Mount Hollywood from Griffith Observatory

Hiked January 21, 2026. This is the same hike I took on December 7, 2025, and have probably hiked as often as any hike in the past ten years. The starting point, and the north end of the top parking lot for Griffith Observatory, is very convenient for me.

The trailhead is also called the Charlie Turner trailhead, so I sometimes refer to the trail itself by that name, too. From the end of the parking lot, you climb a bit, past the Berlin Children's Forest, cross high above Vermont Canyon Blvd, then weave on a long, sweeping fire road, to just south of Mount Hollywood. From there, you can go left or right, looping back up to the summit.

Because it's a wide, mostly flat road, without many trees, and set against the city of Los Angeles, I find it easy to walk, even long after sunset, without a flashlight. Many others do bring flashlights, so judge for yourself if you trust your night vision or not.

My Alltrails recording says I walked 3.6 miles, with 528 feet of vertical gain. So another short hike, but all I had time for, before my shift. I actually signed in later than normal for my shift, just because I knew the clouds would keep me from showing anything in the sky, which is my main duty. I signed in late so I could help upstairs, for visitors to the Zeiss Dome, which would be in exhibit mode (no viewing through the telescope, just a chance to see it up close).

This was my fourth hike of the year, which is a better pace than most recent years. I'm sort of resolved to up my hiking to at least once a week, this year, to try to improve my health, again. I can't reasonably do 100 hikes in a year, any more, which is what this blog started as. But once a week may be doable, assuming no major health issues arising for myself or other family members.

Samuelson's Rocks via Creosote and Bigfoot Trails, JOTR National Park, CA

Hiked January 19, 2025. I hiked to Samuelson's Rocks once before, from a slightly different starting point. That time, I just parked on the side of the road, off the pavement. This time, I couldn't find that spot, and the Alltrails suggestion didn't have a lot of room from the pavement. So I drove back a bit, and found a spot with an actual paved pullout.

The odd part is, I couldn't find my writeup for my first time here. I searched on this blog and on my personal facebook page. Either I didn't do a write-up, or I misspelled something. So that was part of my impetus for choosing this hike: Let's get a freaking write-up!

My pullout was also a trailhead for the Creosote Trail. This trail does not appear on the www.nps.gov/jotr website, but it will turn up on Alltrails.

It's a fair-sized pullout, with room for about 10 cars. Fully paved, with a curb. You can park further north or south of this pull out, if you can find room to park with your tires completely outside of the whiteline (if there is one) or pavement (if there is no white line), but it's more comfortable to merge back into traffic if your tires are on pavement.

As I noted, this trailhead did not appear on the park website that talks about day hikes. For refererence's sake, it's about .6 miles past (south) of the Maze trailhead, and about 2 miles south of the new West Entrance kiosks, on the right side of the road. Maybe 1/4 of a mile past that, there's another paved pullout, on the left side of the road.

Near the pull out is an informational sign about deserts, in general. Further away from the road is (was) a stand-up board, with a warning about staying cool and hydrated in the desert, and a warning that some trails from this trailhead are long and strenuous. Then there's a trailhead mileage sign.

The first 1/2 mile out is called the Creosote trail, although I saw a lot more juniper than creosote. Lots of rocks and boulder hills and Joshua trees, so a lot of people will park here and just spill out randomly nearby, posing for pictures. Even on my return trip, however, there were very few people going beyond that 1/2 mile.

At the half-mile point is a warning sign, advising that you are leavning the creosote trail, and the other trails form significantly longer loops. I continued forward, eventually turning left when I hit the Bigfoot Trail, heading towards the Samuelson West trail. Later, when the Samuelson West trail headed to the right, I continued on the Bigfoot trail.

Still lots of rocks and Joshua trees, although you are soon walking along a wash. At one of these large rock peaks, I saw what looked a little like a large foot, facing downward. A somewhat closer view of that "foot" is the last shot in this post. The "foot" is a little left and above center. Click on the photo in the post to view a larger verson of that shot.

