Aurora Over Cedar Breaks NM, UT!

I spent the Fourth of July weekend in Cedar City. The evenings of July 3rd and 4th, I went up to Point Supreme to support their night sky program. I also took a short hike during the day on July 4th. And I stopped and saw a few things on the drive back down towards Las Vegas, on July 5th. I just have stuff from the 3rd and 4th, here.

The main thing to report was that there was a pretty nice display of the northern lights (aurora borealis) on the night of July 3, 2026, and the early morning of July 4, 2026. In real-life, the color is not nearly as apparent, or as intense, but the curtains and pillars of light were easily visible, and hints of tint, mostly reds and greens, were faintly visible.

These shorts were taken with my Samsung S25 phone, ISO 1600, 15 second exposures. I had no dslr on this trip, and no tripod, so I just leaned my cell phone on top of a stone fence brace, with a spare power source to hold it up. As a result, the shots were at odd tilts, and I had to correct the tilt in post-production.

A daytime view from the same area gives you an idea of the skyline you're looking towards. This is from Spectra Point (near the visitor center), looking north. The aurora were active from about 10:30pm until after midnight.

The intensity of the displays came and went, and appeared to travel right to left. It was several hours of great excitement, as I had never seen significant aurora before, and definitely not with a modern camera handy. This doesn't sate me from wanting to go somewhere further north, where it would be more impressive, but at least I got an idea of what to look for.

Because I was up so late on the 3rd, I wasn't much motivated for a long walk on the 4th, so I just did the Alpine Pond Loop, and the link between Chessman Ridge Overlook, and the north Alpine Loop trailhead. There's a master plan that create a "North Rim" trail, all the way from North View to Spectra Point, but, unfortunately, we're not there, yet. So just a bit over two miles of walking there. But I got way more than a mile more for the day, hauling my telescope stuff from the parking lot at Spectra Point and back. It's two roundtrips to take stuff out and two to take stuff back, and usually a few more as I go back and forth between the car and the observing point, getting lined pants or dropping off things I don't need.

This past year was a near-record low snowfall, so the wildflowers came early. A lot of the areas that would still be greening out were already past-peak. Still plenty of other flowers among the forested areas, but the big fields were not in bloom, unfortunately. By comparison, while the fields I saw were mostly spent, here's what they looked like, three weeks later on the calendar, a few years ago.

As previously noted, sill lots of flowers in the forested areas. Lots of Colorado columbine, various lupine, purple penstemon, a few Indian paintbrush, and other flowers, not pictured.

Didn't go on the paved trails that run from the administrative building towards Spectra Point, because I was pretty sure it was all going to be spent flowers, there. Just satisfied myself with a little walk along a flower-lined path, and a walk by of the Alpine Pond, before heading back down into town, to eat and rest, before returning for the astronomy program, later that night.

During the summer season, Cedar Breaks has an astronomy program every Friday and Saturday. Obviously, different experiences if you go when the moon is up versus when it is not. Fourth of July was near third quarter moon, so it rose late, and was pretty dark during both observing periods. But dark comes late at this latitude, so the best viewing was well after we started.

The night of the third was a little chilly, but the cold went away when we were distracted by the aurora, at least for us, who were still there. The vast majority of visitors left before we noticed the aurora, which is a shame.

The Fourth of July, by contrast, was warmer, and more visitors stayed longer to enjoy the telescope views. We could also see the higher-launched fireworks that went off in Cedar City. Their show ends with an explosive disposal of excess aviation fuel, apparently. That was a pretty bright and startling sight. So each night was a very different experience.

No other hikes on this trip, though I had considered a number, including a return to Spring Creek Canyon Wilderness Study Area, near Kanaraville. Also, in retrospect, having seen how low the water was in the lower stretches of Ashdown Creek, should probably have taken advantage of that by exploring Ashdown Gorge, too. But got too lazy. Combination of late night and hot day.

To partially make up for that, we hit a couple of minor attractions on the drive back down, which I will probably post, next.

Likely coming back to Cedar Breaks for the Southwest Astronomy Festival, in the same capacity. Possibly colder, then (it's in mid-September). But if you know about the temperature difference at 10,000 feet, and dress accordingly, it can still be a load of fun.

Carbon Canyon Regional Park and Chino Hills State Park

Hiked June 22, 2026. Hike 25 for the year.

I had the idea that I wanted to come back here for a while, but, even this weekend, I had a hard time managing that. So it wasn't until Monday, June 22, that I made it down here.

Right after I left home, I realized I didn't have a broad-brimmed hat for sun protection, and my sunshirt did not have a hoodie to pull around my face and neck. So I was thinking my hike here might be minimalist, just around Carbon Canyon park to get my three miles. Only if I could find a hat would I continue, further.

So, from the south parking lot, I followed the signs to the Redwood Grove. This is also the Coyote Pass trail. I would estimate somewhere around 1/2 mile to get there, maybe less, and pretty flat, but also shadeless, until you get to the actual redwoods.

Once there, there's a nice trail, lined by a wooden fence. That's to keep walkers on a specific path, and prevent overall compaction of the ground around the redwood trees. Also, there is an underground irrigation system, to help keep the tree roots wet without turning the surface marshy.

