whittier. From the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605), Beverly Blvd east should get you there. There's some construction going on around Beverly, but I'm pretty sure it still goes through. When you reach Greenleaf, head north a short block. That's Orange Drive. The entrance to Hellman Wilderness Park is on the right side of the street, just past Orange. They suggest using 5700 Greeleaf Avenue to google or Mapquest for driving directions.

The parking lot there has room for about 8 cars. There's a large topograph-ical map display at the trailhead.

A covered reservoir is in front of you. If you head straight, that's the Hellman Park Trail. If you head to the right (a soft right, on to the higher of two possible trails leaving to the right), that's the Peppergrass trail. That's the way I headed.

Either route is quickly gains altitude as you climb into the hills. Both trails claim a 350 altitude gain along the way, and both link up with the Rattlesnake Ridge trail that runs east-west along the ridge. Take the Rattlesnake Ridge trail east and it would also soon link up with the Schabarum/Skyline/De Anza trail, which continues east towards Schabarum Park.

Canyons drop steeply off, no matter which trail you take. That's part of why this place is still open rather than tract homes.

I saw many red tailed hawks cruising the area, looking for rodents. One pair, in particular, few circles around each other.

I also saw a number of squirrels, gophers, rabbits, and other creatures rustling in the brush, and occasionally poking their heads out.

Meanwhile, an L.A. County Sheriff's Department helicopter made a quick turn through the hills.

After starting up on the Peppergrass trail, I took the Mariposa Trail, which hugs a canyon. There used to be a large tree with a tire that swung precariously over the canyon, but the tree appears not to have survived the recent windstorms.

The Mariposa Trail soon rejoins the Pepper-grass Trail. Views to the south and southeast overlook Whittier and Turnbull Canyon. There's a trail that runs down there, too. I may hit that trail after some other day of work.

The Peppergrass trail made its way past a rounded peak. A steep use trail headed up to the peak. My path looped counter-clockwise around the peak.

When it go to the northeast side of the peak, the Pepper-grass hits the Rattlesnake Ridge trail. I made a left. From there, you have a clear view to the north. A large "Asian" pagoda stands watch on the other side of the canyon. Beyond that is a more "American" chapel, and beyond that is the large watertank that I walked past on my first hike of the year, also into the Puente or Hacienda Hills. The San Gabriel Mountains poked above the haze in the distance.

As I came around the peak, another use trail headed up from the west side. Since my planned loop was only going to be 2.9 miles, adding a charge up and down this hill would add the necessary distance to let this count as an "official" hike. So up I went, the roughly 1/10th or 1/8th of a mile to the summit. The topo map I linked above says this peak is 1197 feet above sea level. With my car parked down on Greenleaf, at an altitude of 460 feet, that mean a total of 737 feet of net gain for this hike, and a total distance of about 3.1 miles.

On my home-going leg of the loop, I got to watch the sun sink into the haze, disappearing what seemed like a solid bit of ground. I don't know the geography and geometry of where I stood and where the sun set, so I'm not sure if that was mainland or island that it was setting behind. But it was a nice sight.

Got back to my car about 6pm, meaning I had some margin for error on this hike.

Might even try an after-work Griffith Park hike in the next few weeks, or I might wait until after daylight savings time kicks in.

By the way (mostly unrelated note), tomorrow night, as the sun sets, the crescent moon will be pretty close in our line of sight to the planet Venus. They'll make a pretty impressive sight. Jupiter will be a bit to their upper left. If the weather is clear (not a sure thing, given the fog that has rolled in the past few nights), I'll be joining my friends in Old Town Monrovia for some sidewalk astronomy. Visit their website for more information.

Hike 2012.009 -- Henninger Flats, Angeles National Forest

2012-02-20T20:32:00.001-08:00

Hiked Monday, February 20. Thanks to George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, I had today off from work. There were other things I had to do today, so I couldn't take a whole day off for hiking. Instead, with just a few hours, I debated between Echo Mountain and Henninger Flats. Since Henninger Flats is closer, I wound up there.

I used the Pinecrest Drive access. From Altadena Avenue (accessible via the Foothill Freeway/I-210), go north, past New York Drive. The Eaton Canyon Nature Center is just north of New York. However, even at 9:30am, people were already parking on the street. So I continued north an additional mile or so, past the midway access point, and just past where Altadena curves to the left. As it does so, Crescent Drive is the road that opens up to your right (it's called Mendocino Lane on the south side of Altadena Drive).

After turning on Crescent, proceed about 200 feet north, parking just before the stop sign. Pinecrest Drive is the road you just ran into. Parking on Pinecrest near the access point is limited to two hours on weekdays, and is prohibited on weekends. Since I wasn't sure exactly how long the walk would take, I parked on Crescent, and walked the additional 100 yards or so to the Pinecrest Drive access point.

The gate there is locked from dusk til dawn, so you don't want to use this access point if you may return somewhat after dark.

Passing through the gate (topped with razor wire, to *really* discourage after-hours passage, either coming or going), you have a great overview of Eaton Canyon. There's a bridge in front of you. If you were to cross it then loop back under and pass north of the bridge, you'd have a half-mile walk to Eaton Canyon Falls.

Alternative-ly, just before the bridge, there's a sign for the Altadena Crest Trail. Turn right there, and in about 2 1/2 miles (including some short segments on road), you'd intersect with the Sam Merrill Trail. Also on the Altadena Crest Trail, just before the Sam Merrill Trail, you'd also intersect with a new access point to Rubio Canyon.

However, my plan for today was just Henninger Flats. To get there, just cross the bridge and continue on the broad "Old Mount Wilson Toll Road." It's roughly 2 1/2 miles from the bridge to Henninger Flats.

Pretty heavily traveled, by both hikers and mountain bikers.

Overcast and cool today. I walked briskly, wondering if I could actually finish this hike in less than two hours, round trip. Because of it's relatively short distance, I usually do not stop on this walk unless it's to take pictures. On cooler days, I don't really need water, either, though I brought the same bottle that I brought (and drink very little from) on Saturday.

A bulldozer widened and recut several areas of this trail a few months ago.

Very few wildflowers here, too. Nonethe-less, I took pictures and present examples of most of the flowers I did see: Deerweed, Spanish broom, lupine, wild mustard, California buckwheat (not pictured), golden yarrow, and a small purple flower that I have not yet identified.

Stayed at Henninger Flats for no more than ten minutes. Took some pictures of the folks walking up the trail, including a large group of college-aged kids that I suspect were on a church outing.

Got back to my car about 115 minutes after I left it. So now I have the answer: Yes, I can park on Pinecrest and get up to Henninger and back in less than two hours, at least as long as it's not too hot.

Hike 2012.008 -- Monrovia Hillside Wilderness Preserve

2012-02-19T09:08:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, February 18. After reading this story in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, I decided to visit the area today. I googled "Monrovia wilderness preserve" and looked at some google maps to get an idea of where access might be practical. Then I drove up there.

I took the 210 Freeway to Myrtle, headed north (going right pass my usual sidewalk astronomy site, at Myrtle and Lime, where I'll likely be next Saturday with my telescope--Venus, Jupiter and the moon will be on tap) to Foothill Blvd. I made a right there, then a left at Canyon.

After about 2/3 of a mile, Canyon makes a right turn at an intersection and shifts from heading due north to due northeast. The second street on the left after the split is Ridgecliff Drive. I made a left there. I drove slowly and carefully along this narrow, winding residential street, and kept an eye out for possible points where the Lower Clamshell Truck Trail intersected with Ridgecliff.

Eventually found one (forgot to note the street number). It's on the left, about a 1/2 mile after the street started and about 150 yards before Ridgecliff curls sharply to the right and begins a descent. (In other words, if you reach that point, you've gone too far. A small sign on the right side of this "driveway" says, "Walk bicycles" and "Stay on Outside Edge of Pavement."

Construction is currently (February 2012) ongoing as a new home is coming up on the parcel at the corner of Ridgecliff and Lower Clamshell. About 50 yards up this road, there's a "Road Closed" gate, next to the sign photographed above.

The sign says public access ends just 3/4 of a mile ahead. However, the sign is apparently somewhat out of date. It appeared to be slightly over 2 miles before I reached a "Private Property" sign. I was told the 3/4 mile referred to a point where a landslide once closed the road.

At the gate, you'll have to crawl through or climb over the gate to start your hike. Once past the gate, you begin a pretty immediate weave, with the mountains mostly on your right and the San Gabriel Valley on your left. This truck trail is easily visible and labeled on google maps, which shows that the road continues all the way to Arcadia Wilderness Park.

Unfortunately, it does not appear that public access is permitted between these two points. The "No Trespassing" and "Keep Out" signs on the gate certainly suggest not. On the other hand, the other side of the gate also had "No Trespassing" signs on it, but clearly, here I was, standing on the other side, without having ignored any no trespassing signs to get here. Also, I have come across and/or am aware of a number of other places where residents place "No Trespassing" and "No Parking" signs where parking or access is, in fact, legally protected. It's sometimes residents trying to secure public lands for their own use, or exclude the public from accessing public lands. Don't know if that's the case here, though.

Since I wasn't sure, I turned around at the second pictured gate. I may call Monrovia and/or the USFS to find out if there is an easement or legal access to cross the private property in the future.

The sign at the start of the hike notwithstanding, I did walk along a few of the more obvious use trails that branch off Lower Clamshell Road. The thickest set of these trails is where the truck trail reaches a saddle. One use trail heads steeply to the northeast, towards a small oasis of palm trees. I was told a homeless person lives up there, and also that this trail used to (and may, again?) go over into Monrovia Canyon.

Didn't walk that one.

Another use trail splits off and heads to the southwest, to a slightly higher point, on which was an L.A. County surveyor's monument (I did walk there). Just past the monument was what looked like a 400 or so square foot area, under trees and looking like a large tent. I suspect another homeless person may live there, so I turned around.

The third use trail headed north or northwest, dropping down in altitude a bit and paralleling a pipe structure that still funnels water down to the residents below. After about one mile, it led to a small waterfall (the first of many, I was told), though the water flow as low. It came down in a broken sheet of water about 2 feet wide and dropped about 20 feet.

At the bottom of the falls was a tarp, tied to the side of the cliff, and intended to either partial shade the water to keep it cooler, or perhaps to be used as a shield when the homeless guy up the cliff came down to shower.

I hope this doesn't sound too cynical, but seeing as how several people are apparently living up here (and have for quite some time), I don't understand the alleged fear of certain property owners in the area that opening the area up to more hikers is somehow going to increase the fire danger.

Total distance for the day was about 6.5 miles. The person I chatted with as I hiked a good part of this trail said it's 5.1 miles roundtrip from gate to gate, although my walking time seemed too fast for that distance. I'm thinking more on the order of 2 miles or so--with the saddle being more or less the midway point.

The person I ran into also said it's about 3/4 of a mile from the road to the first waterfall. I think it might be closer to a mile, but 3/4 of a mile would not be inconceivable. The short use trail I took to the surveyor's monument was probably about 1/2 mile roundtrip. That's why I'm going with 6.5 miles as my guess.

The trail to the waterfall was very narrow and crumbly, sort of like heading towards Rubio Canyon. Not as steep, but quite narrow in places and impossible to traverse without pushing down some soil and gravel into the ravine bottom. It's been substantially improved in places, with metal bridges and soil stabilizers, but it's still a tricky walk. There's also a lot of poison oak along this narrow trail, and, I am told, lots of ticks once the weather warms.

Not sure if I'll come this way again until I figure out better which areas are legally accessible and which are not.

Nice views from the saddle (and pretty much all along the truck trail). From there, you can look northeast, to the road that heads to Chantry Flats. You can also see the flat radio structure that's at the end of the paved/dirt road that continues above Chantry (that you need to walk some of to get to the upper Winter Creek trail).

Nice views over Monrovia and Arcadia, too. I'm sure when it's clearer, the ocean and Santa Catalina Island would be easy. Today, I could barely make out downtown L.A. through the haze. The Santa Ana Mountains were also tough.

Some wildflowers blooming along this trail. Some are old friends with names I remember (Spanish broom, bush sunflower), some are familiar ones with names I don't recall, and some were entirely new to me.

Short video at the end of the waterfall, shot from up-close.

Hike 2012.007 -- Marshall Peak via 2N30

2012-02-13T17:37:00.000-08:00

Hiked Sunday, February 12.

Last week, I was thinking I might hike Mt. Wilson this week. But when this week finally came, it was cloudy and threatening rain on both Saturday and Sunday. Didn't want to get stuck on a long hike with that kind of weather, so I went on a shorter hike. Just read about this Marshall Peak hike on nobodyhikesinla, and decided it would do. It's moderately short, relatively low in altitude, and someplace I hadn't been before.

As is my habit, I read the directions to the trailhead carefully, but did not read the hike description as carefully. Always want to be a little surprised by what I see.

The directions to the trailhead were right on target: 210 Freeway to Waterman Avenue exit (CA-18), head north five miles, and look the trail will start at mile marker 11.23, on the left (south) side of the road. The line on the highway is double-double, so, as with Walnut Creek, you're not supposed to cross over the line. Also, there's a lot more room for parking on the right side than on the left side. Parked on the right side of the road, and had to wait a while for a long enough break in the traffic to make it across.

No signs indicating this is a fee demo area, so no Adventure Pass is required.

Walk around the gated road and follow it up. It begins heading a bit to the west, then turns back around, paralleling CA-18 as it gains in altitude. You can see the Arrowhead across the canyon, although the view is pretty oblique. There was a more distant, but face-on view, from down just before CA-18 starts climbing up the canyon. Good views up and down the canyon, although, on the day I hiked, clouds pretty much hid the view upcanyon.

There's also what looks like a large "13" or "12" marked on the canyon wall across the way. Not sure if this is an official commemoration or just giant mountain graffiti.

There are several spots where you could take a more direct, steeper route up, but I stayed on 2N30 the whole way, from start to finish. On the way, it passes near what looks like a clearing where I suspect they set up bee colonies to make wild sage honey, some transmission towers, and another hill along the way. Staying on 2N30, your path begins to descend after about 1 3/4 miles, before intersecting with Forest Service Road 2N40.

At 2N40, you need to cross over the low wooden barrier then make a left. If you stay on the road heading upward (left), you can follow that to the top of Marshall Peak.

While I was still down near the antenna, I became aware of a paraglider. Wasn't sure where he came from at the time, though I was soon able to answer that question.

At the top of Marshall Peak is a U.S. Hang gliding and Paragliding Association launch area. It's listed as 4003 feet above sea level, with their official landing zone way down at the bottom, at an elevation of 1710 feet.

I'm not sure if it's busy every weekend, but on the day I hiked, there must have been a half-dozen paragliders and 8 or more hang gliders. The hang gliders were mostly hoping for better wind or more thermals, as I only saw one of them actually take off, and that was after a pretty long wait at the tip of the launch area. The para gliders, by contrast, launched pretty regularly.

Took plenty of pictures and some video. It's cool watching them launch and land. Even though it's "just" physics, it still seems almost magical that you can run off the side of a hill and "fly" around in circles for 30 minutes or more.

Skies were overcast and rain still threatened, so I did not get a very good view of the surrounding area. But the paragliders made it all worth it.

On the way back, I stopped at the turnoff for "The Arrowhead" interpretive sign. I've seen the Arrowhead many times from a distance, but never stopped to read the official sign.

nobodyhikesinla says it's 6.2 miles roundtrip from CA-18 to Marshall Peak. With the short detour I took to check out a vista, I'll call it 6 1/4 miles for the day.

Hike 2012.006 -- Hastings Peak via Little Santa Anita Canyon

2012-02-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, February 4.

Late start, but I still got a decent hike in today. Headed out of Little Santa Anita Canyon. This is the trailhead for the Mt. Wilson Trail, and is located at the intersection of Mt. Wilson Trail Road and Mira Monte Avenue. From the Foothill Freeway (I-210) exit at Baldwin Avenue and head north. If you're coming from the east, head straight off the ramp at the light and continue north on Baldwin. If coming from the west, turn left at the light, left again after you get under the freeway and hit Foothill Blvd, and right where Baldwin continues, north of Foothill.

About 1 1/2 miles north of Foothill (after passing Sierra Madre Blvd and a whole bunch of churches, make a right at Mira Monte. About 500 feet later, you'll pass Carter Avenue. Mt. Wilson Trail Park is a bit past Carter. Mt. Wilson Trail Road is just west of the park.

Walk up Mt. Wilson Road to reach the trail.

This is the same trailhead I took on Hike 2011.098, late last year. It also has a similar end point to my Hike 2011.097, so I've obviously been in this area recently.

A sign at the trailhead provides mileages for several points of interest along the way. If you go all the way to Mt. Wilson, it's 7 miles, one way. Most hikers seem to go only as far as First Water, which is listed as 1.5 miles each way. The next reliable water crossing is not until Decker Springs, 3.5 miles away. Just past that is Orchard Camp (3.5 miles), which is just before the trail makes a steep ascent towards Manzanita Ridge (5.2 miles), which, itself, is just before reaching the Toll Road (5.8 miles). If I'm feeling good and have some free time next weekend, I may try to do Mt. Wilson via this route.

For today, my goal was initially Jones Peak, although I wound up going to Hastings Peak, instead.

The trail through little Santa Anita Canyon (and, really, all the way up to the Toll Road) is rather steep, and has a lot of southern exposure. This makes it hot in the summer, though pleasantly warm if the weather is cool. As you weave along the face of the hillside, there are plenty of views up canyon, where you can see the climbing that lays ahead of you.

There's also the sound of running water on your right. Don't know if there's any feasible way to reach that water, but several waterfalls are visible from on high. I took a short video of one of them (linked at the end of this post), because still pictures don't really make the waterfall very obvious.

This is a heavily traveled trail--not as heavy as Echo Mountain, and definitely not as heavy as Fish Canyon when you take the Azusa Rock shuttle vans, or Eaton Canyon to the waterfall or Henninger Flat, nor as heavy as Chantry Flat trails, but you won't have much solitude unless you either leave the Little Santa Anita for Jones Saddle or if you push on past Orchard Camp.

The trail to Jones Saddle is somewhat past First Water. I initially thought it was about one mile past, but I have reconsidered the distance in light of the fact that I could see the "Helipad" on the way back down, and it was within easy earshot of that bare spot of ground. According to the sign at the trailhead, the Helipad is 2.7 miles from the start, or 1.2 miles past First Water. That would put the Jones Saddle trail 1.1 to 1.2 miles past the First Water cutoff.

There's no signage at this split, and it's an "informal" trail, though obviously maintained by someone. At the fork, there was an orange tie around a shrub branch, and about three fallen trees and logs. Head up that way about 100 yards, along the base of the ravine. It won't really feel like you're on a trail, but after those 100 or maybe 150 yards, a clearer trail weaves up towards your right. From there, the trail is obvious, though not always wide.

I'd estimate (based on my travel time back down) that it's about a mile of switchbacks up the hill 'til you reach the Jones Saddle trail. A left turn there would take you towards either Jones Peak (significantly lower than where you would be standing at the moment), or all the way down to Bailey Canyon.

I've hiked from Bailey Canyon up this way several times, but never tried accessing Jones Saddle or Hastings Peak from the Little Santa Anita Canyon side. It was actually not as steep on that last bit as I thought it would be (though I did take my time, and my legs are still pretty tired from yesterday).

Because I hate giving up hard-won altitude, I decided to head up and right, towards Hastings Peak, rather than down and left, towards Jones Peak.

The path is easy to follow, though not as blatantly obvious as it was the first time I hiked this way. The scar of the fire break has been softened by several years of annual growth. Dead herbaceous stems are thick, and there actually is a single trail rather than a wide swath of exposed earth to follow. It's actually easier to walk this way (though still steep and slick in spots) than it was before.

The elevation of Hastings Peak has given altitudes of between 4000 and 4163 on various Internet sites. That means a bit over 3000 feet of vertical gain from the Mt. Wilson Trail trailhead. My estimate of distance would be between 10.5 and 11 miles total, with a gross altitude gain of about 3400 feet. Gross is somewhat larger than net because there's a section of Mt. Wilson trail that was washed out years ago. The detour requires a substantial gain in altitude, via many switchbacks. Much of that altitude is given right back on your way to First Water. You also need to give up some altitude as you travel between Hastings Peak and the mound just southeast of it.

From Hastings Peak, the various mounds below, and on down to Jones Peak, are to your southeast. Santa Anita Race Track is just beyond that. The Santa Ana Mountains are farther east, and off in the distance. The small antenna/microwave complex above Chantry Flat is to your east. San Jacinto, San Gorgonio and San Bernardino Mountains are all far off and on your horizon. The lower reaches of San Antonio (Mt. Baldy) is mostly obscured by closer the ridges of closer mountains, though the top is easily visible.

To your north is Mt. Harvard. Mt. Wilson is eclipsed by the closer (but shorter) Ivy League mountain. I'm moderately sure that the next mound along the fire break you're standing on (before reaching the fire break) is Mt. Yale. Continue over Yale, drop down several hundred feet, then climb back up even more, and you'd be on the Old Mount Wilson Toll Road.

I enjoyed the quiet and the view for several minutes. The sun glared off of the Pacific Ocean, in the distance. Palos Verdes and Santa Catalina Island were to the southwest. Just north of them was tiny Santa Barbara Island. Further to the north, I thought I could see another larger island, though that might have been my imagination.

Finally, I started down on my return trip. It's steep and slick, so I walked slowly, shuffling my feet a little, eyes down, watching my steps carefully. Suddenly, I became aware of the sound of thundering hooves. I looked up in time to see a herd of 15-20 deer, running across the clearing right in front me, right to left, maybe 200 yards ahead of me. I have never seen such a large herd of deer in the San Gabriel Mountains. But by the time I got my camera on and pointed, only the last straggler was there to be photographed. He paused for a moment, staring up at me, before bounding towards the cover of the trees, to the left.

Inexplicable hit increase explained

2012-02-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned a few times how neat it is that blogger provides info on various "hit" information for my pages. Every now and then, certain pages have atypical spikes. Sometimes I find out why; other times, I don't.

A few days ago, blogger showed that there were almost 70 hits overnight on one of my Land Between the Lakes posts. I didn't know why. For a little blog like mine, 70 hits on one hike post is very unusual (Typically, I get anywhere from 40-120 hits a day, with older hike write-ups rarely getting more than 10 or 20 hits in a week).

Tonight, for a totally unrelated reason, I checked my e-mail account for my former employer in Murray, Kentucky. There was an announcement in my inbox there about something called the Eggner Ferry Bridge being hit by a barge. I googled, and found a Huffington Post story about this incident.