I assume that's the big foot that gives this trail its name.

Samnuelson's Rocks is not super obvious, from a distance. You'll generally be heading towards some pretty tall peaks in the distance. When you get within a few hundred yards of Samuelson's Rocks, you may start seeing some artifacts (small rusted cans, large fallen water tank, lots of large planks and barbed wire, some standing, some laying on their sides, and a small, enclosed corral -- somewhat interestingly, you may note the grass inside the corral is often significantly greener than the grass outside the fencing). You'll need to veer a bit left, off the Bigfoot trail, to get to Samuelson's Rocks. Be looking for a small rise of rocks, or evidence of the corral, fences, or water tank.

There are a lot of flat rocks, on which the namesake John Samuelson carved or chisled many, many words. He lived here in the 1920s, and apparently had some intent to homestead the area and work a mine. Apparently, by this time, non-citizens could not file for homesteads, and he was later forced out. But he left his thoughts behind, as well as some fences and assorted detritus.

Although well over 50 years old, and, thus, subject to Antiquities Act protection, this phase of Joshua Tree's history does not appear to have been noted on the official sights or hikes to see in the park, and, as noted, is does not have an official spur trail leading to it. In searching the www.nps.gov/jotr site, in fact, I could find only one small reference to this site, in a management plan related to the 1994 change from a national monument to a national park.

Despite that, I think the site is still worth a visit, and a moment or two of contemplation. The grammar and spelling errors in the carvings just make you work harder to figure out the author's intent.

My Alltrails recording showed my distance as 4.88 miles roundtrip, and 394 feet of elevation gain. Most of that is on the slight incline on the return trip, though you'll also do some altitude climbing as you scramble around the rocks, looking for carvings. I'm not sure how many in total there are, or if I found them all, but I found plenty.

Temperatures were in the 60s or 70s when I walked, in the mid-morning of January 19, 2026. It was great walking weather, and I felt great to be out in the desert. In the summer, this would be a hotter, tougher slog. In exteme heat, you probably shouldn't do it, at all.

This is one of at least three reasonable approaches to Samuelson's Rocks. Somewhat shorter is just parking a little further down the road, then heading directly away from the road until you hit Quail Springs Wash, then heading up the wash to Samuelson's Rocks, or starting at Quail Springs Rock Exhibit Area, then heading straight up Quail Springs Wash to Samuelson's Rocks.

Of these four approaches, the second one is the one I took the first time, and is the shortest. But it's just parking on the dirt adjacent to the road, with not a lot of room to slow to park or accelerate to merge back on to Park Blvd. I guess in theory, everyone's supposed to be going about 40mph, but that's not always the case, so merging or turning off of Park Blvd could be risky.

Given that, I'd suggest the route described here as the best balance of distance, scenic interest, and ease of parking.

However, neither here nor in option 2 is there any restroom facility. For that (vault), I think you need to go to the Quail Springs exhibit area. There are also restrooms with running water near the old West Entrance, and vault toilets at numerous sites further inside the park.

Around Barker Dam, JOTR National Park

Hiked January 11, 2026. Parked in the Barker Dam lot. Walked around the nature trail to the dam, then headed southwest, nearly back to Park Blvd. I saw a "Cyclops Rock" thing on Alltrails that looked interesting, like a stone arch. But after circling that rocky outcropping, decided it must be something you need to climb technically to get to. In any event, I don't think I saw it, though I did see lots of caves, so it's possible that was it? Not sure.

Lots of water behind the dam, but it looks like it could fill another eight to ten feet or so, based on where the stones were. Also, I don't see an overflow for this dam, so I don't know what happens as the water rises. Does it just seep through, or is there a pipe or other opening that is breached at a higher height, or is the overflow somewhere else, entirely? Not sure. Also not sure how full it might have been a week or so ago, during the heavy rains.