Despite the fencing, I'm sure plenty of ignorant people trample all over the roots and irrigation system, nonetheless, but this reduces that, at least.

These redwoods were planted back in 1975, and somehow trace back to a bank promotion (it's unclear which one). Back in the 1970s, this being closer to the original Earth Day, a number of local banks would give away redwood seedlings to customers who opened new savings account, so you could watch you tiny weekly additions grow into a mighty savings balance. Or something.

Now 51 years, and up to 100 feet tall, it's a pleasant walk. On a Monday, it's also pleasantly empty, though hardly a solitary wander.

From the redwoods, I wandered further south, eventually crossing a dry waterway, then the dam spillway, then the dam, where I then turned west, along the dam top. It's an earthen dam, with a normal spillway standing as a tower in the impound area.

From the end of the dam, I walked around the fencing (as intended, as far as I can tell), then headed north, looping along the west end of the park, then headed east.

As I got back near the Carbon Canyon Road entrance, near the kiosk, I saw a building that seemed like it might house a giftshop or book store. But, no it was just an administrative office, and a ranger to ask questions of.

But, already being where I was, I figured I'd wander on east, to the Chino Hills State Park parking area, where, based on a recent trip, I knew there was a gift shop, and was pretty sure I saw floppy hats the last time I was there.

It's a pretty dry approach, and the entire park now is pretty dry. There are some trees and shrubs. The most dynamically growing shrub appears to be poison oak, however. So make sure you know what that looks like before going off the pavement!

In any event, the gift shop there did have both big floppy hats with the state parks logo, or ball caps, with the same. The big floppy hat was only about $25, which, for the kind of store it was, I think is a bargain. By contrast, the last ball cap I bought at Griffith Observatory was over $36, with an employee discount!

Had I failed to find a hat, I would have just returned to my car. But, now, armed with better sun protection, I plotted a longer hike. Saw a point labeled "Glider Point." Sounded good.

This had me heading initially just east, on the Telegraph trail. Same trail I was on in a previous hike. But, this time, after about 1 1/2 miles, I turned right, up the Diemer Trail, then left, on the South Ridge Trail. That leads to the east, with Yorba Linda to your right, and the rest of Chino Hills State Park on your left.

Another mile and a half or so to Glider Point (not signed on the ground), then a bit further east, to the Easy Street trail, which heads north, towards Telegraph Trail.

That segment headed towards Gilman Peak, and provided a scenic view for much of the way. There were a lot of tall dead reed-like stalks, with dried up, presumable dead snails still attached. That part wasn't so scenic.

Once back on the Telegraph Trail, it was an easy three miles or so back towards Carbon Canyon Park.

This time, like last time, I chuckled as I walked by the side canyon with the poles, and figured those must be where the telegraph line that gave the canyon its name must have been.

The contrast between summer Chino Hills and Spring or winter Chino Hills is pretty dramatic. Fortunately, the weather was still not too summer-like, so the hike wasn't too tough, despite the distance.

Drank some water and used the restroom at the Chino Hills State Park Discovery Center (closed, by now, but the restrooms were still available), then continued to Carbon Canyon, which also has plenty of drinking water and restrooms. There' s fair sized lake, which I assume has fish. One fair sized group of Canada geese were hanging out as I headed to my car, and a smaller number of ducks were also seen.

11.21 miles for the day, and over 800 feet of altitude gained. That was in regular athletic shoes, since I forgot to toss my hiking boots in the way. Longer than I had planned for, but worked out well. I saw and photographed the redwoods, and also saw some additional areas of Chino Hills State Park that I hadn't walked, before. There are additional areas in the southeast of the park that I still need to visit, but I'll probably wait until fall or winter for that.

Nearly no hikers seen on this hike, but, again, it was a Monday. Fair number of mountain bikers. Good way to spend the day. I was happy.

Fern Dell, Griffith Park

Hiked June 18, 2026. Hike 24 for the year.

From the Observatory down East Observatory Trail, to the end of Fern Dell is only about a mile each way, which isn't much of a hike. Altitude of 620 feet though, so at least a little work out.

It's been a while since my last trip down here, so I was overdue. Had some time this day, so down I went.

The entire trail is on the south side of the Hollywood Hills, so there's not much shade on East Observatory trail, at least not unless you're going early. In the afternoon, yeah, you're exposed. Alternatively, if it's late afternoon, West Observatory trail has more shade, but is more exposed in the morning.

I thought I had read in the past that water for Ferndell came from air conditioner condensation up at the Observatory, but is also supplemented by natural ground water. Then, when the AC was renovated, less condensation comes down this way. Not sure, but I do know that, most of the time recently, the water is pretty low, and a little stinky, until you get closer to the bottom of Fern Dell.

There's a nice little trail that criss-crosses the creek. Sometimes, there's blooming foliage adjacent and within the creek. On this day, I think there were literally three blooming flowers I saw.

Sometimes, there are fish in the creek. Other times, not. I saw no fish on this day.