Read the story, and learned that this was the name of the bridge that crosses the Tennessee River (Kentucky Lake), just east of where KY80 and US68 merge, at the west end of Land Between the Lakes (LBL).

Obviously, I crossed over that bridge a lot: Twice each time I came to or from Nashville, and twice nearly every time I visited LBL (unless I visited the far southern end of the park). Probably 100 trips, total.

Everytime I drove over, my knuckles grabbed the steering wheel a little tighter. The Eggner bridge is an old (70+ years old), narrow bridge, two-lane bridge that they've been talking about replacing for years. One of my co-workers said he always rolled his window down a little bit when he crossed the bridge, just in case it collapsted and tossed his car into the lake. I kid you not. It was a rickety-looking bridge to drive over.

But still picturesque.

Anyway, I guess someone figured out I had a picture of the bridge in my write-up for one of my hikes, and that's what spurred the big spike in hits.

Day's are getting longer!

2012-02-01T20:50:00.000-08:00

Got back from work a little before 5pm. Did a few chores and still had time for a short walk (about 1 1/4 miles) half way around the big block. Not nearly enough time for a real hike after work, yet. But with us gaining a minute or two of sunshine every evening, and daylight savings not too far off, I can start thinking about after-work hikes starting in about six weeks, and easily in about two months. Yay!

With no hikes to share from last week, I thought I'd share a link to a story about LA County Sheriff's air rescue videos. Two weeks ago they had a crazy busy week rescuing hikers: 5 rescue incidents involving 16 people over a 28 hour period.

Hike 2012.005 -- Walnut Creek, San Dimas

2012-01-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

Hiked Sunday, January 22. Came across this park somewhat accidentally, then tried to find some write-ups of the trail. One of my first hits was an old Los Angeles Times article by John McKinney. He used to have a semi-regular column on hiking in southern California.

A word of warning about trying to follow McKinney's directions to the trailhead: They won't work any more. Where he says "210 Freeway," he probably means the Orange Freeway (CA-57). This segment of freeway was renumbered after the 210 was extended to I-15 and beyond).

In any event, I ignored the directions. Coming from the west, I took I-10 east, exiting at Via Verde. I took Via Verde north, driving a pleasant and winding road through San Dimas, with a lot of white wooden fencing along the road indicating horse trails. At San Dimas, I made a left. Just before crossing under the 57 freeway, I saw the parking area on the left. However, as noted by nobodyhikesinla, the road here has a double-double yellow. You're not supposed to cross a double-double, so continued past a bit, making a right turn then a quick left and U-turn to get heading back in the correct direction.

There's a large trailhead sign here for the Michael D. Antonovich trail. For those who may not know, Antonovich is a long-time Los Angeles County Supervisor (just like Pete Scharbarum, who also has a lot of trail named after him--for some reason, my Supervisor, Gloria Molina, does not, as far as I know, have any trails named after her).

From the trailhead, the trail drops quickly into Walnut Creek Canyon. You've got a nice view to the northwest as you drop.

With the rain the day before I hiked, the water was running, though still as a trickle. All it really did was spur my urge to urinate. That's the power of suggestion.

I stayed on what felt like the "main" trail at each split, crossing the creek numerous times. I'm happy I was wearing my waterproof boots, because staying completely dry would have been impossible.

Twice, I came to large parking areas (gated) where horses could be unloaded (as they had been unloaded where I started--there were at least three horse trailers when I started). I also crossed a paved road, with a "Tzu Chi Buddhist" sign, on my left. Several places along the way, additional trail access points were also passed.

Based on McKinney's description, I'm pretty sure that the second horse circle I encountered is the "lower trailhead" mentioned in his article.

Shortly after passing McKinney's lower trailhead, I started getting hungry and decided it was time to figure on a good turnaround location. After two more crossings, I followed a spur that led me to a paved road. Upon reaching the pavement, I made a left turn, and walked (facing traffic) with the road on my right), up a hill. At the top of the hill was a street sign showing I had been walking on Reeder and that this was the corner of Reeder Ave (300 South) and Puente St (1700 East).

The trail would have continued further west at least a short distance. Since I did not walk that way, however, I can only speculate, but based on other trail reports, it can not go too much further.

The distance between the "upper" and "lower" trailheads was given by McKinney as two miles, so I'm calling it 5 miles for the day (roundtrip of 4 miles between the two trailheads, plus the distance I continued past that trailhead to Puente and Reeder and back, and the circle I walked that's just southeast of the lower trailhead, when I was trying to get back to the upper trailhead).

This trail is wetter and lacks the expansive views of the Schabarum trail. If I had to choose between Supervisor trails, I'd go with the Pete.

Free National Park Days in 2012 -- Plan ahead!

2012-01-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

When I went hiking this last weekend, I was very slightly annoyed to discover that I missed out on a free national parks weekend. I coulda gone to Joshua Tree and saved $15. Yeah, that won't even cover the gasoline, but, still, it's fifteen to help pay for some of the gas!

FYI, the following dates are scheduled for fee-free entrance days in our national parks (and, typically, our other federal public lands):

April 21-29

June 9

September 29

November 10-12

The NPS website describing this information is here.

Hike 2012.004 -- Water Canyon -- Angeles National Forest, Near San Gabriel Canyon

2012-01-16T23:02:00.000-08:00

Hiked Sunday, January 15. Today, I was stuck somewhere between my brain saying, "Go hiking" and my body saying, "I'd prefer to sleep."

Even as I was driving up San Gabriel Canyon, I was still debating about where I might hike. As I drove past Morris Dam, I saw a familiar sight. Turned around and parked, right adjacent to USFS Road #2N28.

I know I hiked here once before, but did not remember much in the way of specifics. It was only as I started writing up my hike that I searched my blog and found that it was over a year ago: Water Canyon was my last hike of 2010. This means it had been over a year since my last visit.

It's interesting to compare the difference in appear-ance: Last time, the reservoir was brimming full, and muddy from recent storm flows. Today, it was low and deep blue.

To get to the trailhead, take the Azusa Avenue offramp, north from I-210. After passing the "old town" and the new-ish Target, the road heads into San Gabriel Canyon. As you approach the mouth of the canyon, a bike path is on your left. A visitor center is also near the mouth of the canyon. You don't need a wilderness permit for this particular hike, but you do need an Adventure Pass. At least, normally, you would. This weekend was a free public lands weekend, although it does not seem to have been very effectively publicized.

Just after passing Morris Dam, there's a large overlook area on the right side of the road. On the left side of the road is the gate for Road 2N28.

As last time, I passed the gate, then turned right at the base of the hill. The path runs north, up-canyon, for quite some distance, before bending around a ridge and continuing to climb.

There's a use trail that goes straight up and around the metal detention dam near the gate. Haven't gone that way, but perhaps next time.

At this turn, there's a small patch of reeds. Doesn't look that wet around here, but I guess there might be standing water there during part of the season.

The actual trail climbs quickly, giving you a quick reward of a view to Morris Dam and Reservoir, and possibly your parked car. At one point, you approach quite close to the top of a power line pole. Right after rounding that bend, there's a use trail that heads up a ridge and provides a quick and steep alternate route.

I didn't go that way. Forgot all about that option, however, until I got back home and checked my write up of my last time up this way.

Instead, I stayed on the actual trail, which stays on the old road. There are several spots with severe earth slides, and the vegetation crowds your path. However, given the forecast of cooler weather, I was wearing long pants and long sleeves, so the way was pretty easy.

About 35 minutes up, there's a point where a use trail drops down from the main path and heads down into Water Canyon. I did not go that way, either. Instead, I stayed on the main path, which makes a hairpin turn as it passes through what seems like an intentionally (and relatively recently planted) forest of trees. Ducking and weaving through the trees, I made my way up, around, then down on the main path.

About ten minutes later, the path takes you to a prominent viewpoint. A ridge runs both up and down from where you stand. You've got a nice view over Morris Reservoir and the Glendora Mountain Road, far across the canyon. Normally, Mt. Baldy would also be visible, but, today, the peak was shrouded in clouds.

The last time I was here, I tried continuing along the old road path, but the growth got too thick. I then headed up the ridge and tromped atop the next ridge. However, today, I was only in for a short walk. So I headed back down the ridge until I met the trail, then followed the trail the last five minutes or so back to my car. Total walking time was about 1:15. I'm estimating about three miles for the day.

Not a lot of flowers in bloom. Some mustard and oxalis (both yellow and non-native), and some buckwheat. There was also the biggest purple nightshade I have ever seen, in addition to a few flowers I didn't recognize.

Hike 2012.003 -- Middle Fork Lytle Creek Waterfalls

2012-01-14T20:12:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, January 14.

Today's hike had more wrong turns than pretty much any hike I ever took before. I had trouble finding the right road, then I had trouble staying on the trail, then I had no idea where to find the waterfalls. This was a combination of less than obvious signage and me not paying enough attention when I was walking or when I printed out the trail descriptions I found on-line (then left the printouts in the car).

The trailhead is supposed to be at the end of Middle Fork Road. From the Foothill Freeway (I-210), take I-15 north to Sierra Ave., exit, then turn under the freeway. After passing a few gas stations, the road turns into Lytle Creek Road. About three miles later, the ranger station is on the right. You'll need to stop there for a wilderness permit.

Didn't measure the mileage, but I think it's only about 2 miles past the ranger station that you reach Middle Fork Road. I think it's the first road after Sycamore Road, and there's a brown sign on the left side of the road pointing you the way. The sign says it's 3 miles to the Middle Fork trailhead.

Middle Fork Road is narrow and squeezes between numerous houses. It's paved here, and continues to be paved for about 1/2 mile, until it passes a church. Then it becomes dirt, and rough. About 1/2 mile after the pavement ends, there's a spur to the left that heads to a small parking lot. If you do not have a high clearance vehicle, or at least a short wheelbase, moderate-clearance vehicle, you might want to park there.

I pushed on about 1/2 mile further, but the going was slow.

When I drove back home, my odometer said it was 1.5 miles back to Lytle Creek Road, so I'm estimating I walked 1.5 miles each way (3 miles roundtrip) just to get to the trailhead.

At the trailhead were about ten cars. Most were high clearance pick-up trucks or SUVs. One was a Geo Metro. Two were VWs. My Saturn has a longer wheelbase and less clearance than any of those, so I figure I made the right choice by stopping when I did.

There's a pit toilet at the trailhead. There are also two trails, although only one appears on the Tom Harrison "Mt Baldy and Cucamonga Wilderness Trail Maps" and the map they had at the display near the start of the trail. Because the map and interpretive signs were near the higher of the two trails, I took the higher one. According to the sign there, it is .5 miles to Stonehouse and 2.3 miles to Third Stream Crossing.

I recalled that the waterfalls were supposed to be near Third Stream Crossing, though I did not recall the specifics, and I forgot to bring the printouts with me. D'oh!

May or may not have seen Stonehouse, if that's just the name of the walk-in campground on the lower trail. Of course, I shouldn't have, had I managed to stay on the high road.

Unfortunately, after .6 miles, I moved off the high trail and on to the low trail. It's a 4-way, "X" intersection where the trails split. I just kept walking straight, because I didn't even notice the full split. A bright orange tie was along that route, so I boobishly walked forward.

I should have made a right turn here to stay on the high trail. A left turn would have put me at the nearby overlook.

Going down led me closer to the creek. Unfortunately, there are a lot of downed trees this way, due to a recent fire. That meant lots of places to lose the trail, and I did lose it a few times on this lower route. This resulted in a fair amount of bushwacking and backtracking before I managed to find a use-trail that took me back to the high trail.

Progress sped up considerably once I was back on this trail. Still, I didn't know exactly where I was supposed to go. I eventually crossed the stream and climbed steeply, reaching a few switchbacks. A check of the map indicated I was clearly past Third Stream Crossing, so I turned back around, and checked out the two canyons ahead of where the trail had turned, thinking perhaps this might be the way to the falls. However, after several hundred yards of travel, it became clear that the waterfalls (which were supposed to be quite close to Third Crossing) were not this way.

Next, from Third Stream Crossing, I headed "downstream," eventually, finding another stream coming in from the right. I headed up that way, encountering many cascades along the way. The steam walls of this canyon convinced me I was on the right track, and, sure enough, I soon saw a waterfall in the distance.

Getting there required crossing the stream several times, stepping in a few inches of water and on some extremely slippery rocks. If the water were flowing higher, this would be a much harder waterfall to get to.

The lowest of the two falls I could see was comparable in height to Eaton Canyon Falls, so I estimate it is about 30 feet in height. The second falls were too far away to get a good estimate, though it seemed shorter.

I have read that there is a third falls above that one, but could not easily and safely get to a position of seeing it.

All told, according to my map and estimates, I walked 3 miles on Middle Fork Road to get to the trailhead and back, 1.2 miles roundtrip to get to the trail split, about 1.5 miles to get both ways between the split and remerger, 1.6 miles roundtrip to get from there to Third Stream Crossing, and about one mile total on my excursions up and down the various canyons (including the one with the falls) leading into Lytle Canyon. That's about 8.3 miles total walking for the day.

Were I to do the hike again, I would be careful to stay on the high trail. Shortly after passing a little circle of oak trees (eleven trees, growing in a tight circle), the trail climbs steeply through manzanita, reaching a nice view spot. A massive but fractured granite structure forms the opposite canyon wall.

You would then descend the trail, and either look for a faint use trail that heads into the canyon immediately east of the granite structure, or continue to where the high trail finally crosses the main portion of Lytle Creek (Third Stream Crossing, not signed). Once on the north side of Lytle Creek, head west, keeping the stream on your left. When you run into another stream coming in from the right, turn up along that creek. Follow it up a few hundred yards until it dead ends at the base of the first waterfall.

Hike 2012.002 -- Monrovia Canyon Falls

2012-01-09T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hiked Sunday, January 8. Yesterday's hike felt good, and I was still feeling a little tired from it. But I ate a huge breakfast today and needed to do something to combat those calories. The solution was a short hike in Monrovia Canyon.

From Foothill Blvd (between Mountain and Myrtle), take Canyon Blvd north. There's a sign on westbound Foothill (sometimes obscured by tree branches) indicating this is the way to Monrovia Canyon Park, but I did not see any sign heading towards the east).

After about 1.5 miles, Canyon bears to the right (There's a sign pointing the way to Canyon Park there). There's no stop sign heading up, but there is one coming down. Gotta take some care at that intersection. About 1/2 mile later, just before you reach the corner of Canyon and Oakglade (there's a painted relief concrete sign pointing you towards Canyon Park here, too), you can park on the street (check the alternate-side no parking signs, and avoid the no parking area right at the intersection).

I parked there and walked up the paved road that heads into Monrovia Canyon Park. Walking from the street rather than parking at the entry station adds about 3/4 of a mile each way and saves you $5. There is about a 1/10th of a mile section where you are walking on a shoulderless road, whereas for the rest of the way there's an off-shoulder walking area. Many locals appear to prefer walking on the pavement, nonetheless.

My estimate for the walking distance is based on a "1 1/2 mile" sign for the "Fountain to Falls" walk that was near where I parked, and a "2 1/4 mile" sign for the same walk where the off-road portion of the hike to Monrovia Falls begins. There's also a sign indicating it is 1 3/4 miles from there to the waterfall. Simple addition of 1.75 + 1.75 + .75 + .75 means it's 5 miles roundtrip for the whole hike.

There were a lot of cars parked on the street, and lots of foot traffic heading up and down the Canyon drive.

At the entry station, there's a parking lot and a flush toilet. The Bill Cull trail to the waterfall starts from just past the entry station, on the left side of the road. As earlier noted, the sign says it's 1 3/4 miles to the falls from there.

This trail begins with a brisk climb through several switchbacks. Before long, you are above the road, and can see the notch-faced Sawpit Canyon dam.

The trail here is somewhat narrow, which can be an issue during times of heavy travel. It's plenty wide for one person to walk, but not wide enough for two people to pass comfortably.

Once the trail returns to river level (about 3/5 of a mile later), the trail becomes wider.

There's a water crossing just before you meet the main canyon trail (which runs north to the waterfall and south to an historic cabin). Live oak, sycamore, and California Walnut were common. The walnut, in particular, grew thick, with boughs hanging low over the trail.

As you walk the last 3/4 of a mile of the trail, there are several numbered signs that form a nature trail. However, in all the times I've been to this park, I've never found a copy of the flyer at the nature center or the brochure holder near the trail's head at the visitor center.

Hiker traffic was heavier here. When I got to the waterfall, there were about a half-dozen people near the falls, and another ten or so wandering a bit further off. Within five minutes, another fifteen or so people arrived. It definitely gets crowded here on weekends.

Hike 2012.001 -- Hacienda Hills -- Seventh Avenue to Rio Hondo College

2012-01-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, January 7.

First hike of the year. It's been a busy few weeks, what with the usual holiday stuff, plus getting settled back in at home and getting ready for a couple of new jobs. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I've added an additional inch or so in belly circumference since Thanksgiving, which is definitely not something I wanted to do. So today's hike, while a late start, was a pleasantly long ten miles or so. First decent hike since El Malpais National Monument, on the drive home from Kentucky.

Today's trailhead was at the south end of Seventh Avenue. From the Pomona Freeway (CA60), take Seventh Avenue south until it dead ends at Orange Grove (only about 1.5 miles). There's a small parking lot (room for about six cars) just north of Orange Grove, and plenty of on-street parking on the west side of Seventh Avenue, just south of Orange Grove.

I've used this trailhead more than any other in the Hacienda Hills, simply because it's easy and quick to get to from my San Gabriel Valley home. On my first hike in the Hacienda Hills, I started here and walked to the old Nike missile site that overlooks Rose Hills. Hadn't been there since.

My initial goal for the day was just to do that hike again.

The trail starts out heading directly south, with a wide dirt road as the main path and a narrower, winding, ADA-accessible trail passing through a native plant corridor just to the west. This is the "Ahwingna Trail." Every time I hear that name, I think of "The Lion Sleeps at Night." Or I think to myself that maybe "Ahwingna" is the Gabrielino word for "landfill." ;D

The Ahwingna trail starts out heading due south, then curves to the right. After .3 miles, the Coyote Trail breaks off sharply up and to the left. I ignored that turn (which can easily be combined with other trails off of and including the Ahwingna to make a nice, 5-mile or so loop). After another 1/10th of a mile or so, the road turns to pavement and begins a steep climb. As the pavement nears the top of the crest, a dirt path splits off to the left. That is still the Ahwingna Trail.

Now dirt rather than pavement, the trail continues climbing steeply for another 1/2 mile before reaching a fork. Two hitching posts are to the right, partially shaded by oaks. A sign indicates that the Ahwingna Trail splits to the left, while the Native Oak Trail goes straight ahead. I went to the left.

One-half mile later, the Ahwingna trail runs into the Skyline/Schabarum/Juan Bautista de Anza Trail. Make a left turn there and go 12 miles, and you'd reach Schabarum Park. I've been that way before. No time or inclination for that long of a walk, though. Instead, I made a right.

After 1/2 mile, the Native Oak trail also intersects the Schabarum Trail, from the right. Almost immediately thereafter, there's a boundary sign, indicating you are leaving the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Authority land. As you continue on the Schabarum trail, a fence remains on your left. When it's the right season, vetch bloom thickly in this area.

There's a graffiti-covered (empty) water tank in the distance to the southwest. I've hiked there before, too.

I continued heading west. Because of the haze, views were pretty limited.

After about 2/10ths of a mile, the trail passes around a gate. Rose Hills Memorial Park owns the land to your left. The Puente Hills Landfill is immediately to your right. A portion of the tipping fees paid by dumpers helps finance the Native Habitat Authority that owns some land and manages other easements for the trail system that cuts through the Hacienda and Puente Hills.

Another 3/10ths of a mile or so later, the trail somewhat splits, with a mulch-covered path going between a row of trees, and a paved road on the right. I'm pretty sure you're supposed to stay on the mulch path. The active landfill is now very close on your right. It has expanded much closer to the trail than it was the first (and last) time I walked this section of trail. Seemed a little surprising to me how much it has expanded, given that it is going to close in about 21 months.

In the area just before and during this section, I could here the low toots of what sounded like a tuba. To my left and ahead, a band was playing for a funeral in Rose Hills, but only the deep tuba noises traveled this far.

At the end of this passage, you're now potentially within a stone's throw of large earth movers on your right. A cluster of microwave towers are above and to your left. You've actually been able to see this cluster pretty much since you got on the Schabarum Trail, but now you're at the base of the final hill. A white fence zig-zags up the hill.

You can follow the zig-zag path all the way until it runs on to the pavement, or take it only part of the way, before dropping down and to the right on what is the actual Skyline trail. Either way, you're at the top soon enough.

If you came up the paved road, there's a painted brick guard shack (empty) on your left, with a commemorative plaque nearby.

There's also a trough for horses across the pavement from the guard shack. However, at the moment, the trough is signed with a warning to equestrians not to allow their horses to use the communal trough for fear of spreading some form of equine disease.

The Skyline trail continues over the hill, with Rose Hills still on your left and landfill property on your right. As you head down the steep paved road (or perhaps walk on the mulched shoulder), huge steel trellises support power lines overhead. This is part of the massive Tehachapi Renewable Transmission Project.

As you make your way down the road, Rio Hondo College finally begins to come into view. They've got a little observatory dome to the east of the campus. Apparently, there's a 16" reflecting telescope (probably a SCT design) in there. I have poked around the Internet to see what I could learn, and I saw that it at least used to be open for free public viewing. However, the only current viewing opportunities seem to be linked to signing up for a $25 continuing education class at the college. I may need to investigate this further.

With a 16-inch aperture and likely Schmidt-Cassegrain, it's got 1/3 more light gathering power yet is much more compact that the main telescope at Griffith Park.

The descent from the Nike site to Workman Blvd (just north of Rio Hondo College) is a long one, longer than it appeared from the top. However, I was curious to see where it reached Workman, because I had previously tried to find the trail access there.

Following the pavement down from the Nike Station, it's probably a mile before you reach the energy generating plants (gas to energy). Steam and a slight odor were apparent from a distance.

Keep the first plant you see on your right as you continue on the main road (the trail actually drops off the road after about 1/2 mile, but it's slightly overgrown, so it's easier to stay on the pavement until after you pass the power plants). Eventually the road reaches the Puente Hills Landfill receiving point. Yellow stripes on the pavement represent a crosswalk, and the trail cuts down to the left here.

After a brief descent, the path again crosses the pavement before beginning another long and winding descent. Shortly after you pop out on a dirt road, the Rio Hondo (College) Police Academy facility is on your right. They've got a little obstacle course and a drinking fountain. The police academy has been closed for a while due to some sort of financial irregularity, so I don't know how long the water in the fountain has been sitting in those pipes.