I got there mid-morning, probably around 8:30am or so. The lot at that time was pretty empty, with maybe three or four cars. I parked at the end of the front row, backing in so I could put my windshield towards the rising sun. Deployed my sunshade inside my window. Not that it was going to get all that hot, either way.

Temperatures may still have been in the 40s when I started, but warmed into the upper fifties before I was done. I first donned, then quickly removed a shell over my hoodie. The hoodie and long pants were plenty enough insulation, once I started walking.

I've hiked here before, but it's been a while. Might have been as long ago as 2014, when, apparently, the water was low.

I don't recall looking at this inscription at the top of the dam. Apparently, the people who built it didn't call it, "Barker Dam." It says "Bighorn Dam," and was built be many people with "Keys" in their names, presumably the same ones who Keys View and Keys Ranch is named after.

The photos are in no particular order, and it looks like I didn't pick any from my southernmost reaches. I did pass lots of Joshua tree and rock formations. One Joshua tree looks like it's budding nicely, and I expect the bloom will be a good one for them, this year. Not sure about the other wildflowers. The early rain could mean invasive grasses get a headstart on the wildflowers. As of today, there are very few flowers, but lots of grasses. The desert floor is greenish, and the non-desert parts of the Inland Empire I drove through to get here were even greener.

Lots of rock climbers. It's a climbers paradise. Lots of rocks, lots of fissures, cliffs, and so forth.

Interestingly, I saw a lot of big "pillows," too. They were maybe eight feet by eight feet in dimensions, and over six inches thick.

That's just for the ground-level, practice pitches, I'm sure, where you're just scrambling over a boulder, as opposed to going up a cliff. I'm not sure, but I imagine once you fall more than six to ten feet, even the cushioned landing has got to be pretty rough.

Most of the cliff climbers were in groups of two to four, and most wore helmets and were tied on to ropes.

Meanwhile, I needed to do a bit of low-grade scrambling as I made my way through the area. I wasn't aiming to rock climb, but my wandering took me off trail and into an area with lots of boulders. Nothing risky, although even on an easy path, a stumble could hurt. I managed not to stumble seriously enough to take a fall.

Mostly, I just walked, and snapped photos of some of the rock climbers I passed. Not a lot of wildlife was seen.

It felt good to walk! Clear, brisk, but not too cold, and walking at a good pace, I enjoyed the moment to clear my head and wander, with no particular goal. My Alltrails recording shows a little over 6 miles for the morning, and a few hundred feet of vertical gain. With the weeks of rain and not a lot of time, I often still manage to reach my step target walking around home, but it's a lot more pleasant to walk in a national park, versus a suburban sidewalk, or even an urban park.

This was following a night of astronomy, which is also usually pretty enjoyable. Out at Sky's the Limit, again. The visitors were grateful, and the seeing was surprisingly good, despite the wind, earlier in the evening. Got some good views of Jupiter, a brief peak at Saturn and Uranus, and some of the regular showpiece objects: Andromeda Galaxy, Pleiades, and so forth. I'm enjoying my just-over-one-year anniversary of using my Skywatcher 350P. Brings a whole new dimension to seeing my old friends in the sky, and brings several "new" objects into range. Last night, I ended with a view of the "Intergalactic Wanderer," NGC 2419, a globular cluster about 300,000 light years away. That's even more distant than the Magellanic Clouds. It is still bound gravitationally to the Milky Way, however, so not actually wandering the intergalactic void.

A less pleasant part of the night was one of the other volunteers backing his truck into my parked car. It made a terrible noise, but, in the dark, I did not see damage so I didn't try running the guy down to get insurance info. Upon closer examination, I could see some damage to my grill, and I'm concerned that the loud noise may mean that some of the compression material inside the bumper has been compressed. At the moment, I'm just hoping the cosmetic damage is it. Not sure when I'll have time for a collision specialist to take a look at it.

Little thing like that just put a damper on my otherwise-enjoyable night, followed by a day of good hiking.

Debating on if I'll be heading out again, this weekend. Got some other stuff going on, including, possibly, trying to get my car looked at.