Continue past the police academy course, opting for the lower of several dirt roads as you continue to the south. Federal Express has a large sorting facility to your right. Workman Mill is the street nearest you. Peck Road is the one that Workman Mill intersects, just to the south. When facing to the west, the San Gabriel River Freeway (I-605) runs left to right, and crosses the Pomona Freeway (CA-60) just a mile or so to your left.

When the trail reaches Workman Mill Road, a tunnel takes you under Workman, or you can (illegally) jaywalk across Workman. The Bookmart and a flower shop is immediately to the west of a public parking area for trail access. North Drive is immediately to the west of the start of the path. A shiny new building stands on the southeast corner of Workman Mill and North Drive. The last time I was here, there was major construction all around the Rio Hondo Campus, and I'm not sure if that building was there, and/or if the trailhead parking had been appropriated by construction vehicles. Either way, I saw neither the Skyline Trail that I just walked nor the public parking area across the street.

After crossing under Workman Mill, I explored a bit further. Another hiking/equestrian tunnel goes from the parking area west under Peck Road and towards the San Gabriel River. However, the path under Peck was wet, presumably with a mixture of water and horse urine, so I did not continue further. Had I done so, I presumably could have linked up with the San Gabriel River trail (paved) that heads from here south to Long Beach, or north to Azusa and the mouth of San Gabriel River Canyon.

I returned the way I came.

The sun was already getting ready to set as I headed back up towards the Nike Station. A nearly full moon was rising in the east.

I took relatively few pictures as I returned, and walked very quickly while the light remained. However, during the last 1.3 miles or so (along the Ahwingna Trail), I had to slow down on parts because it was too dark to easily see the trail and the trail itself is steep and eroded in parts. I didn't want to fall.

I did not get back to my car until about 5:45pm, which was about 1:45 after I began walking back.

After returning home, I googled "Seventh Avenue to Rio Hondo College" (no quotes) and found an old (25 year old) L.A. Times article by John McKinney about the trail I walked. It gives the roundtrip distance as 10 miles, with an altitude change along the way of 800 feet. I am sure is an approximation, since this was written long before the public use of GPS became a reality, but seems reasonable considering the time it took to return home.

McKinney used to have regular articles in the Times of hiking trails in the area.

Hike 2011.100 -- Schabaram Trail from Grand Avenue

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, December 31. Ended my second 100-hike year with an easy walk in the Puente Hills.

When I visited my sister over Thanksgiving weekend, I noticed a "Schabaram Trail" marker on Grand Avenue, across the street from where Hillside Road comes in from West Covina.

Unfortunately, there is not actually a single Schabarum Trail; there are multiple spurs, all described by the same name and same signage. There's also a Schabarum Park in Rowland Heights. Several spurs of the Schabarum Trail encircle and intersect with the park there (south of Colima Road, which is south of the Pomona Freeway, or CA-60, and mostly east of Azusa Avenue). I could not find any maps of this section of the trail, so I was uncertain how far I would be able to walk or where this trail might lead me.

To get to the trailhead, take the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10), and exit at Grand Avenue. Head south. After about 1 1/2 miles, you'll pass Cameron Avenue, coming in from the west. There's a traffic light there. The next street coming in from the west (no traffic light) is Hillside Drive. There is no parking on Grand, so you'll have to park on Hillside, which is a very steep street. Be sure to set your parking brake and set your wheels properly against the curb (turning your front wheels towards the curb if you're pointing downhill, or away from the curb if you're pointing uphill).

Traffic on Grand moves fast, so you may wish to retreat down to Cameron to cross at the light.

On the east side of Grand, directly opposite Hillside, is a marker for the Schabarum Trail.

I've hiked numerous segments of the Schabarum (previously, the Skyline) Trail, including east from Schabarum Park, to Fullerton Road and Pathfinder Road. I was under the impression that this was as far east as the trail went (it also goes west, to near Rio Hondo College, with numerous access points from the north and south ends of the Puente Hills). If the segment of the Schabarum Trail I walked today somehow links with the other sections, I don't know how or where those trail segments would be.

From Grand Avenue heading east, the Schabarum Trail climbs very quickly up about sixty feet, giving you an immediate overview of your staring point. It then runs briefly level before dropping down the other side, into a pocket of live oak. Within that pocket, someone put some real effort to build a pair of huts, with roofs made of palm fronds.

Homes are on your right as you begin, and are later also on your left. Nonetheless, your path gives you a sense of separation from the city. After a brief walk with fences on your left, your path again begins a brisk climb. Cupulas, patios, pools, and some massive homes are visible all around you.

While still climbing to the south, there's a break in a fence to your right, and a narrow trail cuts down towards the streets. I did not follow that trail, so I don't know how far it goes.

Instead, I went up further, past a tiny fenced-in area that appears to protect nothing but a metal support structure. I suspect it was once a microwave relay station, but now it's just some metal poles.

Climbing higher still, your path approaches but does not summit the tallest point in the area. If you stay on the main dirt road, you eventually work you way about 270 degrees around the apex, losing a bit of altitude as you do so. From the other side, a steep and narrow path takes you to the top. A metal stake and a USGS marker is at the top.

If you continue along the dirt road, it dead ends in about 1/3 of a mile. A fence gate with a sign saying "No Trespassing/Dangerous Conditions" blocks further progress. Another sign on the gate says, "Private Property/Schabarum Trail is to the south." However, I did not see which path the sign was suggesting. There was nothing immediately to the south, so it's possible they intend you to backtrack to the earlier-mentioned hole in a fence, which was 3/4 of a mile or so back. That path is a narrow footpath, however, unlike the one- to two-lane width of most of the trail so far.

I returned towards my car. When I got back to Grand, I headed south, to Cameron. Although the sign at the base of the hill pointed the Schabarum Trail that way, I saw no indications at Cameron of which direction I should go, next. I'm not sure if it just goes along Grand or Cameron, but I definitely saw no trail to follow.

I crossed Grand at Cameron and walked back to my car.

Total walking time was about two hours, with plenty of time for pictures. I'm estimating my mileage at 3.5 - 4.0 miles.

Expansive views in all directions during most of this hike, although it was somewhat hazier today than in some recent days, and the low winter sun creates a lot of glare when looking to the south. Mount San Antonio College dominates the area immediately to the south for most of the latter part of this hike.

Between the ridge top and Mt. SAC, several steep ravines were currently covered with thick, green grasses. Near the bottom, some fall color remained. By their color, I'd assume they're black walnut trees, although they were way too far for me to make that guess with anything more than intuition.

A pair of casual hikers I ran into near the start of the hike said they thought this trail went all the way to near Cal Poly, Pomona. However, they themselves only went about 1/2 mile in.

Not sure if I could see Cal Poly before I reached the end fence. Couldn't even see the 57 freeway, which cuts south just before Cal Poly. The foreground hills got in the way. I did see several other access points, particularly coming in from the north.

The San Gabriel Mountains were obviously in the distance to the north. I could pretty easily make out the white "A" overlooking Azusa, and the observatory domes and antenna of Mt. Wilson and Mt. Harvard. The high peaks around Mt. Baldy appeared pretty much snow-free as seen from this perspective, although I'm sure the actual trails must still cross substantial areas of snow and ice.

To the west, haze made seeing downtown, Santa Catalina, and points west largely impossible.

Saw plenty of squirrels today, presumably gathering walnuts and acorn. Either saw several hawks, or one hawk, repeatedly. Got pretty close to the hawk, although my camera has an issue with focusing on moving objects. Did get to see it do its silent take off thing, which was a reminder of the many times I saw that in Kentucky. Other birds, as well, and one very impressive butterfly.

Hike 2011.099 -- Bonita Canyon -- San Bernardino National Forest, CA

2011-12-29T22:18:00.000-08:00

Hiked Thursday, December 29.

Read this post on "Nobody Hikes in L.A." about six weeks ago. Hadn't ever heard of this waterfall before, discovered that it required no off-pavement driving, and figured it was a place I would have to visit soon. Well, today was "soon."

Took the Foothill Freeway (I-210) east, to I-15. Then, I-15 north about five miles, to Sierra Avenue. Exited, turned left, under the freeway, and drove north, past a gas station and a few other retail structures. After less than 1/2 mile, Sierra turns into Lytle Creek Road. I did not check my odometer to see how far to the Ranger Station, but I'd estimate it was at least another 4-5 miles of weaving road. The station is on the right side of the road, but is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Today being a Thursday, it was closed.

Nonetheless, out in front of the station was a bulletin board. On the bulletin board was a flyer for the Bonita Canyon hike. I took a picture of it for reference as I continued north on Lytle Creek Road. Approximately one mile after the ranger station, there's a sign on the left side of the road for Green Mountain Ranch. The flyer said to park just after that turnout, so I slowed to make a U-turn. Turns out the truck in front of me also made a U-turn and parked on the west side of the road.

So when I got out of my car, I asked the guy who got out of the truck right in front of me, "You heading to the waterfall?"

He asked, "What waterfall?" I showed him the shot I took of the flyer at the ranger station, and he and his son decided to join me on this walk in search of Bonita Falls.

We went under the locked green gate in front of Green Mountain Ranch, and walked across the bridge that crosses Lytle Creek. Lytle Creek isn't flowing very high at the moment, and crossing it directly would not be impossible. But walking across the bridge, well, that's as easy as possible.

The Forest Service flyer then instructs you to head north along the creek, walking parallel to the fence (staying on the east side of the fence, which is public property). After a few hundred yards, the fence ended, and we continued, sticking on the south side of the wash. Several trails crisscross the wash. A whole lot of large driftwood is also in this wash, which gives you an idea of how powerful the water must flow through here during thunderstorms of with the spring snow melt.

According to the flyer, after about 1/2 mile of heading south, there's another wash, heading in from the south. We could hear the sound of running water as we approached the half-mile point.

The easiest way to the falls is to keep the creek on your right. It's probably no more than 1/4 of a mile after you start your ascent that you are suddenly confronted by a HUGE waterfall. I couldn't help but mutter, "Wow" to myself, when I first saw it.

It seems amazing that such a sight is located in southern California. It's probably the tallest single drop of water I've seen in southern California (although I've never stood at the base of Thalehaha Falls, so I can't say for sure if Bonita is taller--it definitely had more water flowing).

Although we saw no one on our way to the waterfall, we were at the falls for no more than 5 minutes before two more hikers joined us. Perhaps 10 minutes later, a father and three kids came up. Then another family, no more than 5 minutes behind them. On the way out, we passed maybe four more people coming in.

So it would seem that, on a late December weekday, once the temperatures warm up a little, this place gets LOTS of visitors. L

Returning with very few stops back to the car took about 40 or 45 minutes, and is supposed to be about 1.8 miles in length.

After returning to my car, I drove back to the ranger station. There's a 1/2 mile nature loop that is mentioned there, but which clearly is not well-maintained. Several large downed trees (burned several years ago) laid across the trail. Several nice views from this perspective, however.

There's a much better-maintained native plants garden closer to the ranger station. Metal bear, lynx and coyotes hide among the plants, as do actual cottontail and many birds. Many (but not all) plants are signed, providing a good opportunity to try to learn or relearn more plant names and uses.

I walked the 1/2 mile look, took short extensions along the dirt road that runs near the loop, and walked all the paved walkways of the native plants garden 2-3 times. The goal was to racked up enough extra distance to make the day somewhere in the neighborhood of my arbitrary 3 miles to qualify as a day of hiking.

Because of the recent warm weather, parts of the red bud in the garden have been fooled into thinking it's March or April.

Although the actual beds of Lytle Creek and the accompany-ing washes are pretty barren, the area in general seemed very peaceful. It is also, unfortunately, extremely graffitied. Kind of takes away from the tranquility of the scene.

Fall foliage still remains in Lytle Canyon. The willow are yellow and the oak are rusted brown.

Here's a video of Bonita Falls; probably looks best in the small-screen version, because when you go full-screen, it just looks terribly pixilated.

Hike 2011.098 -- Little Santa Anita Canyon to First Water

2011-12-27T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hiked Tuesday, December 27. I actually planned on doing the Winter Creek Loop out of Chantry. However, by the time I got done with the DMV this morning and drove up Santa Anita, it was about 11:30am. The lot at Chantry was way passed full. So I drove back down Santa Anita and made a right at Grand View. I took that over about one mile to Mountain Trail Avenue, then took a right up to the base of the mountains. There's a small park right after Mountain Trail curves left and turns into Mira Monte. That's Mount Wilson Trail Park. I parked in front of the park.

There's a grassy area there, and s flush toilet there. Not sure when they put that in there, but it's apparently been years. Just never noticed it before.

At the west end of the park, there's a small museum that I've never actually seen open. A short, private road, called Mount Wilson Trail, heads north, just west of the museum. There are sometimes a few parking spaces at the bottom west end of this road.

Most people park on Mira Monte Avenue and walk up Mount Wilson Trail. After less than 1/10th of a mile, there's a trailhead sign. According to the sign, it's 1.5 miles to First Water, 1.9 miles to Lost Canyon (which is unsigned on the trail, but which I'm pretty sure is the canyon where the trail from Jones Peak comes down to join the Mt. Wilson Trail), 7 miles to Mount Wilson, and mileage to several other points along the way.

After .2 miles, the hiking trail briefly rejoins the private, paved, Mount Wilson Trail. The pavement ends, and motorized travel is prohibited beyond that point.

Mount Wilson trail (the hiking trail) is pretty steep. I don't think it's as steep as the trail from Bailey Canyon to Jones Peak, and it's definitely wider. But it is still steep.

As you climb, there is usually running water far below you, down at the bottom of Little Santa Anita Canyon. A couple of waterfalls are visible far below.

At the top of this post is a wide view of part of Little Santa Anita Canyon. Here is a crop of that picture, with some hikers visible to put things in perspective.

Reaching First Water requires a short detour off the main trail. You descend about 30 vertical feet over the course of maybe 100 yards. I suspect the majority of hikers and joggers on this trail stop here and turn around.

It's a pleasant place, with the gurgling of water, splashing over rocks and between broken logs.

Decided to call it a day hike there, and headed on down the mountain. Took plenty more pictures on the way down, especially of the few flowers I saw.

These guys looked like the picture of Wishbone Bush. I also saw flowers that look exactly what I have seen elsewhere identified as Cliff Aster, but which is listed as Twiggy-wreath Plant in "Wild-flowers of the San Gabriel Mountains." Buckwheat were also in bloom.

If the signs are accurate, I walked no more than 3.2 miles today. Played some half-court basketball later, though. :D A high school friend is visiting the area for the holidays. We're all absolutely horrible, but it's still exercise.

Hike 2011.097 -- Jones Peak

2011-12-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

Hiked Sunday, December 25. Another relatively short hike, nearby. This trailhead is at Bailey Canyon Park, 451 W. Carter Ave, Sierra Madre, CA. To get there, take Baldwin Avenue north from the 210 Freeway (Baldwin makes a little jig to the west as it crosses Foothill Ave., so you need to make a left on Foothill, then a quick right). Continue north, past downtown Sierra Madre and a whole slew of churches. As you near the foothills, you'll reach Carter. Make a left there. Shortly after Lima, there's an entrance to Bailey Canyon Park, on your right.

The lot's a little small and short, so be careful when pulling in and pulling out. I backed into my spot so it would be easier to get out if there were lots of cars in the lot. Apparently, someone who came after me wasn't quite so farsighted, and headed in. Then she backed into my car when she left.

Fortunately, she left a note. I haven't called, yet, but hopefully everything will be fine. It looks to be mostly just my hood, so maybe the repair will be quick and cheap.

There's a flush toilet at the trailhead, which is kind of unusual for most trailheads.

Head west from the lot and the trail soon passes through a boundary fence. Head right (up the hill), and go past the monastery. (As of today, there's a mountain lion poster on the boundary fence for the monastery). As the pavement ends and you go past the detention basin on your right, you'll soon come to a bridge, which would require a right turn, over a small gully. There's a short nature loop if you cross the bridge. The waterfall and trail to Jones Peak is straight ahead, however.

Also down in this area are periwinkle, which are pretty common in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. I never really noticed if this is common, but some of the periwinkle here had only four petals.

If there's no water running down near the bridge, there's a fairly high probability that the waterfall is dry. The trail you're on also crosses where the outflow from the waterfall would run a bit further up. Again, if there's no water running there, the waterfall is probably dry. Some pictures of when the waterfall was actually flowing are here. Previous write-ups of hikes around Bailey Canyon are here and here.

If you want to visit the waterfall, turn left at the fork. If you want to go to Jones Peak, head right. The path to Jones Peak is supposed to be 3.3 miles each way. There's a small cabin foundation about 2.2 miles up. It's right near where the trail heads into a narrower section of the canyon, right after the trail makes a brief descent.

Otherwise, this trail is pretty steep and full of switchbacks. It's also pretty shadeless, so you don't want to do this hike in high summer.

You reach a saddle about 1/10th of a mile form the top of Jones Peak. At the saddle, you go right to get to the top of Jones Peak.

If you had, instead, gone left, you'd have a trail heading up towards Hastings Peak. If you continue up that route (really, a firebreak), you'd reach the Mt. Wilson Toll Road in about a mile. The picture here is looking north from Jones Peak, with the fire break crossing from right to left, and Mt. Wilson in the background.

Also, just as you start going up the path towards Hastings Peak, there's another trail, which heads down and to your right, towards the Mt. Wilson Trail. It intersects with that one just after First Water.

From Jones Peak looking south, Santa Anita racetrack is down and a bit to your left. Looking east, Mt. San Antonio (Baldy), San Gorgonio and the Santa Ana mountains were easy, looking left to right.

Total mileage for the day was just 6.6 miles.

Hike 2011.096 -- Sawpit Wash, Monrovia, CA

2011-12-24T16:34:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, December 24. Today's hike was pretty lame. I had a lunch appoint-ment at noon and only had about 2 1/2 hours in the morning (including driving time) to squeeze in my hike. Besides, I played some basketball yesterday, and was feeling a little stiff.

Parked on Lime Ave, just east of Mountain. That's about two miles north of the Foothill Freeway (I-210). I parked on the street.

This is the southernmost section of the wash-side walking trail. It's mainly used by joggers and dog walkers (and, in fact, I ran into a friend from Monrovia on my way back. He and his daughter were walking their dog). There are dispensers for bags to pick up your dog's poo at several spots along the way.

From Lime, the trail heads mostly to the north, passing over or under several roads along the way. The only off-street parking is one block north of Lime, at the end of a private drive that's opposite Foothill Blvd, just east of Mountain. That public lot is often used as by visitors or residents to a small condominium development at that corner, however. So, today, I just started at Lime.

It took me about 30 minutes to get to the gate for Monrovia Canyon Park. There's a short trail (1.8 miles from the entrance station, probably 1.9 to 2.0 miles from the road gate) from there to Monrovia Falls. Today, however, the gate was locked, even though I got there well after the 8am opening time. I thought that meant the park was closed, perhaps due to recent storm damage. However, the friend I ran into on the way back suggested it might just be that the rangers had Christmas Eve off.

I returned the way I came, having covered about 3 miles on my wash-side walk. I passed numerous dog walkers and a few joggers. I also saw several hawks and saw and heard several woodpeckers. Had I been a little more efficient and framing the hawk sitting in a sycamore, I would have had a nice close-up view of him. The sycamore were still looking very fall-ish. It's always amazing to see fall foliage in December.

Hike 2011.095 -- Sturtevant Falls

2011-12-23T17:27:00.000-08:00

Hiked Thursday, December 22.

Wasn't really planning on a hike today, but I had some time this early afternoon, so I took a short walk to Sturtevant Falls. As with many of the recent hikes, it's one I've done before, but is very close to home, and that makes it convenient. Yeah, I'm aiming more at the quantity than the quality at the moment.

This trailhead starts at Chantry Flats. From the 210 freeway, take Santa Anita Avenue north. It heads out of Pasadena and through Sierra Madre, on into the Angeles National Forest. At the end of the road, that's Chantry Flats. An Adventure Pass is required to park here.

From the lowest of the three tiers of parking lots (which fill early on weekends and holidays), the trail to Sturtevant Falls heads down from the south end of the lot. The first 1/2 mile or so is paved and steep. Keep that in mind for your return to the parking lot.

At the end of the pavement, there's a stream (Winter Creek) which flows in from the left. A steel-framed bridge crosses Winter Creek. A large check dam slows the flow of the water down the hill.

Today, for the first time I've ever hiked here, the flow from Winter Creek was so low that I could actually walk right over the creek. Normally, I needed to use the bridge.

Once over the bridge, a sign says it's 1 1/4 mile to Sturtevant Falls. Along the way, several more check dams impound water, creating still, reflective pools beneath the canopy of alder.

After about 3/4 of a mile of walking with the river on your right, and passing by numerous cabins, you reach Fiddler's Crossing. Just before reaching Fidder's, you also pass a couple of trails, coming in from the left. If you head up then to the right, you'd be on the Sturtevant Trail, heading to an overlook of the falls before continuing on to Sturtevant Camp. The left trail also ends up there, but does not give an overview of the falls. Technically, hikers can go either way, while horses must go on the left trail.

Since I was only going to the falls, I did not take either of those two trails, but continued across Fiddler's Crossing (Santa Anita Creek) to the falls.

There are two more crossings further up the trail, but the water is so low that staying dry was not an issue.

Despite the traffic that this trail gets, I actually had about ten minutes of the falls all to myself. Sturtevant is substantially taller than Eaton Canyon falls, which you don't fully appreciate until you get right up to the pool at the base of the falls.

It's very scenic and peaceful there.

Probably 3.5 to 4.0 miles, roundtrip.

Hike 2011.094 -- Echo Mountain via Rubio Canyon, Return via Altadena Crest Trail

2011-12-22T18:31:00.000-08:00

Hiked Wednesday, December 21.

Still not in much of a driving mood, and keeping things close to home. I did add a slight twist to the usual Echo Mountain hike by approaching from the trailhead at Camp Huntington Road.

This trailhead is at the curve where Loma Alta Drive turns into Rubio Canyon Road, in Altadena. From the east, I think the easiest approach would be to take Altadena Drive north from the 210 Freeway, following it past Eaton Canyon. As Altadena Drive approaches the foothills, it curves to the west. About 2-3 miles past the Nature Center driveway, you can make a right at either Tanoble Drive (which has access to the Altadena Crest Trail) or Porter Avenue. Both are narrow residential streets, so watch your speed as you head north about 1/3 of a mile to Loma Alta Drive. Make a left there. After another 1/2 mile or so, Loma Alta will curve to the right and climb, going past Zane Grey Terrace (another access point to the Altadena Crest Trail). As the road goes past a large detention basin on the left, it will curve to the left. At the curve, Huntington Camp Drive is on the right, where a street sign that marks the change in the name of the road you're on (from Loma Alta Drive to Rubio Canyon Road). However, there is no parking at this point.

Instead, continue another 150 yards or so, to Rubio Crest Drive.

If you park at the base of this hill, you can then backtrack to Rubio Canyon Drive, walk left, and reach Camp Huntington Road (that name does not appear on the Loma Alta Drive/Rubio Canyon Road street sign at that corner) after about 150 yards, across the bridge.

Alternatively, you could turn right when you got back down to Rubio Canyon Drive, walk about 20 yards, and head up the Altadena Crest Trail, up to the Lake Avenue trailhead for the Sam Merrill Trail.

For me this day, I went left, up Camp Huntington. I hiked a bit in this area a few weeks ago. Walked up the road, went past the metal fire road access gate on the left, past the water company facilities on either side of me, and up Rubio Canyon. I ignored the trail that switchbacked up to the right, which would climb out the east side of Rubio Canyon. Instead, the trail I followed continued up canyon, crossing the dry wash. About 50 yards after crossing the wash, the trail turned sharply up the west side of the wash. This section was very steep and narrow. It looks like a recently-engineered trail, weaving between and under foliage that still encroaches on the trail.

At the end of what must be a 100 feet of vertical climb in only a few hundred yards of horizontal travel, you pop up on the main Rubio Canyon Drive, maybe 1/5 of a mile from the Rubio Canyon trailhead. (Had you driven up Rubio Crest, made a right at Rubio Vista Drive, and driven up to where that road makes a sharp left turn and changes name to Pleasant Ridge Drive, you would have been at the trailhead for what I consider to be the main Rubio Canyon trialhead).

Going up from Camp Huntington Drive probably adds about 300 yards and 150 vertical feet of travel on this approach.

Once on the main Rubio Canyon trail, it's about 1/2 mile of narrow trail to the foundation of the pavilion that used to be the start of the railway up to Echo Mountain. A 6-inch thick metal pipe runs right near the trail at this foundation. Passing the foundation, you have the choice of either heading down to river-level, which would take you further up Rubio Canyon to a series of waterfalls, or heading up the side of the canyon, in a very steep and not very stable (though much improved from just a year or so ago) trail that climbs all the way up to Echo Mountain.

Along the way, you've got a view up rugged Rubio Canyon, where you can hear (and sometimes see) the sound of the numerous waterfalls up that way. There's also a number of steep and narrow trails on the other side of the canyon, which you would take to get to those waterfalls. I saw a trio of hikers heading down one of those trails as I climbed up the opposite side of the canyon. Seeing them in the close-up picture posted below (while comparing it to the wide-angle view of the same wall, above) gives some perspective to the steepness and size of this canyon.

Here (even more so than in earlier portions of this trail), you need to take care not to cause excessive erosion. In a few places, there are anchored nylon belts tied to trees, which you may (or may not) choose to aid in the climb. You also pass several more rail anchors, and the occasional rail segment and rail tie remnant).

At the top is, of course, Echo Mountain.

After drinking some water and admiring the view, I headed back down the Sam Merrill Trail, towards Lake Avenue. At the bottom, rather than continuing across the Cobb Estate to Lake Avenue, however, I turned left, down the Altadena Crest Trail. Initially, this trail stays in the canyon bottom, with some huge old oaks providing shade and serenity.

After a few hundred yards of that, however, you pop out on a street, continue following the trail near a home's front and back yards, then wind up walking on a barren access road, adjacent to a concrete drainage ditch. After about 1/2 mile of this, you pop back out at Rubio Canyon Road. From there, you make a left, and reach Rubio Crest Drive in about 50 yards. Back at the car.

I'd estimate the day's distance at about 5.5 miles, with an altitude gain of about 1600 feet.

Hike 2011.093 -- Eaton Canyon Falls, and Lost Dog Poster

2011-12-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

Hiked Monday, December 19.

Got back to California on December 17. Still haven't finished unpacking, or even made a real dent. Everything's out of or off of the car (including my mostly-trusty Yakima roof rack), but most of the stuff I came back with is still in boxes or bags, either in the garage or in one of several rooms and closets in the house.

One of the few things that has been "put away" is the new microwave oven, which has adopted a place of honor in the kitchen. My old microwave is still functional, but it's over 24 years old. Bought it when I went off to grad school (Yes, I'm that old!). It took forever to warm stuff up, so I was able to justify buying a new microwave oven in Kentucky, with the intent of bringing it home to retire the old one at the end of my stay. The new one's getting plenty of use. ;D

Nonetheless, I still have the need to walk. Took a short walk on Monday, up to Eaton Canyon Falls. Started from the Eaton Canyon Nature Center parking lot, which is on the east side of Altadena Drive, just north of New York Drive, in Altadena. The actual nature center was closed, which is normal for a Monday. Lots of employee or volunteer cars were parked in the side lot near the building, however. I guess it's still a work day, even with the center closed.

The vegetation has been cleared out a great deal since my last visit. That's because of the big windstorm of 3 weeks ago. Several large limbs remain on the ground, but it looks like a great deal more has already been hauled away.

On the fallen logs, folks have obvious been very busy caving their names and phrases into them. I guess if they have to carve, I prefer they carve on a dead tree that'll soon by hauled off versus a living tree. Doesn't change the fact that it's still annoying that, in Eaton Canyon, it's not unusual to see new new graffiti arrive over the course of a day's hiking.

The water coming down Eaton Canyon is consistent, but not high. Crossings were pretty easy, though it still requires either a fair sense of balance or, lacking that, the willingness to get your feet wet to get to the falls.

There were about a dozen people at the falls when I got there. It's supposed to be about a three mile roundtrip from the nature center, although it seems slightly longer than that. The first mile or so is up a slight incline, often sandy. The last 1/2 mile includes a lot of rock hopping across the stream about a half-dozen times.

On the day I hiked, it was still going to be fall for another three days or so, which means I can say that the local fall foliage (mostly sycamore, with some willow tossed in) was only a little past peak, which isn't saying much. We don't get "real" fall foliage in southern California. Also, the recent winds had stripped many of the trees of all foliage, and toppled many others over.

Also I saw a number of "found dog" posters around the parking lot. About two weeks ago, someone found this dog on the Mt. Wilson toll road. The odds of someone looking for or knowing someone looking for this lost dog and reading this blog are infinitesimal, but stranger things have happened.

Hike 2011.092 -- Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

2011-12-20T21:30:00.000-08:00

Hiked Friday, December 16.

Spent the previous night in Gallup, New Mexico. It's about an 84 miles from Gallup to Petrified Forest National Park. From I-140, access is via Exit 331. It loops a bit to the north, goes past the visitors' center, and reaches the north entrance station. After just two miles, the road heads to the west, then turns south, eventually crossing over I-40 (no freeway access there). After a total of 28 miles, it reaches NM highway 180. From there, I headed west. Nineteen miles later, at the town of Holbrook, NM 180 intersects with I-40, where I could continue my drive back to California.

It's largely a drive-through park, with only a few short trails available (plus a large wilderness area in the Painted Desert area, if you wanted to backpack).

I took all the available trails. From north to south, they were: 1) Rim Trail, near the north end of the park, goes .6 mile each way (according to the sign at the trailheads) from Tawa Point to Kachina Point. Kachina Point is near historic (and non-operational) Painted Desert Inn, which also provides access to the trail heading into the wilderness area; 2) Puerco Pueblo, .3 mile loop; 3) Crystal Forest Trail, a .75 mile loop; 4) Giant Logs Trail, a .4 mile loop, but with an additional .3 or so mile of paved trail heading off on another loop; 4) Long Logs and Agate House Trails (2.6 mile total for both loops/there and backs, according to the NPS website). Add it all up, and that's about 5.5 miles total walking, spread out across four different trails. An additional one mile trail at Blue Mesa was closed due to snow and ice conditions on the steep and shaded descent portion of that trail.

NPS descriptions of these trails are here.

Won't write full blown descriptions of all of these trails, because the NPS already has that. I will say that, if given a ranking, I'd say the Long Longs trail is definitely the most densely decorated with petrified wood. In part because of the conversion of a nearly one-mile long access road into a paved walking trail, visitation has dropped, and resulting thievery of petrified wood has also been reduced. It also gave me a little privacy, in contrast to the other trails, which were pretty well traveled, despite the cool and windy weather.

The Agate House is a little disappointing, once you read that the Agate (petrified wood) house is a reconstruction and not an original habitation.

Newspaper Rock (which required a walk of about 75 yards on a sidewalk to see) is crazy-covered with petroglyphs. However, in the winter, they're a little hard to see because they're on a rock at the bottom of an amphitheater. In the winter, I don't think the sun rises high enough to light that area up. Solid outdoor binoculars are installed at the top, so you can examine the stone markings from the safety of the sidewalk. If taking pictures in winter, a tripod to steady your camera might be helpful.

I also saw a few petroglyphs on a rock overlooking a wash near Puerco Pueblo.

Pretty much all of these trails (except the Rim Trail) are highly improved--either macadam or concrete. That's important, because the highly erodible clay soil of this national park become mucky and messy when wet, which they definitely were on the day I visited.

The Rim Trail was pretty much the only chance to put boots on to soil. The views down over the badlands were nice, too.

Hike 2011.091 -- Narrows Rim Trail, El Malpais National Monument/National Conservation Area, New Mexico

2011-12-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

Hiked Wednesday, December 16.

After finishing my walking in Petroglyphs National Monument, I hopped in my car and drove about one hour west on I-40, exiting at New Mexico state highway 117, and heading south about nine miles, to the BLM's El Malpais ranger station. I chatted with a ranger there before continuing south on 117. After an additional 9 miles, I passed (but did not stop at) the La Ventana Arch viewpoint, which has a short hike to the base of the arch. I then continued an additional 3.5 miles or so further south, passing a sign that indicated this was "The Narrows," before reaching the South Narrows Picnic Area. This is the trailhead for the Narrows Rim Trail, which I hiked this day.

"The Narrows" seems misnamed to me, because I'd expect a narrows to be, well, narrow, with walls on either side of you. Instead, these narrows have the sandstone wall on one side, but a lava flow on the other.

The BLM handout for this area, is here. The descriptions of La Ventana and The Narrows Rim Trail are the first two entries on the handout. One thing to be aware of, however, is the length of this hike. While the handout says this hike is 6.5 miles roundtrip, the ranger at the info center gave the distance of the Rim Trail as 8 miles roundtrip. This would be consistent with some on-line descriptions of the trail, which emphasized that the mileage estimate for this trail seemed to be substantially shorter than reality.

If heading south, you turn left into the picnic area. The trailhead is right near the entrance to the picnic area, on your right as you drive the short spur road. There's a small parking area across the road from this trailhead. However, because of the snow, the parking area was not obvious to me, and I ended up parking at the far northern end of the lot and having to walk back the 1/5 of a mile or so to the actual trailhead.

What was obvious to me was that no one else had walked this trail since the snow fell, probably on Tuesday. I saw plenty of rabbits and rabbit prints, and at least one set of coyote tracks. But there were no boot prints or evidence of boot prints having been covered.

This trail is well-planned, because it gets you on top of a mesa with very little climbing. By starting at the far southern end of the mesa, it's an easy walk-up, with even the first 1/2 mile or so that is the steepest part of the trial still not feeling like switchbacks.

The trail is even more level later along the way, with much of it running near the west end of the mesa. A nice view down to the picnic area is visible near this start.

As you continue to the north, your relative altitude increases, with a sharp drop off on your left. Normally, you'd be overlooking black pahoehoe lava. On the day of my hike, however, the lava was snow-covered, with the only dark areas being where cracks in the lava revealing shadowed sections of earth.

The snow made a crisp "squeak" as I walked, indicating the snow had not melted since it fell. Despite it being after noon by the time I hiked, the temperatures were still down in the upper-20s or lower 30s, below freezing. This made traction similar to walking on sand, meaning it was more work than you would normally expend for the distance covered.

After what seemed like somewhat more than one mile (and, by the on-line description I had read, WAS more than one mile), I saw a rock with a "1 mile" written on it. Along pretty much the entire way, I walked through a dwarf piñon pine/juniper forest.

After about 3 3/4 miles (or, I should say, about 1/4 mile from "the end"), the trail makes a sharp right turn and crosses to the other side of the mesa. That brings you to the high overlook, with La Ventana face-on, across about 1/2 mile of grassland.

There were numerous numerous cairns or ducks marking the path pretty much the whole way, which was helpful because of the snow. The actual path was snow covered. But, even more so, some trail sections cross over rock, meaning that there'd be no evidence of trail without the cairns.

It took me approxi-mately one hour and forty minutes each way. I passed only one other hiker along the way. I'm sure it's a much busier trail in the spring, fall, or summer. It's probably a lot tough in the summer, too, since the dwarf forest doesn't provide much shade during this hike.

After returning to my car, I drove back north, stopping at the La Ventana viewpoint off the road. I took one shot looking up to La Ventana, and another shot looking over towards the mesa cliff where I had just hiked.

I then continued driving south an additional three miles or so, then turned left on the gravel road that heads to Sandstone Bluffs. Unlike the trail I hiked (which is in a BLM-managed national conservation area), Sandstone Bluffs is in the NPS-managed national monument. From the top, there's some nice views across a good slice of El Malpais. There aren't any formal trails up here, but lots of places to poke around the edge. A sign warmed against going to close to the edge, on account of the ice on the face. I did not go any where that risked a long fall, but I did hop along the sandstone bluff a bit.

Pools of solidly frozen water filled depressions in the sandstone at the top. During the summer, the pools team with fairy shrimp. However, the low temperature the previous night was supposed to be 14 degrees in Grants, the nearest town to El Malpais. Hard to imagine those "shrimp" eggs surviving being alternately frozen solid or dried under a hot sun, but still being able to hatch.

Hike 2011.090 -- Petroglyphs National Monument, New Mexico (Part 2)

2011-12-18T20:43:00.000-08:00

Hiked Thursday, December 15. I'm back in California; didn't have time to write my posts while on the road.

During my drive out from California to Kentucky, I did two hikes in Petroglyphs National Park: Volcanoes Day Use area and Rinconada Canyon. Today, I visited the other two developed areas in Petroglyphs National Park: Piedras Marcadas Canyon and Boca Negras Canyon.

One thing I learned on my drive up there is that, even though Coors Blvd and Unser Blvd in Albuquerque both head towards Petroglyphs National Park, Unser moves a lot faster than Coors. Didn't learn that 'til later, though.

So, from I-40, I would concur with the NPS recommendation to take Unser Blvd north from I-40. After about three miles, it goes right past the national monument headquarters. Continue past the headquarters an additional mile to Montano Road, and make a right. Head east just over a mile, then make a left at Taylor Ranch Road. After half-a-mile, bear left where Golf Course Road splits off from Taylor Ranch Road. Continue north about 3 miles, and make a left where a sign directs you left to get to Piedras Marcadas. Almost immediately after turning (on JillPatricia Street), there's a small parking area on the right. It's adjacent to a number of homes, and behind a Valvoline oil change store.

In other words, even more so than for the two places I hiked last time here, Piedras Marcadas is almost literally in Albuquerque's backyard.

From the parking area, a short concrete sidewalk leads back to the open space. Once through a zig-zag opening (to keep motorized vehicles out of the area), there's a sign welcoming you to Petroglyphs National Park. Unfortunately, the location of the sign gives the impression that the trail heads straight up the hill. Instead, you're supposed to make an immediate left, and walk parallel to the hill. Backyard brick walls are on your left.

As I started my walk, I saw a multi-colored balloon in the distance, one of three I saw during my hike here. I guess they're present year round, not just during the big air balloon events.

My impression of Piedras Marcadas is that petroglyphs are denser here than they were at Rinconada Canyon.

The NPS says this trail area is "about 1.5 miles." When I reached the far end and started heading back, it actually seemed close to a mile just to get back. But some walking is on sand, which always makes distances seem further. I'd go with a 1.5 - 2.0 mile total as a best guess of the distance covered on these trails and spurs.

After returning to my car and finding sufficient time remaining (because I got a very early start this day), I headed over to the Boca Negra section of the park. Boca Negra is off of Unser Blvd, well south of Piedras Marcadas, but well north of Rinconada Canyon and the National Park Service visitors' center, both also on Unser.

Boca Negra is apparently is operated by the city of Albuquerque in some sort of joint operating agreement. They charge $1 to park there on weekdays, and $2 on weekends. The entrance station was unmanned today, so it was just the honor system. I stuck a dollar bill in an envelope and stuck the stub on the dashboard.

From this little loop drive, there are three short trails: Mesa Point, Macaw, and Cliff Base (in that order, if you drive the one-way loop road). Despite many warnings in the area of break ins and the need to lock your car, your car is always within sight of you while on the Macaw and Cliff Base trails, and is nearly always in sight from Mesa Point.

Mesa Point is the longest, and climbs to the top of a small mesa. This (and the other two trails at Boca Negra) are hardened, with either macadam or concrete steps and wooden railings. This minimizes erosion, and lets you get a much closer view of the petroglyphs than you can get on the other areas of the park. It also leads to more vandalism.

There are several spur trails off the main trail, all of which deadend. Also, finding the proper way up to the top is a little tricky, because the trial comes to within about ten feet of the top before dropping back down and looping to the other side of the mesa. I suspect most people do not actually summit the way the trail is supposed to take you.

Nice views from the top of Mesa Point, including back down towards your parked car to one side, and an overview of the city of Albuquerque to the west and southwest.

The NPS does not give a distance for any of the Boca Negra hikes. It only gives time estimates of 35 minutes for Mesa Point, 5 minutes for Macaw, and 15 minutes for Cliff Base). For Mesa Point, an Internet search gave several reviews of the trail, with distance estimates ranging from .3 to .5 miles round trip. Given the total time for the three hikes of nearly an hour, even at a very slow pace and with lots of stops to admire views and petroglyphs, it would seem an estimate of one mile total would be reasonable, so I'm giving myself an estimate of three miles for the time spent in Petroglyphs on Wednesday, December 18.

The Macaw trail (so named because there's a petroglyph of a macaw at the start of the trail) and the Cliff Base trails both originate from the second parking area, near the flush toilets.

A short connector trail between the Macaw/Cliff Base trail head and the Mesa Point trailhead is currently being hardened, with a concrete sidewalk linking the two picnic areas.

I saw this etching several times on the Cliff Base trail. I thought it looked a little like a Jaffa staff weapon, from Stargate.

Of the four areas of Petroglyphs National Monument I have visited, I would say I liked the petroglyphs at Piedras Marcadas the most. For those who might lack mobility, the ones around Boca Negra are more accessible, however. There's even a pair of wheelchair-accessible binoculars at the picnic area below the Macaw trail, so one can peruse the petroglyphs up close, even without walking up the trail.

Hike 2011.089 -- Piney Trail, Land Between the Lakes NRA, TN

2011-12-11T16:00:00.000-08:00

Today was my last visit to LBL for the foreseeable future. I plan to start my drive back to California either tomorrow or Tuesday. Seems weird, because my room still seems pretty cluttered. Except the bottom line is, I just don't have that much stuff here, and most of what I did have is already loaded in the car.

I planned to do most of my packing today, but I figured I still had time for at least a 3-4 hour excursion to LBL. It was important to me, because I didn't want my last visit to LBL to be the same day that my cat died.

From US 79, I headed east, past Paris Landing State Park and across the bridge. About 2 1/2 miles after crossing the bridge, and right as the two-lanes of US 79 narrow to one lane, I made a left turn, heading north on Fort Henry Road (LBL Road #230). The Piney Trailhead is on the right (east) side of 230, just opposite where LBL Road #234 intersects from the west (Road #234 leads into Piney Campground). After failing to find an appropriate roadside parking spot on #230, I turned back around, then drove a bit west on #234, parking less than 1/10th of a mile west of #230, and well east of the "Fee Area" sign for Piney Campground (closed December 1 - March 1).

I got out of my car, and walked back to the intersection. As has often been the case here in LBL, I did not immediately see the trailhead, even though the map said it was right here. I walked a bit to the south, thinking I had seen a road heading into the woods. It was not a road. I walked back north, and found the trailhead marker was knocked over. Heading just a few dozen yards into the woods, another trailhead sign had a large "22," indicating this was exactly where I was trying to get to (Point #22 on the Fort Henry Trail system).

It was about 10:45am, and a brisk 36 degrees as I started my hike. Soon, I saw some interesting ice crystals on the ground, where the water-saturated ground had frozen overnight (last night dropped into the mid- to low-20s). My footsteps mostly crunched as I walked over the frozen mud.

The scenery was pretty much as expected: Mostly barren trees, with a few conifers, a few random deciduous leaves, and moss providing splotches of green among a background of brown leaves, white tree trunks and blue sky. I weaved among the trees, reflecting on my solitude, and thinking of my recently-deceased cat. I never tried to take him hiking. The few times we tried a leash, he didn't find it very enjoyable. But he was a curious cat. Unlike his brother, who usually got bug-eyed and was ready to bolt when confronted with something new, Doc's eyes were wide with curiosity rather than fear. I guess I really worried that his curiosity would be his undoing.

After 1.3 miles, I reached Point 21 on my map. The scene looked very familiar to me. On my last visit here, I would have come down the hill on that trail to my right, then turned down the trail to my left. Of course, that's why I was here, now. The short segment of the Piney Trail I had just covered was one of the few remaining official hiking paths in the LBL that I had not yet trod.

Had time permitted, I would have continued to my right, up the hill for one mile, then taken northernmost segment of the Artillery Trail, which I am not sure if I've walked before, either. Looping up that way, then taking a bit of the Telegraph Trai to the Volunteer Trail, then back the Piney Trail would have made what would normally be a very manageable 6.8 mile loop.

However, I wanted to get back home relatively early, so I'd have time to get some of the car stuff loaded up while it was still lighted and somewhat warm. I was also thinking of maybe dropping by the gift shop at Golden Pond for one last souvenir search.

Pulled out my map, and saw that I could take the Volunteer trail about 1/2 mile north, then catch LBL Road #402 back to Fort Henry Road. A short walk along the shoulder, and I'd be back at my car, while also adding to the number of unique foot miles I would have under my belt.

So, first, the walk to #402. After maybe 1/5 of a mile, I saw another familiar sight: A place where a small creek had eroded a deeper hollow in the earth, and water splashed through this slice. Bits of ice were still frozen on the ledge of stone. With all the recent rain, water also seeped out from under one of many tree roots that anchored this site. It made a relaxing sound. I may try to upload a short video I shot here.