Sturtevant Falls, Angeles National Forest, CA

Hiked January 5, 2026. Wow, another year! It's been a long time since I last hiked Sturtevant Falls. The last hike I can find in my blog was in 2017. That's owing to repeated fire closures, then time constraints, and needing an Adventure Pass or federal lands pass to park at the top. It's been reopened since last October, which is also when my annual federal lands pass expired, and I wanted to make it to December, when I could buy my lifetime senior pass. Also, it's such a mess up there on the weekends, I usually only go on weekdays when I'm off.

I tried loading a few videos of the waterfall, but they don't properly display, so I had to come back re-edit this.

Things have changed since my last visit. It seems like a few of the formerly standing cabins did burn in recent fires, although most seem to have survived. Some "boundary walls" were collapsed, apparently from fallen trees and branches. Also, a bridge that used to cross a tributary was washed out, I think. In any event, it did not cross the tributary, but was laying adjacent and below where it once crossed. Instead, a wooden plank-bridge provided a dry way across.

Lots of mulched wood around, presumably chipped on site from fallen trees and branches. In other places were stacks of firewood, also presumably from fallen trees and branches. So the understory seemed more open than I remembered, which is good for fire control.

Obviously, with all the recent rain, the water was running high. In one spot, you had to leave the trail to walk along a cabin base to get around and still stay dry. Also, Fiddler's Crossing was high. Would have required removing boots, and stepping ito pretty deep and moving water. Not necessarily dangerous, but uncomfortable. So I diverted to the trail to the top of the falls, instead.

Incidentally, for years, the cabin at Fiddler's crossing had an American flag displayed. Didn't see a flag on this trip, but I did see a "United Federation of Planets" flag, displayed from a nearby cabin.

It was twisted over on itself, but also behind a wall. It's not clear to me if the areas around the cabins are actually private or not. My assumption is that the cabins are leased, but the actual land is still national forest. So, as much as I wanted to unfurl the flag properly, I left it as it was.

I hiked a bit past the top of the falls, taking many pictures as I did. Debated whether to descend to the base, or not, and eventually did. I moved slowly and carefully down the non-trail. This is not recommended, both because you'll speed erosion, and the fall risk. I carefully grasps branches or protruding rocks going both up and down, being careful to avoid any slides or dislodging or rocks that would speed erosion, and would make the non-trail steeper for the next person.

At the base of the falls, I was disappointed to see a lot of food wrappers and orange peels. But I had no trashbag with me to pack that junk out. Just pissing me off that you can carry stuff out there to eat, but won't carry out your litter.

It's about 3.8 miles roundtrip, and about 800 feet of vertical gain the way I went. Dogs are permitted, but they'll have a rough time if you take the non-trail down to the base of the falls. I expect in a day or two, assuming no more rain, Fiddler's Crossing will become passable, again. Parking in the lot at the trailhead requires an Adventure Pass or federal lands pass, hung from your rearview mirror.

North Side Trail and Canyon Trail Loop, JOTR National Park

Hiked December 21, 2025. Last post of the year. Also, likely, the last hike of the year.

After returning from the Living Desert Zoo, back to the motel in Yucca Valley, we ate lunch and rested up a bit. With this being the shortest day of the year, I knew it was going to get dark early. But I also wanted to get my Interagency Senior Lifetime pass. They used to call them, "Golden Age" passports. Once you reach age 62, they're $80, and cover basic entry fees on all federal lands for the rest of your life. Alternatively, you can buy an annual pass for $20. Since I hope to be traveling on public lands for more than five years, I wanted to buy the lifetime one.

So I swung by the Joshua Tree National Park visitor center in the town of Joshua Tree (on the way to the west entrance) and bought my pass. Got wished a happy birthday, and was informed that the pass would also cover "Adventure Pass" fees in the national forest of southern California (which I already knew), and half off on camping (which I sort of knew, but wasn't really thinking about). I think it may also get me be half off on various tours and what not, too. Of course, this got me thinking about where to go camping and what tours to take. Mind you, I don't camp often, but I did spend two nights camping in Chaco Culture National Historical Park, just this past June.