Seemed like less than 100 yards after this seep (which required a modest amount of grace to step over while staying dry), I encountered a wooden footbridge. Just over the bridge was Road #402. This again looked familiar to me. The Volunteer trail crossed the road here and headed up a hill. Instead, I turned left on the jeep trail, and headed back towards Fort Henry Road.

This trail was deeply rutted. The ruts were filled with water, with the top 1/2 inch or so still frozen. Small tadpoles of some sort swam beneath the ice. I don't know what their chances of making it to maturity in such a place might be, but I wished them well.

Popped back out on Fort Henry Road, as planned. Hard to judge distance, since I had to walk somewhat slowly to stay out of the water-filled ruts. By the map, it looks to be about 1/2 mile, again. I walked along the shoulder of Fort Henry Road, back towards my car. Only one car passed me as I walked the just-under 7/10ths of a mile back to my car (measured that on my odometer later). That makes it just about 3 miles for the day.

Afterwards, I headed back to the Trace, then north, to Golden Pond. Stopped at the visitor center/gift shop there. There was a small clearance rack of t-shirts on sale, 3 for $20. I bought three.

I then drove back up to US 68/KY80 and headed west, towards home. Once over Kentucky Lake, I turned into Kenlake State Resort Park, pulled up to an overlook, and took a last few pictures, saying my farewell to Land Between the Lakes NRA. I have some fond memories of this place, despite the difficulty of living apart from my wife most of the past five months, and, particularly, the past week.

Hike 2011.088 -- Golden Pond Area, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY

2011-12-09T18:34:00.000-08:00

Hiked Friday, December 9. Short hike, for a variety of reasons. Possibly my last hike in LBL, although there's a chance I'll try to squeeze another one in tomorrow.

Parked at the Golden Pond Trailhead, which is mainly intended for access to the North-South Trail. However, I was going to check out a different trail, which I explored for the first time after my Peytona Trail hike.

To start my day in the LBL, however, I walked on down to the planetarium. As I've noted, my time in Kentucky is growing very short, and I still have a number of entries prepaid with my "fun card." Probably won't be able to use them all, so I'll have to gift my card to a colleague, I think.

Today's show was on various winter solstice-related activities around the world.

I learned they're getting a new planetarium projector in the LBL next year (planeta-rium shows end before Christmas, and don't start up again until March). That would be cool. The current set up is relatively fuzzy, with slide projectors integrated into the show. The new one will probably be laser-projected stars, and digital projected accompaniment. Pricey, but it will upgrade the quality of the shows they can present immensely.

After the show, I did my little walk for the day. I took the paved trail that heads south from the visitor center. About 100 yards from the back door, a trail heads off to the left (if you had continued straight, you would run past the Golden Pond Observatory, which is home to the Western Kentucky Amateur Astronomers, a group I joined during my brief stay in western Kentucky. They're a great group for astronomy outreach in the area, and a nice bunch of people).

There's a new sign being erected at this junction. I assume it'll be about the observa-tory.

However, my destination today was to follow the winding path to the east. Last time, I walked as far as I could, before having to rush back to the parking lot to keep from getting locked in. Today, by parking at the trailhead lot instead of the visitor center lot, if I ended up running late, I would be able to avoid being locked in.

The trail crosses under a road, and passes behind the administra-tive offices for the LBL. It then continues south, past employee housing, where it crosses another road. This is LBL Road #165, which passes by the hunter check-in station, and heads down to Friends of LBL. The actual trail also eventually gets there. But first, it passes behind an RV dump station, then in front of a large "carport" that holds about five large harvesters.

The trail ends at a fenced area bordering the Friends of LBL area. Lots of large buildings in there. Looks like maybe fire trucks and other vehicles are stored back there.

Total distance to this point is, I suspect, a bit over 1 mile.

On the return, I diverted myself briefly on the North-South Trail, walking to the other side of the "carport," just to remind myself of what I saw when I walked this section of the North-South trail, what seems like a very long time ago. Then I turned around, and followed the North-South trail north, then west, across the Trace, then back north and then east, returning at the Golden Pond Trailhead.

Since this was not yet a three mile hike, I continued back down the access road and circum-navigated the visitor center. Nice picnic area down there, with a view of this little Golden Pond. Amazingly enough, there's a sign there indicating the regulations for catfish in this pond. They must plant fish in there during the summer. It's a small pond, probably less than 1/2 of an acre.

When I got back up to the the trailhead where I parked, I took a picture of my car. I attached the Yakima roof rack yesterday. Probably going to do most of my car packing on Sunday, then aim to leave for California on either Monday or Tuesday.

It's going to be a bittersweet homecoming; one of my cats, which I was very attached to, had to be put down earlier today. It's one of those "silly" things I thought about when I had to leave home to take this job. It was going to be a year away from home for me, but that's like five years to a cat. When I decided for sure last month to call it quits after a semester and come home, I thought that I would be able to make up for lost time when I got back. Still wasn't soon enough.

Hike 2011.087 -- Peytona Trail -- Land Between the Lakes NRA, TN

2011-12-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, December 3. The weather is making my march to 100 hikes difficult. Rain early last week (and last Saturday being a travel day) kept me off the trail for over a week.

On Saturday, I was back in the far southern reaches of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. This section is in Tennessee, just a few miles north of US 79. I got to the trailhead via the Trace, and parked at the South Entrance Station. This visitor center is closed for the season, however, so there's no reason to go there other than to be oriented.

Kitty-corner across from the Trace is the small parking lot that provides access to the North-South Trail (the southern terminus of that trail) and the Fort Henry Trails. I traversed some of this land at the end of October, as well as in mid-September.

Today, I started by heading south from the parking lot, crossing Road #230, to get on the start of the Telegraph Trail. After briefly running along the east side of a field, the trail dives into a forest. What I immediately discovered to be different today versus on my previous hikes in this area was that the creek beds that were essentially dry during my last trips here were now flowing with water. Fortunately, I was wearing my waterproof boots, and managed to cross the water with only a slightly amount of moisture getting into my boots.

I then climbed quickly up, and could see more of Bear Creek. It was all flowing nicely, which probably made those poor fish that were isolated in small pools last month really happy.

I had several additional creek crossings during this hike, but were any deeper than this first crossing. Socks stayed mostly dry the rest of the day. Without waterproof boots, however, a lot of soggy walking would have been required.

After the steep climb, there's about a mile of alternating ridge-running and valley crossings before reaching trail marker 13, which is photograph and presented here in a very uncompressed format. If you're so inclined, you can zoom in and see all of the Fort Henry trails laid out there, along with mileage markers. You could also follow along on that trail map, if you prefer it to the .pdf maps I have linked above.

Oddly enough, the map at marker 13 faces away from you, and you can only see it if you briefly leave the defined trail and walk uphill a bit. I guess there used to be a different trail access point back when this map was posted by the TVA.

For the actual trail, you turn right and start descending towards a small spring that was seeping out of a grate-covered concrete construction. A bit under a mile later, I reached marker 11, where the Peytona Trail splits off from the Telegraph Trail. I had some uncertainty as to if this trail was supposed to be open. I even called the LBL phone number, where a phone tree led me to a message that claimed "all hike and bike trails are open."

I really get the feeling that the people making the recordings and the people posting and removing trail closures are not on the same page, because earlier in the day I came across two trails that are still posted as closed (part of the trail that leads from the south end of the South Bison Range, and the short segment of the North-South trail from south of LBL Road #205).

With the phone recording and my previous trip telling me there was no definitely no closure sign on the other side of the Peytona Trail, I figured I had sufficient ambiguity that I could continue on the Peytona.

This trail heads almost due south, mostly along an old road (although there is a brief segment that detours up a hill and past a cemetery, then drops back down). Dried and dead leaves still clung to some trees along this route, and I photographed them.

It's 1.3 miles south from Marker 11 to Marker 15, at which point you are definitely within sight and sound of US 79. A very clear detour can take you to the highway, where you'll meet it just across the street from mailboxes for 2331 and 2335 Donelson Parkway.

After making that short roundtrip detour, I headed the 1.9 miles west on the Peytona Trail to marker 16 (which is at the top of a rise), then turned right to take the Tennessee Ridge trail 1.8 miles north, back to the Telegraph Trail (trail marker 9). I then took the Telegraph Trail .3 miles east to trail marker 10, where I made a left and took the N/S Connector Trail to the North South Trail (1.4 miles), then the North-South trail 2 miles east, back to the South Entrance Station. Guess that totals up to about 11 miles of walking for the day.

The scenery consisted of mostly barren trees. Although I had hoped for a few views overlooking the Lakes in the distance, there are no clear views to either Kentucky or Barkley Lakes on this trail, even with the foliage gone.

Hike 2011.086 -- Rubio Canyon

2011-11-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

Hiked Thursday, November 24. I'm typing this three days later, but I'll do my best to recollect what I saw and where.

Dan of Dan's Hiking Blog recently posted about his hiking east of Rubio Canyon, and I figured I'd check this area out. He also posted a map, which looks similar to the one the Conservancy provides at the Rubio Canyon trailhead. Of course, as is my nature, I didn't look too carefully at the map until after I got back home.

This trailhead is where Loma Alta Drive turns into Rubio Canyon Road. An unsigned paved road ("Camp Huntington Road," on Google Maps) heads north from this point. The last time I was in the area, the entrance up this road was plastered with "No Trespassing" and "Keep Out" signs, so I never tried walking up this road before. However, presumably because of work by the Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy, there is now only one "No Trespassing" sign, and it is now clear that this refers to the private homes adjacent to the road and not the road itself.

There's no parking available right at this road, however. Instead, I parked on nearby Rubio Crest Drive, a road that heads north off of Rubio Canyon Road, just 1/10th of a mile or so west of the Rubio Canyon Road/Loma Alta Drive sign post.

Incidentally, if you were to take Rubio Crest Drive north, then turn right at Rubio Vista Drive, parking where that road turns sharply to the left and changes its name to Pleasant Ridge Drive, you would then be at the main Rubio Canyon Trailhead, with reasonable access to a series of waterfalls, as well as access to a very steep trail up to Echo Mountain.

However, today, I parked near the bottom of Rubio Crest Drive and walked the short distance to Camp Huntington Drive. After a very short walk on Camp Huntington Drive, I came across a green gate, which was (and is normally) locked. It provides fire truck and maintenance access to the Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association facility. I saw several decrepit cabins just beyond this gate.

Almost immediately after crossing the gate, a dirt road dropped down and to the left from the paved road. You should follow that path.

Another water company structure was just ahead, on the left side of the trail. All these structures had fences and warnings about severe federal penalties for trespassing on these properties.

Not long after passing that structure, a well-defined trail headed upstream. However, almost before I got moving that way, there was another, well-engineered switchback on my right. I followed that trail, instead. Soon, I was walking above and behind a large, covered reservoir. As I gained altitude, I could see the main Rubio Canyon trail behind me (across the canyon).

Another trail, marked at the time by numerous orange ties, left my trail and headed in a more uphill and northerly direction. However, I continued more or less on my contour, climbing somewhat, but relatively slowly, and heading mostly to the east. The trail was narrow and it was impossible not to rub against the encroaching plant life. As I did so, I regularly checked for ticks, and found them, with disturbing regularity. Brushed them all off as soon as I saw them, and seem to have made it home without getting bitten.

The ground here is mostly soils, without a lot of hard rocks on which to build a trail. In many places, a careless step can lead to slides and much trail displacement. This was especially true on several spurs I took today.

I followed the main trail for what seemed like a mile, going past one nice ridge (pretty shallow ridge, but with a clearing and some good views over more than 180 degrees to the south). After crossing the ridge, the plant life became largely fountain grass (which I sometimes describe, incorrectly, as "deer grass"). At this point, I was heading northeasterly. At regular intervals I could see those familiar orange ties that marked the trail route. However, the need for frequent tick checks (and the frequent discovery of very large ticks walking on my sweater or pants) deterred me from going too much further this way.

I eventually backtracked to past the ridge line. On the way in, I passed a clear trail that headed down this next canyon over from Rubio. I could see the Altadena Crest trail clearly below, and wondered if one of these spurs would connect with it. I think they sort of do, but it would require a lot of contact with brush, and the accompanying tick threat meant I wasn't willing to do that.

BTW, the three times I have picked up ticks on my San Gabriel Mountain hikes, they've all been on hikes through Rubio Canyon. I don't know if that means this is a particular hotspot for them or if it's just that hiking here often means walking on narrow, ill-defined trails that necessarily lead to contact with brush, but I am especially vigilant in checking for ticks when I'm in Rubio Canyon.

I worked my way back to the ridge, then back down towards the west. There was yet another spur trail heading south from there, and I followed that one down some distance, as well. Again, evidence of vegetation being cut back indicated a lot of labor when into this path finding, but the trail was still mostly just rearranged top soil, which made causing substantial erosion very easy to to.

It eventually became evident that this trail would lead down into someone's backyard, so I headed back up to the trail I came from and returned into Rubio Canyon. Had time permitted, I would have followed the trail that heads up the canyon and towards the waterfalls. But, this being Thanksgiving Day, time did not permit.

With the two spurs I explored and the short walk to and from Camp Huntington Drive, I'm assuming I covered about three miles. I spent over 90 minutes walking.

There are several additional spurs that could be explored from here. Not sure if a hard frost will kill the ticks for the season, but perhaps I will wait until then for my next foray up these trails.

Hike 2011.085 -- Henninger Flats

2011-11-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

Hiked Wednes-day, November 23. Yep, back in the LA area for Thanks-giving. Also, I'll be moving back to the San Gabriel Valley some time in the middle of the month.

Flew in yesterday. So, after a day of sitting at an airport and sitting on a plane, I had plenty of pent up energy to burn. After a morning at the driving range and an attempted hike near the Rio Hondo River (foiled when I discovered that the access point I used as a kid has become overgrown--still accessible, but not the walk I had planned), I decided to drive up to Eaton Canyon for a 6 mile hike up to Henninger Flats.

I parked in the Eaton Canyon Nature Center parking lot (off Altadena Drive, just north of New York Drive). From the parking lot, you head north, through several nature trails. After about 1/4 mile, the trail crosses Eaton Canyon Wash. It was dry today, despite the recent rains.

Several signs have been posted in Eaton Canyon since the last time I was here (about two months ago). Just after crossing the wash, there was a sign warning about poodle dog bush, which I first learned about early last summer. Don't remember ever seeing them grow in Eaton Canyon. Since they're a post-fire plant, you'd think their peak would have been several years ago.

There was also a sign warning against trying to get to the top of Eaton Canyon falls, undoubtedly a response to the numerous rescues and fatalities that were necessitated by unprepared or overly ambitious hikers here.

Newly installed signs indicating "Coyote Canyon" and "Walnut Canyon" (the first and second canyons to your right as you head north along the first bit of the trail, respectively) and when you are entering and leaving Eaton Canyon County Park and Angeles National Forest are also posted. The sad part is that I know they're new (as in probably no more than a day or two old) because there isn't any graffiti on them, yet.

I walked a brisk pace both ways, although I stopped for picturing taking frequently. Heard plenty of woodpeckers, pounding away. Not a very good picture of them, but their red crowns were very distinctive. They are apparently acorn woodpeckers.

Lots of flowers starting to bloom, too. I recognize the buckwheat (which still have dead heads of seed, within which small white blooms are starting to form. Same with the sage, which have blooms appearing within former seedpods. Sun flowers, cliff aster, plus several other flowers that I either have forgotten or never knew their names, were also visible.

The sugar maples down in Altadena are in the midst of their color change. They are a mixture of green, yellow and red. Meanwhile, in the actual mountains, the most colorful leaves belong to poison oak. Not a good idea to collect them!

Hike 2011.084 -- Nature Station and Honker Lake

2011-11-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, November 19. Yes, here, again.

Yesterday, I was back at the Nature Station. But, rather than being here to be entertained, I was part of the entertainment. More properly, I was part of the contingent of Western Kentucky Amateur Astronomers who volunteered 6 hours of their weekend (plus, for many, 90 minutes or more of driving time and many hours preparing props) to support the Nature Station's educational efforts. Every year, the Nature Station coordinates with local Cub Scout dens to put together a program that lets scouts complete their requirements for a pin or belt loop. This year, it was the Astronomy Pin.

I've done this sort of outreach once before, as one of several speakers and telescope demonstrators for a group of scouts in San Marino, last year. Unfortunately, we got mostly clouded out on that event.

Today was a daytime event, although, if it had been at night, we would also have been clouded out. Also, many of the scouts are way too young to be able to maintain their attention for more than about ten seconds. I think the idea is more that they learn a bit now, and they may later choose to learn on their own, later. So we and the LBL staff and volunteers did our best, with displays, activities, and demonstrations.

Can't say enough about what a great job this club does with their outreach. During the summer, they help staff two telescope outreach events a month at LBL. They also do special Astronomy Day and similar special events. It's all done on a volunteer basis--they're just people who like sharing their hobby and each other's company.

Took about a dozen pictures at the event, though there's always some question about posting pictures of minors on the net. I tried reducing the size of the picture with the scouts to the point where they are no longer identifiable, but still big enough to provide a feeling for what the event was like.

I also have a shot of some squirrels, taking advantage of the bird feeder at the Nature Station to bulk up for the winter.

After the outreach event, the club had a meeting scheduled for 5pm. That was just enough (actually, not quite, but I didn't know it at the time) time to squeeze in a quick hike around Honker Lake (4.2 miles) before driving down from the Nature Station to the Golden Pond Planetarium.

Lots of rain and wind the past few days, and I noticed several broken branches and downed tree trunks that weren't there a week or so ago. Pretty much all the deciduous trees are now bare. Many of the waterfowl have moved further south for the winter, I think.

I didn't learn or see anything really ground breaking on this hike. It was just another chance to try to stay on pace for a second year of 100+ hikes.

Hike 2011.083 -- Kenlake State Resort Park

2011-11-18T19:24:00.000-08:00

Hiked Friday, November 18. After a very wet and/or blustery week, today was the first sunny morning in quite a while. Temperatures reached into the mid-50s, warmer than it's been since Monday.

However, since I wasn't feeling in top hiking mood, I took it easy. I drove into Kenlake State Resort Park for the first time. This park lies on the west shore of Kentucky Lake, right where the US68/KY80 bridge crosses the lake. As a "Resort Park," this means the park is developed with hotels, cottages, a marina, a golf course, and tennis courts.

Tucked among all of that are a couple of pockets of relatively undeveloped forest. Two short loop trails ("Cherokee trail" and "Chicasaw trail") provide less than 1.4 miles of trail. I walked one of the loops twice, and also walked along the shoulder of a couple or road segments twice to accumulate my three mile minimum to qualify as a hike.

From the hotel, facing towards the parking lot, one access point to the Cherokee Trail is to the far right end of the lot. There's a sign there. This trail drops in two switchbacks into a small hollow. A powerline right of way also cuts through here, so you've got a narrow clearing to view along those towers.

After the switchbacks, you have a choice of either heading straight (more or less easterly) or make a sharp turn down and to your left (more or less westerly). A water pipeline cuts across this holler.

This being a loop, one way is as good as another. Either way, you're surrounded by trees and have no sight of the nearby lake. You will see the hotel or other out buildings above you, and the road is also nearby. Also, which ever way you go, after about 1/4 mile, you'll reach a trailmarker with two icons: A hiker and a bed. Following the bed would take you back to the hotel, while following the hiker takes you up towards a road. Once at road level, you could cross and head a bit to the southwest to access the Chicasaw trail.

This picture here, taken fromt he road, shows the northern Cherokee trailhead to the right, and the Chicasaw trailhead to the left, in the distance.

The names, incidentally, are from the Chicasaw, who once lived here, and the Cherokee, a portion of which walked through this area during their "Trail of Tears" forced march from Georgia and points to the southeast towards Oklahoma.

The Chicasaw trail gives a slightly higher path, though, again, there's a split, and either way will loop you down into a gully before bringing you back up. This trail appears to have been truncated, so there are "Trail Closed" signs at about this trail's midpoint.

In addition to walking these loops (the former trail, twice), I also hiked towards a tall watertower. It had a spiral staircase that climbs to the top, and would have provided a great view of the area. But access to the watertower appears not to be permitted.

I also walked down the road toward Cottages #260-275, going past the last of the cottages for a view of Kentucky Lake. There's supposed to be a trail that runs past the last of these cottages, but I did not see it. It's either down near the water level or no longer open.

An easy 3 to 3.3 miles for the day. Along the way, I repeatedly spooked a trio of deer.

Hike 2011.082 -- North Paved Trail, North-South Trail, and Canal Loop Trail, LBL

2011-11-13T10:56:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, November 12. Trying to hit those last few trail segments in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area that I haven't walked, yet. And, because this weekend was the quota deer hunt in Tennessee, I had to walk in the Kentucky part of LBL.

From US68/KY80, I headed north on the Trace. Just a mile and a half or so before reaching the North Welcome Station, I turned left on LBL Road #110 and parked. This is the south terminus of the North Paved Trail, only part of which I had walked previously. If you center on the section around the North Welcome Station, you can find Road #110 on the linked recreation map of the northern section of LBL, The North Paved trail is the dashed line closest to the Trace (Road #100), which is indicated from Road #110, north to Nickell Cemetery. Because it was Veterans Day weekend American flags had been placed on a tree overlooking the cemetery, and near several headstones.

Although the trail line is not apparent on this map, the trail continues north, parallel to the Trace, from Nickell Cemetery all the way to the North Welcome Center.

It took me about 45 minutes to reach the North Welcome Station. A vine with small purple berries was common along this segment, and on later sections of the trail. Fallen leaves practically obscured the pavement. If I were on a bike, I'd have to take some care not to skid out on the leaves, and to watch for sections where roots undermine the pavement, or where the pavement is fractured. Not a problem for a walker, of course.

This trail largely parallels the Trace, except for the southernmost section, which makes a rather roundabout path. Between 1.5 and 2 miles of walking on this section, on to the Welcome Center, then on to the Canal Loop.

I stopped briefly in the Welcome Center to buy some of the "country style" bacon they sell there. I assume this is bacon that doesn't really need preservatives, but has them for legal liability reasons, anyway. The bacon is in small, sealed plastic bags, and stored at room temperature. I'm sure the price is not all that great, but it does taste different from regular bacon, and it's not something I'm going to be able to easily eat after I leave the area.

For the Canal Loop trail, there's a small segment I hadn't walked, yet. It's from trial marker 12, counterclockwise, back down to the North-South Trail. So I took the Canal Loop trail from the Welcome Center to Point "D," then to 12, then back down to the North-South Trail. Once done with that, I was back on the North-South trail, where I had previously walked, on part of my Hike 2011.070. The Canal Loop map is linked here. The North-South trail map is linked here.

I took the North-South Trail only to the crossing of LBL Road #110. That dropped me off less than 200 yards west of where I had started the day. This segment of the North-South trail crosses several roads and several day use and campground areas. It's very unusual in that respect. I covered this ground as part of my hike 2011.

Along the way, there were a couple of nice views into Kentucky Lake. The wind was whipping over the lake, and whitecaps were common. Half-foot waves broke on the shore. Yeah, that's not much, but for a narrow lake like Kentucky, it's pretty impressive.

Near one lake overlook, I saw a fire ring. You're not supposed to build those, or at least you're supposed to obliterate them after you leave. However, I have been seeing a number of them the past month or so (after it got cold--duh!). This one was built with bricks, so I wonder who carried the bricks out here.

Still a few maples holding yellow leaves. The oaks have largely dropped their leaves. That which remains is brown and dead.

With the trees cleared of foliage, I've been seeing more hawks and owls, and I'm still amazed by how silently those large birds of prey can fly.

I also saw what looked like a yearling doe and a smaller fawn, bounding away from me as I approached Moss Creek.

As I passed Road #107 and prepared to entered the Hillman Ferry area, I saw a sign for Brown Spring. This was one of those green signs they have on the North-South Trail, with mileages to various points in each direction. It told me it was 3.2 miles back to the North Welcome Station, and .1 mile to Brown Spring. I took the detour to Brown Spring. It was a very small seep, coming out of concrete piling and through a metal grate. The water looked very unappealing.

From the spring, it was a very short distance to reach the Hillman Ferry boundary, where I soon crossed LBL Road #110. I emerged not 200 yards west of where I started.

Taking into account the 3.2 mile distance indicated back to the North Welcome Station, and the route I took to get here (looping along a portion of the Canal Loop), plus the North Paved Road I took to get to the North Welcome Center, I'll call it 6.4 miles for the day.

Somewhat limited in my picture taking, again. I forgot to buy myself a new SD card to replace the defective one I discovered on my last trip. That one was a SanDisk, by the way. Just thought I'd mention the brand here, and that I sent them an e-mail asking for a replacement. They answered with a request for more information, which I provided last night. I'll post later about how this dispute gets resolved.

Hike 2011.081 -- Honker Lake and Honker Bay, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY

2011-11-08T17:14:00.001-08:00

Hiked Tuesday, November 8. In part because of their definitive nature (loop of known length) and in part because of their scenic character, I've visited Honker Lake and nearby Hematite Lake more often than any where else in Land Between the Lakes. My first visit here is written up as my Hike 2011.053. My second visit was Hike 2011.057. Both were in August.

Didn't get back to Honker again until early October, by which time the lake level had dropped significantly. I returned just under two weeks later, as Hike 2011.072. But today was the first time since the end of August that I actually hiked all the way around the loop, again. The trail map is here.

Parked in the gravel lot near where the Long Creek trail begins and ends, then walked the gravel road to the Honker Lake trailhead. Leaves blanketed the ground.

Another change I noticed was that new, white, plastic diamond-shaped blazes had been pounded into trees at regular intervals. I don't recall the blazes from previous hikes, although that's no guarantee that they weren't there. However, I'm pretty sure they're a recent change, to compensate for the trail being somewhat obstructed by leaves.

Most of the trees are now leaf-less, although there were a few places where colorful foliage stood out against otherwise downed and dead leaves. Most of the color was something narrow-leaved (not maple, oak, or sycamore). However, a few yellow leaves that looked to be maple were still about, and sumac was still somewhat common.

Trees with foliage were somewhat more common right on the peninsula between Honker Bay and Lake Barkley.

From here, I walked out towards the end of the peninsula. Wasn't sure what the rule was on going out that way since I think some areas around here are designated as a wildlife refuge. There was no signage prohibiting entry. Nonetheless, I proceeded only briefly out to see Lake Barkley. One large grey heron had to fly away from me a few times. Felt bad about that, which is part of the reason why I didn't want to go too far into that area. I was actually hoping to spot some eagles, again, but did not see any.

Returned to the dam between Honker Lake and Honker Bay, then crossed over and returned towards near the nature station. I took the formal trail that heads up to the parking lot in front of the nature station (closed Mondays and Tuesdays during this season--it'll close completely in late December, I think), walked across the lot, and continued on the trail on the other side.

The actual Honker Lake trail is supposed to be 4.3 miles. Add about 1/5 of a mile to get from the trail to my car and back, and at least one mile for my extension along the peninsula, and I figure at least 5.5 miles for the day.

Didn't take too many pictures today, in part, because my new SD card is defective. It wouldn't format, so all I had was the camera's internal memory. I reduced the picture size from 12 megapixels to 8 megapixels, which let me take about 20 pictures, which was just enough for the day.

Mid-70s even after I got back to the car (4:30pm CST). Would have had maybe 20-30 minutes more of hiking time if I needed it. Tomorrow's going to be in the mid-50s as a high (probably around midnight tonight), with the temperatures dropping all day, winding up in the mid-40s by tomorrow night. Not sure, but this could be my last shorts-and-t-shirt hike for a while.

Hike 2011.080 -- Woodlands Walk, Woodlands Nature Station, and Hematite Lake

2011-11-06T10:49:00.000-08:00

Hiked Saturday, November 5. After several wet and windy days, the day dawned sunny and clear. However, I decided hiking would play second fiddle (semi-literally) today.

Headed to the Woodlands Nature Station, which is about nine miles north on the Trace (from US68/KY80), then three miles east on Silver Trail Road. I bought a "fun card" from the LBL a few months ago, which is a prepayment for ten "events": either entry to a planetarium show at Golden Pond, or entry to the Homeplace (living history museum) or "Woodlands Nature Station." At both the Nature Station and Homeplace, there are occasional special events that are included with your entry fee. Saturday was the "Fall Frolic." This included a free concert by "Red River Breeze," a band which does Celtic and traditional American music.

Got there early, so I spent some time walking around the grounds. They have a sixteen year old coyote there. He was looking pretty relaxed, soaking up some sun in his pen.

I also spent some time sitting on a bench, taking pictures of some of the birds that were fattening up at a bird feeder nearby.

Also got some pictures of a pair of captive owls, here.

When my walking around the Nature Station didn't take long enough, I took a walk along the Woodlands Walk trail. It's supposed to be 9/10ths of a mile long, with the trailhead just outside the entrance doors to the Woodlands Nature Station. Took my time, then wandered back to see the concert.

Red River Breeze was playing in front of several bales of hay, with folks gathered in a semicircle in front of them. It was an outdoors venue, which meant the random problem of bugs and stuff flying around. Ladybugs were very common in the area. A nearby bald eagle also squawked on occasion.

[Weird thing about the video quality--it was a lot sharper before I uploaded it. Oh, well].

The main thing that makes this band unique is the role of the hammer dulcimer. It's sort of a portable piano without a keyboard. The musician strikes the wires within with small hammers (hence, the name). Don't think I've ever seen one played. Definitely a pleasant sound.

On a few songs, the hammer dulcimer player traded in that instrument for a recorder.

In addition to the hammer dulcimer or recorder, the band also has two fiddlers and an acoustic guitar. I loved the definitely NOT overproduced sound of their music.

Obviously, I taped parts of the concert. Kids coming and going make this a little distracting. That, and my need to shift around to keep the camera balanced and on target lead to some periods of shakiness. And, fortunately for those of you with limited bandwith, I had to keep the tapes short because my SD card was rapidly running out of space.

Still, there's enough in the clips to get an idea of their sound. For four bucks entry (or three bucks, if you buy the fun card and use it all ten times), it was definitely a nice change of pace. I bought their current cd, and am eagerly awaiting their next one (due out in December).

I spent some of the time during the concert enjoying the local outdoors. Several squirrels were hopping among the tree branches. You see one of them in the first clip, in the background (at least you could see them in the originals--in the version posted, the resolution is too pixelated to see the squirrel, I think). Also, near the end of the concert, a turkey vulture landed on a nearby pole. He also seemed to be enjoying the music and the sun, and he stretched his wings out to soak up some of the latter. It was almost like he was mocking the captive eagle, which was right behind him as he did this.

After the two sets (about 45 minutes each), I went off to do my walking for the day. Figured on a simple walk around Hematite Lake. I didn't feel up for a serious walk, and this area was still supposed to have some color. It did, but not a lot.

A few spots still had yellow leaves, but most of the trees were either barren or brownish. Funny thing, though. With the right light, the brown leaves actually looked red. It's something to do with light reflection, I guess. With my polarized sunglasses on, things looked pretty drab. But when I took my glasses off, the color became much more apparent. It's the opposite of what I had experienced earlier in the season.

Took a few shots of and around the observation platform, but the most colorful shots were looking towards the northwest, with the trees partially back lit by the setting sun.

Then made my way back across the Hematite Lake dam, and to the parking area.

This loop is supposed to be 2.2 miles in length. Since I was parked back from the start of the loop by maybe 1/10th of a mile, and with my wandering around the Nature Station added in, I definitely exceeded the arbitrary 3 miles of walking I have set to qualify as a hike, so this counts as number 80 for the year.

Things are going to get tougher from here on out. I've got some work that will keep me pretty busy, though I may very well still try to sneak a short hike in on Tuesday. Unfortunately, with the end of daylight savings time, the time allowed for afternoon hikes is going to be getting pretty short.

This was my third visit to Hematite Lake. In fact, Hematite Lake was my first "local" hike I took after I got out here. I also visited here early last month. The seasonal changes are pretty dramatic.

Hike 2011.079 -- Lake Barkley State Resort Park, KY

2011-11-01T20:19:00.000-07:00

Hiked Tuesday, November 1. I ventured across Lake Barkley today. Didn't take this map with me, though; I assumed there'd be a visitor center there where I could pick up a trail map. Dumb mistake. It would have let me make better use of my time there hiking.

Lake Barkley State Resort Park is just a little bit east of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, where I've been doing pretty much all of my hiking the past few months. One thing to be aware of is that there's going to be some construction on the bridge that crosses Lake Barkley in the coming months (possibly years). Today, there was a traffic light that wasn't there last week, with east- and west-bound traffic taking turns crossing the bridge. I don't know how long that's going to go on for, but I have noticed signs on the west side of Kentucky Lake bridge saying that eastbound traffic will be limited to vehicles no wider than 7.5 feet. There are also covered detour signage, directing larger vehicles eastbound on US-68/KY-80 to, instead, head north (west?) on U.S. 68, through Aurora, and towards I-24. If you're coming from the east, of course, this is irrelevant.

From US68/KY80, I turned left, following the sign into Lake Barkley State Resort Park (I assume this is State Park Road, aka KY-1489). I continued straight about three miles, ignoring the road that crossed my route, with the sign for the golf course and trap shooting.

Shortly after that junction, the speed limit dropped from 55 mph to 25 mph, and the road climbed and became windy. I turned right at the sign that pointed towards camping and picnic facilities. Right after I passed the stables (on my right), I saw a sign for the Wilderness Trail, on the right (I later saw a matching sign a bit earlier, on the left, as well). Immediately after the sign was a large water tank, painted right. A Mini Cooper was parked right next to the sign. I took a picture of the car, with the trail sign in the foreground and the colorful leaves in the background. Maybe Mini will someday paying me thousands of dollars to use my picture in an ad. Heh, heh.

The sign said 1.4 miles to the campground pavilion (still not sure exactly what building that was supposed to be).

This trail was much narrower than the ones I've gotten used to in LBL. Impossible to walk without vegetation rubbing on me--but, far as I could tell, no poison ivy and no ticks were encountered.

After not even 100 yards, the trail split. Blue paint blazes and a sign pointed straight ahead for the Wilderness trail, while no sign and red blazes marked the way to the right and down the hill. I later learned (by looking at the map I linked at the top of this post) that this trail would have looped back around to the stables.

However, oddly enough, I do not recall seeing the next two junctions that should have been where the Racer Ridge trail would have intersected with the Wilderness trail. Doesn't mean I didn't see them; I just don't remember seeing them.

Fall here is well under way, so the entire trail was thick with fallen leaves. Some yellow (and less green and red) remained in the trees, however.

It sure seemed like it was much further than a mile before the trail approached (but did not provide a clear view of) Lake Barkley. During one peek between the trees, I saw two bald eagles flying away.

With the sun on my left, I clicked off dozens of shots of the backlit yellow leaves. Suddenly, I realized that there was a one-lane road just beyond these trees. Also around then, my trail became less distinct, so I just walked on over to the pavement and walked down that way, instead. An older couple, walking their dogs, were on the other side of the road.

Continuing along the pavement, I reached the end of the loop. Just where I would have started back, I saw a trailhead sign, for the "Wagon Wheel" trail, and an indication that it was .3 miles to the beach. "Sure, why not?" I figured. So down to the beach I went.

There weren't any cars or people down there. There were a few boats with fishermen not too far off shore. And there were a whole bunch of angry Canada geese, annoyed at having to leave the shore because of an intruder's approach.

Took a few more pictures there. Saw the basketball hoop. Looked across the parking lot, but saw no trailhead signs. (In looking at the linked map, later, I see that there SHOULD have been a trailhead sign somewhere on the other side, but it was not visible from where I stood. So I headed back the way I came.

Popped back up at the camp ground. There, I noticed a blue paint blaze on a tree, opposite the road from where the Wagon Wheel trail had started. There was no sign on the other side, but there was at least one deer. I decided to leave the deer in peace, and walked back along the road loop, back to where I figured I came.

Again, in looking at the map after the fact, I can see that this is where the Wilderness trail should have ended, so, presumably, the 1.4 miles was supposed to be by getting here the long way. If the map they provide is somewhat to scale, then I allegedly only went about 1.2 or 1.3 miles from the trail head (although it sure seemed further than that).

Walking back along the road should only have been marginally shorter than returning via the trail, so I'm figuring another 1.2 miles back on the road.

Once back at my starting point, I first explored the trail that headed west, parallel to the road I came in on. After about 1/4 of a mile, it ran into the stables. In checking the map after the fact, I see that there's actually a 1.6 mile loop that heads out of the stables.

I returned once more to where I started, then crossed the road, picking up the Wilderness trail on the north or west side of the road that heads towards the campground. A sign there said this trail was 1.2 miles. Turns out it heads all the way back to near the lodge.

I took a bunch of pictures along the way, and also of the bay that's adjacent to the lodge. During the walk down, I passed signs for the Cedar Grove Trail (which, in checking the map, I see should have been on the opposite end of the parking lot from where the Wagon Wheel trail had reached the beach), and the Lena Madesin Phillips trail. The Wilderness trial ended near a swing set.

Then it was back to the car. 2.4 miles roundtrip on this part of the Wilderness trail, plus .6 miles on the Wagon Wheel Trail, plus about 2.5 miles along the other end of the Wilderness trail and back along the road, plus about 1/2 mile going to the stables and back. That's about six miles, total for the day.

The sun was just setting as I headed back towards Murray. I got stopped at the traffic light on the Lake Barkley Bridge. About five cars and a really big truck were in front of me. Worked out well, though. Great lighting over Lake Barkley, and I saw a lone bald cypress growing on a small island in Lake Barkley. Pulled my camera out of the bag, lowered the passenger side window, and framed and clicked off four shots in rapid succession. The fourth was perfectly lit and composed. That's the picture I stuck at the top of this post.

Hike 2011.078 -- Fort Henry Trails, Land Between the Lakes NRA, TN

2011-10-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hiked Sunday, October 30. Trail map linked here. I started my hike where the Fort Henry-North-South Connector Trail crosses LBL Road #230 (Piney Road). From the Trace, you take the road immediately opposite the driveway entrance to the South Welcome Station, which is Road #230. Approximately 2.1 miles from this junction, the Connector Trail crosses Road #230. On the map (and on the ground), it says this is Road #399. However, in practice, as you drive by this spot, you won't recognize this as a road. It drops right off of #230, and looks more like one of the money unnamed, unnumber access roads to the small field (which will be on the left, if you're heading up Piney Road from the South Entrance Station).

Best thing to do (if you want to start your hike here) is to pay attention to your odometer, and be looking for this field as you pass the 2 mile point. The turn is a sharp one, and there may be a bit of a drop from road level to this dirt passage to your south. On either side of #399, right below the shoulder of Piney Road (#230), there's room for a few cars to park. If you have a high-clearance vehicle, you could also drive along this road for less than 1/4 mile, where it dead ends adjacent to another field. When I returned from my hike, two pickup trucks were parked there.

For those in passenger cars, however, this road is not easily passable, and you'll probably prefer to park right on the shoulder (assuming the ground is not too wet--otherwise, you might get stuck down there).

The Connector Trail runs on either side of the Trace. At this point, the Connector Trail is also part of the Bear Creek Loop, although it is not labeled in any way. Indeed, had I not walked this section of trail previously, I probably would have driven my car right by, without even realizing the trail passed here.

I headed south from here on foot, along Road #399. After a hundred yards or so, the road curves to the west, then back to the south. It also climbs a bit, depositing you at the edge of the aforementioned field. Once there, your trail bends back to the south, and cars are not longer going to be sharing the route.

Just over 1/4 mile after the end of Road #399, you reach junction "10." There's a green mileage sign at this junction, the only such sign you'll see on this particular day hike. The other junctions along this trail are only indicated by a letter or number. Someone may have added destination directions in Sharpy pen on the road signs, but those are sometimes faded and illegible. That means it's a very good idea to have the trail map (linked above) so you can figure out which way to turn and what's ahead along each branch before you.

At this junction, I turned right (on my previous hike in this area, which included the Bear Creek loop, I turned left). After 3/10ths of a mile, you're at junction "9."

I made a left at junction "9," which is the Tennessee Ridge trail. This trail starts out low, but slowly climbs and runs along a "ridge" (Like most ridges in LBL this one is pretty rounded-- not very ridge-like). When you reach a crest (after about 1.3 miles), the sounds of US highway 79 (which runs directly south of LBL) become more frequent.

The previous picture is a pretty typical hollow of trees on this hike. There are a number of places with similar views. Occasionally, the dip is a little steeper, but it's pretty typical.

At junction "16" (Artillery trail), I made a right. The highway is at this point under 1/4 mile away, but you only very briefly get a glimpse of it through the trees (I'm sure earlier in the year, you can't even get that glimpse, though the sounds seem very close).

Somewhere along the way, I stopped and snapped this picture, of a tulip tree leaf. I took a tree i.d. nature walk in LBL a few weeks ago, and they mentioned this leaf. Had to go on-line to figure out which tree it belonged to, though. The reason for the recollection? They're shaped like a cat's face. I think they're cute.

Seven-tenths of a mile after junction "16" is junction "17." Arrows point you to the right to stay on the trail. However, if you choose to go left, you'll reach US highway 79 in only about one-tenth of a mile. There's a gate to the dirt road here, and no apparent space to park there to access this trail without illegally blocking the gate. However, across highway 79 is an entrance to "Old State Highway 76." There may be parking near this junction, if you wanted to pick this trail up here.

Once I got back to junction 17, I then proceeded straight ahead and additional 3.2 miles, to junction 18. There, I made a right. After another 1/10th of a mile, I made another right, to get on the Shortleaf trail (a right would have put me on Devil's Backbone trail, which I covered on my Hike 2011.054, also in the Fort Henry trail system.

The end of the Shortleaf trail is at junction "6," which is where it intersects with the Telegraph trail (when ever I walked on this trail, I start humming a song by Dire Straights: Telegraph Road). Less than 1/10th of a mile later, Telegraph trail intersects with LBL Road #400. From there, a left turn would send you back towards other LBL roads, while a right turn keeps you on the Telegraph trail. Cars can travel this area, so you should pay attention to that possibility as you walk this section.

The trail/road descends briefly and somewhat steeply. When the trail levels out, you'll see a large field to your left. Adjacent to the field, there's a flat, cleared area that has clearly been used as a campsite by people driving high clearance vehicles.

A bit ahead, there's a forest on the left (and a hill to your right). Through the forest on the left, I could see a fair-sized pond.

Soon (as in just about 1/4 mile after the trail flattened out), the road ends. A berm has been constructed to block cars from going any further, although I get the idea that cars not too long ago did drive through the water and on towards a small cemetery, ahead.

Now, there's the berm, and a recently-constructed pedestrian bridge across a rather large stream (large, in the sense that you would probably get your feet wet crossing it, even now--but it's still only 8-10 yards wide in spots). Of course, this is deeper and wider than most of the steams in the park this time of year, so this stream was very densely filled with small fish. I taped a bit of video of the fish, which I've uploaded, below. I shot it leaning over the bridge railing on the downstream (left side) of the bridge, pictured above.

Two pickup trucks were parked here, too. I'm sure they (and the pickup trucks I saw when I got back to near my car) were hunters. Never saw them, though.

After crossing the stream, the trail runs to the left (north) of the stream briefly. I suspect the hunters must have been hidden somewhere nearby, waiting for deer to return to the stream to drink.

Don't even remember passing a trail marker or junction "8," but That should have been right here, where the dirt road ended and the trail began. I assume "Blue Spring" is just the bridge crossing.

About a half-mile later, I saw evidence of a relatively recent wild fire here. Several charred stumps or scorched tree bases were visible here.

One and three-tenths miles after Blue Spring is junction "9." A left turn there, and I was back on ground I had trod earlier in the day. Three-tenths of a mile there, then it was junction "10." Left turn yet again, and another two-thirds of a mile or so, and I was back at my car.

Total mileage for the day was probably a bit under 12 miles.

The difference in appearance between this area now and when I first walked it in August (or even the second time, in September) is pretty dramatic. Then, it was green, with many flowers. Now, there are very few flowers blooming, many leaves are on the ground, and the leaves still in the trees are yellow, red or brown.

It's also interesting how differently areas may look just a few hours apart (with the sun at a different angle, or the light a little dimmer or warmer. As with my Nature Station Connector trail hike, I've got a picture at the top and bottom of this post that shows pretty much the same view, several hours apart. The second to last picture, meanwhile, is the same view as both, but closer up, focusing on the sign and the maple that overhung the sign.

Hike 2011.077 -- Canal Loop Trail area, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY

2011-10-29T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hiked Friday, October, 28. Autumn-like weather today. High only in the mid-50s, and windy. I hiked in long pants, a sweater, and a shell, which is pretty rare for me (but may become more common as the year progresses!). The blustery wind is blowing the colorful foliage off the trees pretty quickly, but there's still plenty of color in the LBL.

The Canal Loop Trail(s) loop all around the northwestern section of Land Between the Lakes (LBL). The trails stretch from the canal that links Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake (the north boundary of LBL) down about four miles along the Trace, to the North Welcome Station. I've hiked there twice before, on August 20 and August 21.