At any rate, having gotten a later start than I wanted, I knew I wouldn't have much time before sunset, and I wanted to be on the trail to watch the sun set and the clouds change. So I was pretty sure I'd just stop at the Maze Loop trailhead, and walk from there, which I did.

The trailhead is on the left (east or north) side of the road, a bit over a mile from the new entry station. The lot is pretty small (maybe 6-8 cars), but I was figuring it was late enough that there'd be space, either in the lot, or along the road, near the lot. Roadside parking is usually available, unless the road hasn't been graded after a flooding incident, in which case there would be very little space on the shoulder. On this day, there was lots of shoulder space, so I parked, there.

I thought I had just been here the previous month, but apparently it was way back in May! Nonetheless, since I had walked some of the North View and North Canyon trails last time, I wanted a variation off of that. On this day, I headed north, on the North Side Trail, which runs somewhat parallel to the road as you go north. After passing through some rocks, the North Side trail then bends to the right, more or less paralleling the north boundary of the park.

After about a half mile, it intersects with the North Canyon trail, some of which I hiked, back in May, but from the other side. This trail heads back to the south, climbing steeply in parts, as it does. It then heads up a wash before eventually reaching more open space, just before you're back to the trailhead.

The sun set before I reached the right turn, but the sky was still pretty bright and I had flashlights, just in case. I wasn't worried, and I didn't need the flashlights, although it was fairly dark by the time I got back to my car.

Got some nice cloud coloration as the sky darkened. Warm color on the rocks, at first, before everything turned greyer. Nice Joshua Tree outlines, later in the hike.

In the last 1/2 mile or so, I could see a thin crescent moon, low on the horizon.

So I accomplished my goal: Bought my pass, and got a short hike in before it got too dark.

Three miles total for this hike. Three hundred twenty-eight feet of altitude change, according to my Alltrails recording. Obviously, the criss-crossing trails here give you multiple options for hikes of as long or as short as you want. And the rocks and elevation give you a variety of views during even a short hike.

Northshore Summit Trail, Lake Mead NRA, NV

Hiked October 12, 2025. I was scrolling through pictures on my phone a few weeks ago, and saw photos of a hike I hadn't yet posted. I hiked the trail prior to one of my comet shooting trips in Lake Mead NRA. I've also hiked it on numerous prior occasions.

It's a nice little hike, only about two miles roundtrip, but with pretty views over parts of the Bowl of Fire, and also with Northshore Peak, in the other direction.

To kill additional time, I also walked some along the area west of the parking area, trying to get my three-mile minimum, and also waiting for the sky to get dark enough to try to photograph comets.

Because it was late afternoon, the lighting was shadows were great.

Despite the many previous times up this way, I hadn't really noticed what kind of looks like a segment of lava tube near one of high points along the way. That's in the second- and third-to-the last photos of this post.

I don't know that this is what I'm seeing, but I have seen similar "wave" structures all around the Bowl of Fire.

This is one of the relatively few "official" trails listed in Lake Mead National Recreation Area publications and website. Nonetheless, it's not that heavily visited, and/or, because it's a short hike, it's not uncommon that I have the place to myself.

There's a vault toilet at the trailhead.

In addition to being the start of the trail to Northshore Summit, the trailhead can also be used as a jumping off point to head to Northshore Peak, on the other side of the highway, or into the Bowl of Fire.

Both are definitely worth checking out if time permits. But even if you only have time for Northshore Summit, espcially near sunset or sunrise, the view is outstanding.

Last shot was on the way down, after sunset. The dark band then lighter band along the horizon is called "The Belt of Venus." You get that after sunset or before sunrise, when the sunlight hits the sky well above the horizon, but you and the lower part of the atmosphere at a distance are still in shadow. Dark area is in shadow, lighter part is illuminted by the low sun.