On the first hike, I covered most of the southern trail segments, while, on the second, I covered the northern loop. The only significant section I had not yet covered was the section from the (3) to the (5) on the linked trail map. I planned to hike that area (around the Nickell Branch Backcountry Area) today.

On the way to my hiking destina-tion, I stopped on the west side of the Tennessee River (Kentucky Lake) to take some pictures of the LBL. That's the bridge that crosses the lake, cropped to appear in panorama mode.

Most of the plants growing on the rocky shoreline looked to be going into winter hibernation mode. This one bush, with all branches dried up, had this one large flower (would probably be two or 2 1/2 inches in diameter if it could open flat).

After crossing the bridge, it's about two miles to the Trace exit. There, I exited, and headed north, approxi-mately 18 miles. Near the end of the Trace (just before I would have left LBL), I turned left on LBL Road #101 (Lake Kentucky Scenic Drive). I didn't have to drive that far for my hike plan, but I did want to see how the foliage looked along the drive. The recent blustery winds and glare of the sun (already getting somewhat low in the west-southwest) made views looking over Kentucky Lake difficult.

The Scenic Drive is a short, maybe two-mile, one-way road, that travels from north to south. When I got back to the Trace, I parked my car. I knew from past experience that I could access the Canal Loop trail system there. (You can also access the Canal Loop system from a large parking area near the beginning of the Scenic Drive, or from the North Entrance Station, or from several other places where the trails cross paved or gravel roads).

I parked on the west side of the Trace, walked across the road, and started walking northeast. On the trail map, that would be the second that leads from the Trace to the boxed #3. After only 1/4 mile or so, this trail reached a fork. A wooden bridge crossed to the right, while another trail headed straight. I took the path on headed straight, since I had already walked the segment that cut to the right.

Three-quarters of a mile later, my trail took me across a gravel road. This was the raod heading down to Nickell Branch Backcountry Area. To get a better view of Lake Barkley, I walked down the road and took a few shots of the lake. Cigar boats zipped back and forth in the distance. Colorful foliage stood out on the other side of the lake. But, with the sun getting low, I only paused for a few minutes before continuing on my way.

I enjoyed the views of Lake Barkley and Barkley Dam, off to my right. But, eventually, the trail curved back towards the southwest. I then reached a junction. A large letter "B" was in front of me, and that's the way I wanted to go. I followed that trail to the "10" marker, and made a left. Somewhat amusingly, a large sign told me this was the "Wrong Way."

Well, it wasn't the wrong way for me. But, tomorrow, there's a big mountain bike race going through here, so several signs pointed out the correct route for the racers.

My route took me around a large antenna, which I remembered from last time on this trail. I also remembered my next turn, right after crossing a couple of wooden bridges. This junction had also changed, however. On the positive side, this "C" trail, which was practically invisible my last time through here, had been cleared and made much more obvious than last time. On the negative side (okay, not that negative), there was another "Wrong Way" sign that I would need to ignore to get back to my car.

However, despite knowing which way I needed to go, I was enticed to head at least a little of the way the other direction, because the lighting there was just amazing. The sinking sun was throwing a warm orange glow on to the foliage, high above.

There aren't any places I know around LBL that let you get a "big picture" view of foliage. There aren't any high, cleared areas that will give you that. But there are plenty of individual trees and sets of trees with very beautiful foliage. I took plenty of pictures as the sun dropped further and further towards the horizon.

Once I felt I had gotten the most of this evening light, I headed the remaining 2/5ths of a mile or so, back towards my car. Not long after passing the "C" signs (on paper signs, by the way, so I wouldn't count on those signs being there next year), there's a low, rail-less wood planking that crosses what must be a muddy patch of ground in the spring time. Right adjacent to the bridge was a small, purple-flowered plant. I've seen these guys a number of times the past few weeks, and often photograph them. Still not sure of their identification. They look somewhat similar to a number of varieties of flowers that fall into a family called "lobelia," but they do not look exactly like any of the ones whose pictures I have seen.

They weren't in Kentucky wildflower books I bought, nor in the free wildflower identification poster I picked up at an LBL bookstore a few weeks ago, either.

A recap on my route, if you're following along on the map: From the Trace (LBL Road 100) to junction "3," to junction "4," then walked down and around the gravel road loop into Nickell Branch Backcountry Area, then back, then to junction "5," then to junction "10," then to junction "11," then perhaps 1/5th of a mile southwest, then back to "11," then back to LBL Road 100. Mileage wise that should be somewhat more than 5 miles, total. Easy couple of hours of walking.

Hike 2011.076 -- Nature Station Connector Trail, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY

2011-10-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hiked Tuesday, October 25.

Yes, this is three days in a row. I'm both trying to make up for lost time (only one hike last week) and to take advantage of what may be the last near-80 degree day of the year. As noted in my last post, temperatures will be dropping into the 50s over the next few days.

Today's hike links up with my last North-South trail hike. Just before crossing a field, and probably less than 1/2 mile from the end of that day's hike, I passed the signpost for the Nature Station Connector Trail. Obviously, it's intended to connect with the North-South Trail. The sign at the junction says it was 4.8 miles to the "Nature Station Trailhead." It's not entirely clear to me if the trailhead is actually up near the Nature Station, or down, outside of the gates. You might think the former, but I don't remember seeing any signs for the North-South Trail up near the Station. In any event, my return time (fairly good clip, relatively few stops for water and pictures) was 1:50 minutes, meaning 4.8 miles is definitely in the ballpark of how far I walked.

To get to the trailhead, it was the usual US68/KY80, exit at "The Trace." Headed north about nine miles, and took the (second) road towards the Nature Station (Silver Trail Road, or LBL Road #133. When road #134 intersects from the right (it will be the first paved road intersecting your route), continue straight for about 100 feet, and turn on to the gravel road that is just before the picnic area. This will deposit you in a small parking lot. Flush toilets and running water are behind you. The trail is (assuming your car is headed into a space, facing north) forward and to your right.

A gated, "Authorized Personnel Only" gravel road drops briefly and heads north. That's your trail. After about 60 yards, you hit a T-intersection, with a sign telling you the N/S trail is towards the left, while the Nature Station Trails are to your right. This is the same trailhead I used for my first and third trips to Honker Lake.

As you make your way to the west, a semi-restored tallgrass prairie is on your right. It's all dried up, now, but I think it's sup;posed to bloom nicely in the spring.

The trail works its way around the prairie, turning to the north. The early part is on a nice, wide dirt road that's still used by maintenance personnel, but otherwise sees little traffic. Trees with pretty yellow leaves (probably sycamore) line the road.

After a short incline, I saw several large storage sheds on the left. More climbing, and I came to suspect (then, later, confirmed by looking at a map) that the Honker Lake Loop was just a smidgen to the east of where I was walking.

After what seemed on the return trip to be just 1/2 mile (but seemed longer as I was climbing), there's a locked gate that keeps cars out of this area. On the other side of this locked gate, immediately to the east, was another locked gate blocking a road that headed up a hill (don't know if it had a view, or if it just leads you to another cemetery). Meanwhile, LBL Road #315 (dirt, passable for passenger cars) is in front of you. Your trail heads west (left) on Road #315.

About 3/4 of a mile later, there's a dirt road that drops down and to the north. Ignore it, and continue on your road (which has now become Road #314). Some 1/4 mile later, your path leaves Road #314 and heads to the north. During most of this section (and most of the way to the Trace) you are walking along a ridge line, although your path does eventually drop somewhat, crossing a small drainage.

On the other side of the dry (today) creek bed, the trail ascends, again. Once more on a ridge line, you may suddenly feel as though you are in a dwarf forest. I suspected (and, again, later confirmed) that this area must have been subjected to a timber harvest, as there were very few trees taller than 30-40 feet. In some sections, there were no trees taller than 20 feet. There were also several pockets of young eastern cedar and short leaf pine, which you usually only get when there's open area. Turns out this area was clear cut in the mid-1980s.

The trail rather unceremon-iously dumps you on Silver Trail Road, with only an arrow to tell you which way to go. There's also a sign announcing what I just wrote above: the area was clearcut in the 1980s.

For the next 3/10ths of a mile, you walk on the surface or shoulder (un-mowed) of Silver Trail Road, heading west. Obviously, keep an eye out for traffic. When you reach the Trace, cross carefully, and the Connector trail can be picked up just a bit south of where Silver Trail met the Trace.

Once across the Trace, the Connector Trail drops down somewhat quickly, into what I assume to be Duncan Creek's drainage. And, today, I caught things just right. The yellow of sycamore, hickory and maple were wonderfully lit up. Pictures don't do it justice. But I've got several pictures of this area on this post, nonetheless. Most of the leave pictures (except the first and last on this post) are from this area of trail, near the confluence of the Connector Trail and the North-South Trail.

As I made my way the 1.5 miles from the Trace to my turnaround sign for the day, I knew I was getting close when I saw the large field to my right. Tapped the sign, then turned around. Same scenery as earlier, but a few hours later. The last picture I have here is a very similar perspective to the one at the top of this post, but taken later. The leaves on the ground show up nicer. The color is pleasing at either time.

9.6 miles roundtrip, assuming the signs are correct.

Hike 2011.075 -- Model Trail "Loop," Land Between the Lakes NRA, TN

2011-10-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hiked Monday, October 24.

I came across a sign for the "Model Loop Trail" on my Hike 2011.064, last month, along the section of the North-South Trail that linked the Road #205 crossing with the Trace crossing. Found no references to it on-line, other than an entry in a book that popped up on Google. Since you can't print those books out, I just roughly skimmed the entry, and figured I'd find out more details after walking it. I did see reference to the trail circling the South Bison Range, however.

As last time in the area, I took the Trace south from US68/KY80, headed south, and turned right (west) at Road #205. After about one mile, the road crosses the North-South Trail. From that point, the there's a short section of North-South Trail that heads south, to Road #211. That area was closed the last time I was in the area, so I was hoping to hike that section today. Unfortunately, it was still closed for a timber sale. So, instead, I headed north, recalling that the sign for the Model Loop Trail was just a bit to the north.

After about 1/10th of a mile of climbing, I reached the sign: North-South Trail, to the left, or Model Loop trail, to the right. On the Model Loop Trail, it said 0.8 miles to "Bison Hideaway." I headed right.

Turns out this trail basically heads west, back towards the Trace. After about 1/2 mile, I could see Road #205, down, to my right. Shortly thereafter, I ran into the South Bison Range, with the "Model Loop Trail" just crashing in to the fence that runs along the perimeter. There was no sign indicating whether the loop trail went right or left here.

I decided to head left, just to see if I could see the bison, again. This was part of the same trail I took on my Hike 2011.063, the South Bison Range.

Then, as now, the "trail" here is a mowed area that had not recently been mowed, so I had to push through some taller grass and woody herbs. I got plenty of scratches on my leg, and I didn't have much fun (same as last time).

The South Bison Range has two fields, separated by a fence, and each enclosed by a fence. Last time, they were on the far eastern end of the north field. This time, the bison were on the southern field, all bunched along the gate that separates the two fields. This made it impossible to get scenic shots, since there was no way to hide the fact that they were surrounded on three sides by fencing. The colorful foliage in the background was pretty, but overshadowed by the fencing.

This south field is smaller and narrower than the north field, although, either way, they're still fenced in. But seeing them being all bunched in that corner, it's kind of sad. Also, having them bunched like that, I didn't want to piss them off by spending too much time walking right by them. Some of the bison made woofing noises. Also, I knew from past experience that if I continued on the loop, the going would become all but impossible in another 1/2 mile or so, anyway. Hence, I returned the way I came.

I'm calling this one 3 miles. Hard to be sure, since I don't know officially where "Bison Hideaway" is located, but I'm assuming that's where the "Model Loop" hits the trail around the South Bison Range. If so, then it's about .9 miles from my Road #205 trailhead to there. If it was .6 mile from there to the end of that south field (which seems about right), that makes it 3 miles, roundtrip.

If this is all correct, then I still don't understand the "Model Loop" trail. Supposedly, it starts at the Homeplace, and does loop around the bison field. But then what? How does it relate to the spur that I followed from the North-South Loop? The only way that makes sense is if there's another spur somewhere further south on the North-South trail (in the area that's currently closed off for a timber sale). No way for me to verify that now, with the area closed. In any event, this whole idea seemed like a bust. "Model Loop" trail doesn't seem like a practical day hike. Probably easier on horseback, when you don't have to deal with the weeds and stickers.

There's another spur trail I remember seeing, that headed west off the North-South Trail, further north from the Model Loop spur. Not sure if I'll investigate that one later in the year. What I do plan on doing for my next hike (later today) is to hike the Nature Station Connector trail, which would link near where I hiked on Sunday with the Nature Station trailhead. From there, I could continue into the Nature Station trails, or just head back the way I came. It'll be just under ten miles, and a pretty long day.

Whether-wise, today is supposed to be near 80. Tomorrow is supposed to rain and cool about ten degrees. Then, it's back in the 50s forecast for Thursday and Friday. Also, this next weekend is when guns start shooting at deer in the LBL, so I may decide not to hike in there this weekend.

Hike 2011.074 -- North-South Trail, Land Between the Lakes NRA, Part 11

2011-10-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

Hiked Sunday, October 23. Today, I walked what is probably the last segment of the North-South Trail I will be able to walk: From Sugar Bay lake access (LBL Road #140) to near where LBL Road #132 crosses the trail.

Apparently, several sections of this trail have been realigned since the recreation map was published, so the angles at which the trail crossed the roads along the way did not entirely line up with what the map suggested. Nonetheless, with the exception of the short southern segment (From LBL Road #205 to #211), which was closed for a timber sale when I tried to walk it, I'm done.

Next time I'm hiking (probably early next week), I'll drive down to Road #205, again. If that segment of the North-South Trail is open, I'll do it. If not, I'll head north and walked the "Model Trail." I'm not sure if that whole loop is still maintained, since the only description I have found of the loop is from a google book hit, and that one talks about walking the perimeter of the South Bison Range fence. However, I know from past experience that this perimeter is not reasonably passable any more. That means I might just walk part of this trail, then return the way I came.

That is for a later trip.

Today, I parked my car the same place I did for my Hike 2011.073: Off of LBL Road #140, just about two miles west of the Trace. Today, there was one other car parked there; it had a bike rack attached to the back. They either headed south or made a loop of it, because I did not see any mountain bikes on my hike, although I did see relatively recent bike tracks.

From this trail head, the trail begins with a modest climb. It pretty much goes up and down drainages, while keeping a modest distance from the so-called "backcountry camping" of Sugar Bay. At one point, a faint use trail links from a nicely-shaded campsite up to the trail.

You get no good views of the southern-most arm of Sugar Bay. It's only after about a mile that the trail parallels the main section of Sugar Bay. Trees still largely obstruct the view here, however.

Across the bay, shooting between tree branches, I saw distant views of egrets and turkey vultures.

At the far eastern end of the bay, it would not be hard to pick your way from the trail to the muddy lake shore. However, I chose not to make that detour today. Instead, I just wanted to complete my hike.

The trail ascends away from the water, eventually crossing a bridge. A bit of climbing eventually brings you to a sign that says RD 139. I actually think this must be a directional sign, rather than an actual road crossing. The trail leads from here to your right. If you go left, instead, there's a largish and well-maintained cemetery. I'm thinking this must be Pinnegar Cemetery. This cemetery, like many others in the LBL (and there are a LOT of other cemeteries here!), is maintained by a volunteer group, "Between the Rivers," largely comprised of the descendants of those who used to live here, before the land was federalized and turned into a national recreation area.

After about 1/2 mile along this dirt road away from the cemetery, you intersect a more-defined road. Judging by the map, this must be the actual Road #139. A left turn on this road takes you in a northerly direction. A right turn would have taken you back towards the Trace. This means this is another potential access point (along gravel road) to get to the North-South trail if, like me, you're trying to do the trail in day hike slices.

After perhaps 1/4 mile, the North-South trail leaves the gravel road, heading off to the right. It generally descends from there towards Duncan Creek. As you approach the flat area, your path takes you across or adjacent to several large agricultural fields (now, fallow, it being fall). Just before you cross the "last" of these fields, the Nature Station connector trail (yellow blazes) diverges, off, to your right.

Instead, I crossed the field, knowing I was very near the Duncan Lake area where I had started a previous hike. In that case, I headed north.

Shortly before getting back to the road that attaches to LBL #132, I reached the green mileage sign where I had ended a previous day's hike. That sign said it was 5.4 miles back to the Sugar Bay Lake Access. Assuming they measure the mileage to the actual lake, I still walked pretty much that whole distance. After I parked my car at the trailhead, I walked into the campground to use the porta-potty before starting my day. That means 10.8 miles for the day, which is actually somewhat longer than I thought remained.

As noted above, except for the less than two miles between Roads #205 and #211, I've now hiked the whole North-South trail. Just for completion's sake, I hope that last segment has reopened, so I can do that before the end of the year.

Because I did this in staggered fashion, I didn't get any great sense of accomplishment, nor any great finale of a sight to see at the end. Still nice to have accomplished a minor goal on my way towards what may be a second year of 100+ hikes, though. It's also been nice watching the season shift, from high summer to middle fall. The leaves have changed from dark green to either dried and fallen or yellow, brown, orange, or red. Flowers have entered and, now, largely exited, their fall blooms. I've also come across a number of newly reconstructed bridges on this trail, things that look to be less than a season old. It's been a pretty good season of hiking.

NPS Report on the San Gabriel River Watershed

2011-10-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Although I am temporarily living in western Kentucky, I expect to be returning to southern California before too long. One of the things I was tangentially involved in back there was following the National Park Service study of the upper San Gabriel River watershed.

Well, finally, the draft report is out.

There's a short AP blurb on the Tribune website, although it suggests the area under study is a "wilderness." Far from it, of course. The study area includes very little statutory wilderness or wilderness study areas. It does include a large chunk of the Angeles National Forest, as well as the Puente Hills (two places I've done a lot of hiking in over the past few years).

The National Park Service newsletter describing the draft report is here.

Locally, a hearings on the draft report are scheduled at a number of different southern California locations, beginning in late October and continuing into November. Scheduled meetings are listed on the last page of the newsletter, which is linked above. There's also a link to the full report (several hundred pages worth of report) on the NPS web page for this study project, here.

I obviously can't attend the hearings personally. Not sure if I'll write up comments. Basically, I'm in favor of any alternative that will bring more resources to managing, improving, and improving access to trails in my old stomping grounds. Various National Recreation Area designations might be the ticket, though I'm open to persuasion on other alternatives.

Hike 2011.073 -- North-South Trail, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY (Part 10)

2011-10-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

Hiked Sunday, October 16. I walked about 7.5 miles of the North-South Trail today, from Road 140 to Savells Bay, where I stopped my Hike 2011.067, on September 23.

To get to the trail head, I took the Trace north from from US68/KY80. After just over 7 miles, I made a left at LBL Road #140, which is signed for Sugar Bay. This road is mostly gravel, with just a short segment paved. After just over 2 miles from the Trace (just about 1/5th of a mile past the paved segment), there's a sign on the right side of the road, announcing that you are entering a "backcountry camping area." It's not "backcountry" in the sense that I think most normal people would use it (wilderness), but that's the term the Forest Service uses for camping areas in Land Between the Lakes that have only pit or chemical toilets and no running water.

The North-South trail crosses Road 140 just before (east of) the sign. There's a wide, grass-covered shoulder on the south side of the road, and that's where I parked. (Obviously, I missed the trail the first time, and drove around the Sugar Bay campground before coming back out and finding the trailhead!).

I started on the trail at about 10:30am. From Road 140, the trail heads into the woods, then turns to the left, paralleling Road 140 briefly before turning further to the south. After what I suspect is just a bit less than one mile, you come to the first green mileage sign of the day. It tells you that Coffin Cove is .2 miles to the right, Buzzard Wing Spring is 4.1 miles straight ahead, Dead Beaver Spring is 8.5 miles ahead, and Golden Pond is 12.7 miles ahead.

Although not indicated on the green sign, I turned around on my September 23 northbound hike at Savells Bay, which I estimated as 2 miles north of Dead Beaver Spring. That meant my destination for the day was about 7.5 miles or so total from where I started my hike (6.5 miles from this sign, plus the mile or so I had already walked).

My first extended lake-side segment of the day was along the southern shore of Higgins Bay. Patches of trees across the bay were in color, and I took plenty of pictures there.

After traveling southeast for nearly a mile, the trail oversees a small peninsula. It was obvious by looking at the erosion patterns that this peninsula is an island during much of the year. However, today, with the water low, it divides the two main arms of Higgins Bay by as little as ten yards.

Several tents were pitched near the isthmus. A 40-foot (or so) boat was anchored off-shore. I assume it's the boaters that brought the tent, probably transporting the stuff to shore via a smaller skiff The beach at the isthmus was smooth and ideally for landing a flat-bottomed boat.

I enjoyed additional peeks at Kentucky Lake as a made my way along this other arm of Higgins Bay. Then I made my way up an incline and into the drainage for Rhodes Bay. This drainage must be lower lying, because it smelled of wet mud. A ring of empty plastic containers along the trail suggested that, at high water, much of the trail could be under water.

After the first approach to Higgins Bay, the trail briefly joins LBL Road #141. As it meets, there are large agricultural fields on either side of the trail.

The North-South trail soon turns back to the right, back towards Higgins Bay. However, I continued a bit further along Road 141, admiring some nice color where this road crested the next hill. Apparently, this is also the road you'd walk on if, while on the North-South trail, you needed to resupply your water at Buzzard Wing Springs. I noticed this mainly by looking at the map as I sit here at my computer, and also, when looking at my pictures of the area, I noticed some show a yellow blaze, which is the color they use in LBL for spur trails off of the North-South trail.

The picture above is pretty much the same as the one at the top of this post, except I exposed it by metering off of the sky. I think I prefer the brighter version, but the dark one looks pretty nice too, I think.

Once back on the North-South trail, I encountered my second green mileage sign of the day. It told me it was 4.5 miles to Dead Beaver springs, so, therefore, about 2.5 miles to the part of Savells Bay where I turned around last month.

This segment pasted rather quickly, and before long, I was overlooking the same spot I stood at last month. The lower water level was obvious. Whereas, in September, I looked down into the bay and photographed a snake and a turtle, both in what would have been about five feet of water, today, there was a fairly wide, flat beach between the lake and the trail.

I took a photograph of the same young bald cypress that I photographed last time I was here, then walked down to the waterline. I took plenty of pictures here, including several more of the bald cypress. There were a few deep red maple leaves laying on the beach, so I maneuvered myself and my camera to frame my shot. No moving of leaves or anything; I just shot what was there.

During my walk, I saw no deer and only got a glimpse of a squirrel or two. I also saw a large bird (probably a hawk, possibly an eagle) fly silently away. Over the past few weeks, I've sen a number of owls, eagles and hawks, and I have really come to appreciate the amazing silence with which they can launch themselves from trees and make their getaway. I see them, but do not hear them at all. It's not like the turkey vultures or the occasional heron or Canada geese, which make noisy (flapping of wings, breaking of tree branches, and vocalizations) departures. The owls and raptors are completely silent, and I don't know how they do it.

I also saw a number of butterflies. The monarchs are still passing through, generally heading south for the winter. The ones I used to call "cabbage" butterflies (green or white) are also common. In addition, I saw a number of common buckeye butterflies and what are probably viceroy butterflies.

Got back to the car just around 4:30pm. Relatively easy pace, as I'm taking plenty of pictures. I'm pretty sure I have less than five miles of North-South trail (less than ten miles of round-trip walking) to cover to complete my coverage of this trail (except for the area that was closed). After I complete this, I'll return to the closed area to see if it's opened, yet. If not, I'll walk the "Model trail," which I saw a sign for down near the closed area, and have seen written up on-line and in books. Probably also likely to return to several areas I've covered for return engagements.

Hike 2011.072 -- Honker Lake and Barkley Lake -- Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY

2011-10-15T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hiked Friday, October 14. Debated between trying to do another segment on the North-South Trail or just getting back to Honker Lake. I decided on the latter.

The rationale was that I had been there several times earlier in the season, and there were a number of picturesque islands and lakeside trees, which I hoped would soon be providing a beautiful foliage show. However, it turns out I was probably a little late for that.

Parked in the wildlife viewing lot that is outside of the Nature Station develop-ment. Also decided to try walking the trail backwards today. This was because I knew that the most interesting part of the Honker Lake trail when you're walking counter-clockwise is the second part, after you walk across Honker Dam. Funny thing is, it feels a lot longer getting there then it did coming back. Upon looking more closely at the map when I got home (and noting the mileage markers on my way), it is actually not any shorter (it might even be slightly longer) if you go clockwise rather than counter-clockwise.

The hill you climb going clockwise also seems longer and taller than when you return counterclockwise. You'd think it would be the same net gain either way, but it sure seemed longer to get to anything interesting.

When I got to the part that was supposed to be interesting, I was somewhat disappointed. Of course, I knew from my peek at Honker Lake last week (on a short detour from Hematite Lake) that the water level was way down now versus where it was when I walked this trail (twice) back in August.

On my previous hikes around Honker Lake, there were some small but picturesque islands here, with trees crowded on what used to be hilltops (or mound tops?). However, today, the islands were now peninsulas, surrounded by very unattractive muddy flats. And the leaves had already fallen. Interestingly, the egrets were still hanging out around their former islands.

After passing the muddy "islands," the Honker trail crosses a low area that apparently become saturated when the water is high (because there's a narrow concrete causeway that crosses the flat, grassy area), then climbs a small hill. The "2" mile marker is where the climb begins.

Next, the trail descends back to lake level and crosses Honker Dam. The herons that I always saw just northwest of the dam were still there, too.

Out on Lake Barley, I saw a small pod of coots (I'm pretty sure they were coots) swimming away from me.

To the right, Honker Lake was clearly down. As I noted from the other side of the lake, the metal trestles that supported high tensions wires now stood upon muddy flats rather than surrounded by water. Lily pads were mostly dried up, some of them also sitting on muddy flats. But there were still plenty of egrets to admire in the distance.

Crossing over to the other side of Honker Lake, there's a gravel road that soon connects to a paved road. The paved road is LBL Road 138, and connects with the same road that runs south, past Energy Lake. It also seemed to run a distance to the north, and another peninsula that promised a good view of Lake Barkley. I had noticed this road in the past, but never bothered walking that way. So, today, I did.

After only a few hundred yards, a locked metal gate was encoun-tered, that would prevent cars from driving further. However, that road itself continued somewhat further, so I kept walking. It crossed an open field. Below and to the right, I saw a large flock of Canada geese.

The road then climbed a bit, and ended in a small loop. As I approached the area surrounded by the loop, I saw several monarch butterflies, tanking up for their migration south. I also heard rustling, and saw a very large snake (3-4 feet in length) slither into the bushes.

Took some pictures there, then continued pass the paved loop. A well-defined (but lightly used) dirt road continued up the peninsula. Before long, I encountered numerous numbered stakes in the ground, indicating this used to be a nature walk.

The path climbed, then descended, again. When it entered a large field (obviously mowed within the past few weeks), the path was less clear. It's possible that if I continued on my original path, the path would pick up again at the other end of the path. However, I decided to make a right turn, and walk what seemed like a more direct path to Lake Barkley. Well over 150 yards of field this way, with some bark-like weed stumps sticking a few inches up to try to trip me.

At the other end of the field, a thin screen of trees (maybe 25 yards thick stood between the mowed field and the shoreline.

Picking my way through the trees, I saw that there was a drop of about five feet between the ground and tree-level, and the shoreline. Right where the level dropped, there were occasional fallen trees, their root balls undercut by watery erosion. Those fallen trees provided the only reasonable access to the lake level.

As I poked my way around, looking for a good access point, I spooked a total of three bald eagles. My pictures of the are horrible, because my auto focus camera has an issue with focusing on blue sky, even if a big bird's in the middle of the frame. But I included one of my fuzzy frames just to show that, despite the fuzziness, it's definitely a bald eagle: White head and crown, yellow beak, white tail feathers. Definitely big birds, because even at a distance, they were big enough to be recognized.

One of the eagles was kind enough to fly back over me after it gained some altitude. However, between the trees, the slow focus, and a dying battery, I still only managed the fuzzy, "Loch Ness Monster" or "Bigfoot" quality of shots.

There's a fair-sized island just off the tip of this peninsula, so I also took several shots of the island. Also, when looking to the west from this peninsula, on to the opposite shore, I could see a small flock of egrets on a tree. I took many shots of them, as well. Of course, the contrast of light and shadow also made those shots somewhat problematic.

Looking across Lake Barkley, I could see several large structures, some of which are probably within Lake Barkley State Resort Park. I also saw a large boat. To the south, coming out from LBL and running into Lake Barkley, I saw what might have been a partially submerged wharf.

When I headed back, I briefly walked further south along Road #138, to get a better view of this "wharf." On closer inspection, it turned out to be a pipe, 4-6 inches in diameter. No idea what it's for. I didn't get very close to it, either, because the flock of Canada geese that I had seen earlier were now in the water off the "wharf." Didn't want to disturb them.

Funny thing about Road #138: Here, there are these towering oak trees on either side. It was somewhat windy, so when the wind blew, numerous acorns fell what must have been 60-80 feet or more. They landed with quite a "CRACK" noise on the pavement. I walked with my hands above my head just in case, but, fortunately, did not get hit.

I walked back to the paved loop, where a monarch butterfly was still eating. I took several more pictures of it here, then returned the way I came.

I estimate 5.5 miles of walking for the day.

Hike 2011.071 -- North-South Trail, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY (Part 9)

2011-10-12T10:57:00.002-07:00

Hiked Tuesday, October 11. Hiked 9 miles roundtrip today, if the signs on the trail can be trusted. Best estimate is there are less than 12 miles of the North-South trail left for me to walk -- One long day if I had a car shuttle, or two pretty short days if I keep doing there-and-back hikes.

The starting point today was near Duncan Lake, although I never saw the lake. From the Trace, I turned left on LBL Road #132. That's just a little bit north of the where the second road from the Nature Station enters from the right. The hiking map for the North-South trail seemed to indicate that Road #132 would be directly across the Trace from Road #133, but that was NOT the case. Also, the trail map makes it appear that the connector trail from the Nature Station runs along Road #132, but that is also not the case. Instead, I saw a stake marking that trail right across from the Trace from where #133 enters.

Once on 132, I drove about 1.6 miles, staying on the "main" road at each fork. The road is gravel but easily passable for passenger cars. At 1.6 miles, I saw a wide road spur head off to the left, to a gate. I drove that way and was rewarded by the sight of white North-South trail blazes on either side of the road, right at the gate. The trail on the left headed south. There was a barricade across that trail, with a "Bridge Out" sign on the barricade. However, given the lateness of the season and lowness of the water, I doubt that a missing bridge would be a serious factor. In fact, after I got back from my walk to the north, I walked a brief distance south on this trail, and saw no immediate difficulties. Don't know if there's another bridge missing further down where crossing the water might be an actual issue, but I suspect not.

Nonetheless, my hike this day was to go north from here, with the goal of reaching Road #114, where I had completed my last hike on the North-South trail. Mileage indicators on signs I saw later in the day gave a distance from here of just about 4.5 miles one way, or 9 miles for a roundtrip.

Somewhat unusually, there were no green mileage signs where I started the trail, nor any for about 3 miles. There was a map displayed at the Road #309 crossing (probably less than 1/2 mile from my starting point), but no mileage indicators there. Fortunately, on most (but not all) road crossings, there was a stake labeling the road number, so it was pretty easy to determine my position and confirm my direction of travel.

Still some moths and butterflies drinking from the flowers, but fewer monarchs. I only saw one today, and none the past hike.

Leaves have been changing and falling for weeks, although I am pretty sure we have not yet achieved "peak" color. Many trees are only partially changed, with a few branches of colorful (red or yellow) leaves, but most branches still green. Other trees have already dropped their foliage. Not sure what peak will look like, but I'm thinking we're probably 1-2 weeks from that.

Given this sign at the south end of my hike (when I went a brief distance south of my road trailhead), I know there are only about 12 miles more of hiking I need to take to finish my journey across the entirety of the North-South trail.

Although only going 9 miles, it seemed like I was out there a long time. Didn't confirm my departure time, but did not get back to my car until after 6pm. Long before then, I had some pretty long shadows and a low, red-shifted sun, which I used to advantage on some of my flower pics.

Earlier, I came across this very well-constructed bridge. It's one of several of the same design I have observed along the North-South trail, so it looks like they're planning on building more permanent crossings along the way.

Hike 2011.070 -- North-South Trail, Land Between the Lakes NRA, KY, Part 8

2011-10-09T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hiked Saturday, October 8. Approxi-mately 18.5 miles of walking today. That's the longest I've walked since coming to Kentucky. Still not as much altitude change, of course, so it's not as exhausting as even a shorter distance back in California. But it is still tough on my feet. After I got home last night, I pretty much just sat or spent the time laying down. My heels are feeling better, now.

I started at the North Welcome Center for Land Between the Lakes NRA. From KY80/US68, it's roughly 18 miles north on the Trace to the north Welcome Center. It'll be on your left.

From there, I made a couple of false starts in search of the North-South trail. Initially, I started out on the Canal Loop, thinking maybe the North-South trail would spur off of that. But after about 1/2 mile of heading west rather than south, I knew that was wrong.

I went back to the area around the Welcome Center and looked for the other trailhead, which I knew was south of the Welcome Center. I found the "old" start, but there was a sign there saying to start this hike from the "Paved Trail." The Paved Trail is a wheel chair and bike accessible trail that runs about two miles, mostly parallel to the Trace. It starts right along the Trace, as well. By contrast, the old North-South trail was almost due west from that point.

I walked up to the Paved Trail and started down the path. About fifty yards in, there was a sign that confused me. A path headed off the pavement, to the right. It had a big blue and a big white blaze. However, the sign at this junction said the North-South trail was straight ahead. I walked straight south about 1/2 mile, before determining (by the absence of any additional signage) that this was not the way, at least not any more.

Thus, I backtracked to the fork and took the path that would have been to the right. Many hours later, when I returned this way, noticed that the arrow part of the sign was partially lifted off the plastic stake. I looked around, and didn't see anyone. So I decided to fix the mistake. I peeled the arrow off the sign and pasted it back on, with the arrow now agreeing with the blazes on the trees.

One nice thing about this detour is I got to see a HUGE praying mantis. Must have been eight inches long, and brown (not green, like most I've seen). He was so big, when I cropped and blew up the picture of him, I could see his little eye balls, staring back at me.

Wasting the time and effort on my wrong turns was annoying, because I planned to make the most of this whole day on the North-South trail. I had 1/2 gallon of liquids to drink and two Powerbars, and intended to walk until near sunset, if necessary.

(That's an aster, there, although, for some reason, the pictures of the petals always come out looking more white than purple). After about 1/2 mile, the "blue blazes" trail (Canal Loop) split off to the right, crossing a bridge. My "white blazes" trail (North-South trail) continued straight. Nice thing about these color-coded blazes is, if you know the code, you can figure out quickly if you're on the right trail. Having a map also helps.

This northern section of the trail crosses through or near many picnic and camping areas, and several roads (some paved, some dirt, some gravel). It also spends a lot of time overlooking or adjacent to Kentucky Lake. Add to that the other hikers and bikers recreating on the path (and this being a warm Saturday, in contrast to the previous two weekends), and this was definitely the least isolated of my hikes in LBL so far.

Near one of these campsites, an "adopt a trail" sign was posted, just as many others I have passed over the past few months. However, I am highly skeptical that the name listed as the sponsor is an actual person's name.

I still enjoyed my time on the trail, of course. Took plenty of pictures, too, though none of any wildlife larger than a praying mantis.

When the day started, I had identified several possible turnaround points, depending on how I felt. As it turned out, I selected the spot where the trail crossed LBL Road #114. It was 2:30pm by then, and I was starting to feel a little tired. Importantly, a green sign said it was 8.7 miles back to the North Welcom Center. "That's far enough," I said to myself.

Road #114 is paved, and has direct access back to the Trace. The next time I come this way, I can easily drive exactly to where I finished today's hike, and pick it up from there.

That's 17.4 miles on the North-South trail today. I'm pretty confident I did over one mile on my two detours. However, to be conservative, I'm calling it 18.5 miles for the day. As noted earlier, that's 8.7 miles worth of North-South Trail coverage, as well.

Most of the trail was pretty straightforward. In a few places, downed trees required short detours. In one place (right after the big field that is the picture at the top of this post), the trail splits off a dirt road, heading to the left. But even if you missed the turn, the trail and road rejoin when they reach Road #114. Just keep your blaze colors straight.

I'd already covered about 5 1/2 miles worth of the northern section of the North-South Trail, and all of the open areas of the southern section of the North-South trail. Only about 13-14 more miles of North-South trail to be covered. Without a car shuttle, that's probably three more hiking days (some of which can be pretty short days).

Not exactly what time I started on the proper trail, but it was probably around 11am. Got back to the car around 6pm. Heels were very sore. The sense of accomplishment for the distance covered was good.

Built up a real appetite, too. I ate a pretty large dinner last night, and have been eating like a horse today.

Hike 2011.069 -- Hematite Lake, Long Creek Trail and Gravel Road to Honker Lake

2011-10-05T19:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, that's a long title! Hiked Tuesday, October 4. Been a whole week since my previous hike. I traveled back to CA briefly. Most of this hike was a repeat of my Hike 2011.050, except I did not swing through the Center Furnace trail, but I did walk along a gravel trail to Honker Lake. Don't have the road designation available.

Hematite Lake Trail is given as 2.2 miles. Long Creek trail is given as .26 miles. The road to Honker Lake felt somewhat further than the Long Creek trail, so I would estimate at least between .4 and .5 miles roundtrip. Add another .3 miles or so to link the Hematite and Long Creek trails, and it's about 3.3 miles for the day.

That's a pretty short day, and I would like to have taken a longer hike. However, I was a little behind where I wanted to be in my class prep work, so I didn't want to spend too many hours wearing myself out, to the point where I wouldn't be able to fulfill my work obligations.

As usual, getting to the trailhead from US68/KY80 meant exiting at "The Trace." Today, I headed north from there, approximately eight miles, to LBL Road #135 (Mulberry Flat Road) and made a right. Just about three miles later, I turned left on Road #134; within about 1/2 mile of that turn, the small lot for the Long Creek Trail was on my right. I parked there.

Around twilight, this place was thick with deer the last few times I was here. However, near midday, there were no deer here today.

I crossed Road #134 and walked the gravel road to get to the start of the Hematite Lake trail. Took the trail in a counter-clockwise direction.

Today, I ran across a mother and her toddler son on this trail. It's the first time in several hikes I ran into anyone on the trail.

I also saw several people fishing, either on small boats on the water or from the shore.

As I walked along the lake shore, I saw one smallish turtle (less than half the length of the one I saw at Savells Bay) and several fish. Some were oblong, either crappie or blue gill. Others were more streamlined, probably bass of some sort. There were also numerous fingerlings. No doubt, there are plenty of fish in this lake. At least some of them are large, because I saw some big splashes from the shore (not as big as in Honker Lake or Kentucky or Barkley Lake, I'd bet, but plenty big).

There were also at least a dozen Canada geese hanging out in the lake. Some floated, and some stood on the lake bottom. Most were paired off or in small groups. They honked a lot but seemed pretty comfortable with the distance they were able to keep between me and them.

This trip out, the structure pictured above finally made sense. It's a "blind." People can sit in the little house at the end of the pier and look through the slat. Apparently, geese don't get worried if they can't see your entire body. Stupid birds. ;D

At the far side of the lake, the trail still goes over a boardwalk, which seems to have taken some wear over the past few months. A number of sections were broken down, but they still functioned to keep your shoes out of the mud.

As last time, I could see numerous muddy paw prints or other signs of animal travel. One area looked like it must be a beaver crossing point. There were regular puddles, followed by an area that looks like what would happen if a really skinny, really low-hanging dog were to do the shake-thing to get water out of their fur.

Also similarly to last time, I took a picture of one of the bridges that cross a bit of water. You can see for yourself what changes have occurred since August.

Tree foliage is still mostly shades of green. A few scattered trees had turned--some orange, a few more, yellow. I took numerous zoomed shots to highlight those trees. I'm hoping the colors will change more universally in the weeks to come. In fact, part of my rationale for returning to a place I've been before was to get a look at the state of the foliage. From what I have read, peak foliage should still be several weeks away on average, but I figured I'd have a look for myself.

After completing my circuit of Hematite Lake, I wandered east, to walk the Long Creek trail. This one is short, and wheelchair accessible. It lets even the non-ambulatory get a taste for what it would be like if they could walk some of the trails that pass through LBL.

After finishing that short walk, I knew I was still under three miles for the day, so I decided to walk the gravel road that runs from Road #134, past the parking area for the Long Creek trailhead, and on to Honker Lake.

While walking along this road, I looked down, and noticed many greenish, bluish, and dark but shiny rocks were embedded in the roadway. This was the hematite for which the lake was named. There's a high iron content in the area, and that's why a lot of furnaces for refining ore were nearby.

At the end of this road, I was surprised to see how far the water seemed. The Honker Lake Trail doesn't come this way, so I'm not sure how high the water out this way was earlier in the year. But with the many lily pads now high and dry, clearly, the water used to cover a lot of this area.

Out on the now-dry lake bottom, several egrets were still hanging out, although several took off when they saw me, despite the great distance away I remained.

From here, I returned back to my car. As I noted, about 3.3 miles for the day. Very short, but a welcome change of scenery from work.

Hike 2011.068 -- Energy Lake, Land Between the Lakes NRA,KY (Blue Trail)

2011-09-27T17:57:00.000-07:00

Hiked Tuesday, September 27. Had to fit a hike in today because I'm going to be busy the rest of the week. That may put a bit of a dent in my march to 100 hikes.

Today's hike was from Energy Lake. I was actually planning to go to the north end of the North-South trail, then got distracted by roadside flowers and thought about maybe hiking Hematite Lake. Didn't shift my attention to Energy Lake until I reached the turn.

From KY80/US68, I exited on the Trace and headed north. I turned right on Mulberry Flat Road (LBL Road #135), which is the first road that would take you to the Nature Station). However, instead of turning left at Road #134 and heading to the Nature Station, I turned right, towards Energy Lake. Just after crossing the narrow causeway that is Energy Dam, I parked in the lot on the left. There's a portapotty there.

From the lot, there's a mowed pathway south, to the Energy Lake trail head. Small grasshoppers were flittering all over the place as I walked towards the trail.

A large egret and a grey heron were sitting on a downed tree. Several turkey vultures were cruising the tree line across the lake.

When I reached the trail, the clearer path (which had blue blazes nailed to trees facing me) was slightly to the left. A fainter path headed to the right. Turns out that would be my return route.

This path begins by paralleling Crooked Creek Bay, before turning inland and crossing a 1/2 mile wide peninsula. When it approached the water on the other side, it turned sharply to the right, climbing for a while, then descending. At the bottom, it crossed a paved road.

This confused me, because the recreation map I have for LBL shows me crossing only a gravel road. On the other hand, it also shows the widened KY80/US68 route as "under construction." When I got back to my car, I drove south on LBL #134 and confirmed that it is now paved, all the way south to KY80/US68. This would have shortened the drive to this trailhead by 3-4 miles, I think.

I had to walk left (southeast) along this road for a few dozen feet before seeing the continuation of my trail, on the other side. After briefly paralleling the road back towards the northwest, the trail then climbed to the left for a while, before eventually joining a dirt road for a hundred feet or so. I kept looking for trail blazes, and eventually saw some blue ones along a trail that split off to the right. More sharply to the right, I saw yellow blazes for what I later learned was the shorter (Yellow) loop trail from Energy Lake Campground. That's why I say I hiked the "Blue" Energy Lake campground. My entire path was marked by regular appearances of blue metal blazes on trees.

After another mile or so of walking, I eventually found myself heading up a hill, towards a campground. That's where the blazes led, so that's where I went.

Upon reaching the top of the climb, I was on a paved road that was part of Energy Lake Campground. The blue blazes were no where to be found. Fortunately, a camper at the top pointed me down the road (to the right). Extremely intermittent blue blazes indicated the trail went along the right shoulder of this road. I just walked on the road.

I eventually passed a boat house and the entrance station for the campground. When this road finally intersected with LBL Road #134, I could see blue blazes inviting me to rejoin the trail, on the other (east) side of #134. After a short time, I was back at my entry point.

If I'm reading this map correctly (which I didn't discover until after I got home!), I walked about 5 2/3 miles, including the short walk from the parking lot to the trail. Blue blazes marked my entire route, and were almost always located right about when you started questioning if you were still on the right track. At a few places, down trees required short detours.

Surprisingly tired for such a modest walk. It was a little bit hillier than most walks in LBL, but it's still not anything strenuous.

Both here and at Honker Lake, I wasn't sure which side of the dam was retaining water. Was the dam supposed to keep the arms from flooding, or did the dams impound water in the arms to keep them deep enough for these protected coves to retain deeper water fish habitat throughout the summer? While standing at the end of Energy Dam, I had my answer: They retain water in the arms. Energy Lake is on the left of the dam, while Crooked Creek Bay of Lake Barkley is on the right.