Still, the running water is relaxing, and the various pedestrian and vehicle bridges are picturesque.

Lots of tall trees line the creek, so it's almost always mostly shaded, once you get to the watery part of the trail. I can't tell you what most of the trees there are, other than that there are some palm trees, which probably grew in on their own, and some coast redwood, which certainly did not grow in on their own.

There are a few other places in Griffith Park where you can see some coast redwoods, including near the entrance to the Greek Theater, which I have walked by, before. I have seen a few references to redwoods at Cedar Grove, but I've never been there, so I cannot confirm if there are redwood trees there, or not.

Fern Dell is a nice change of pace from most of Griffith Park, if only because of the tall trees and the sound of running water. The redwood trees are a plus.

I had been thinking about local redwoods quite a lot, recently. A number of years ago, I had visited the larger redwood grove in Carbon County Regional Park, near Yorba Linda. But, somehow, I never posted any pictures of that grove on my blog, here, nor, apparently, any mention of that on my personal facebook page. That omission bothered me.

In part, my trek down to Fern Dell served as a reminder about local redwood trees, and my failure to have a documented entry for the redwood grove in Carbon Canyon. And that finally spurred me to return to Carbon Canyon to redress my failure to document that trip. At the end of my Juneteenth weekend, I managed to make that trip. So that will be Hike #25, my next entry. That leaves me needing just one more hike by the end of the month, to stay on target for my 52 hikes, this year.

Whirlpool Galaxy, STL, 6/13/2026

Not a hike. I was out here on June 13, 2026, for my second consecutive week of outreach, but did not manage a hike on either trip. This week, like last week, was very windy during set up, but because the winds died down last week, I went ahead and set up my big refactor for astrophotography. This is a single frame, 60 second exposure, ISO 5000, through my 152mm f/8 triplet with .7x focal reducer / field flatner, cropped, to eliminate vignetting. Took it as the public observing wound down, and I still had my big Dobsonian for public viewing while I did this. It's a good shot for me and my limited technique. But I also took a number of shorter exposures, which I may eventually learn how to stack and process for a better result.

No idea how many people pop over here to check for astrophotography, but I do post some of my shots here, albeit usually embedded in an accompanying hike. This one's a standalone, though. Wanted to shot M51 during the last season, but weather did not cooperate.

Galaxy season is drawing to a close, but there are still a few other objects that would be within range of my set up that I haven't shot for the summer season. We'll see how things go.

Griffith Observatory to the Top of the Hollywood Sign, and Burbank Peak

Hiked May 30, 2026. Twenty-third hike of the year.

Although not scheduled to work this night, I had to come back to the Observatory for another reason, so made the plan to hike Burbank Peak. This is one of my favorite hikes, but it's been a while since I'd done it, so I got a little disoriented on catching what I call the "Ridge Route," but I think is formally called the "Mount Chapel Trail."

The photos are out of sequence, by the way, so don't try to figure that out!

I'm pretty sure if you do the "Ridge Route" correctly, it's faster and easier than even getting to the bottom of the Hollywood Sign via the Mullholland Trail, because of all the zig-zags that one takes, as it follows a contour at the base of the Hollywood Hills.

From the Observatory, I left via the Charlie Turner Trailhead, up Mount Hollywood Trail, to the north side of Mount Hollywood, then the North Trail, up a trail that runs along a pipe, to a watertank, on the north side of Taco Peak, then around on a fire road, across Mount Hollywood Drive, then up on the Mount Chapel Trail, south of that summit. This is a sometimes-thin, sometimes-overgrown single-track trail, that eventually hits paved Mount Lee Drive. Left takes you up to the top of the sign; right would take you down, to the bottom.

Well, that was the plan. But I think in real-life, I missed a turn, wound up off trail, then just followed a use trail down to the Mulholland trail, hid Mount Lee Drive down near the bottom, and walked back up to the ridge, and continued up, from there. From the ridge, Mount Lee road then runs up the north side of Mount Lee, heading west.

Where Mount Lee Drive makes the hairpin left turn from, the north side of Mount Lee to the south side, the narrow "Wonderview Trail" continues straight, along the spine of the mountains. There's a short bit of high Class II / low Class III as you summit Cahuenga Peak, before you continue along the spine, towards Burbank Peak.

I passed a nice amount of mariposa lily on the short segment between Cahuenga Peak and Burbank Peak. Also, some healthy, green sections of California buckwheat. Then you arrive at the "Wisdom Tree." It's a very picturesque little tree, and sets a nice image against the horizon from many directions. That's it, at the top of this post, as well as the third shot from the bottom.

That's also me, in that top picture. I messaged down to my colleagues, down at Griffith Observatory, and one of them turned one of the portable lawn telescopes over to Burbank Peak as I arrived there. I waved my arms around a bit, so they could confirm it was me, then took a cell phone shot through the eyepiece, which explains the weird optical artifacts. But, there I am, from about two miles away.

From there, I returned along the narrow Wonderview trail, back to Mount Lee Drive, then turned right on the pavement, on to the top of Mount Lee. That's home to the famous Hollywood sign, of course. Took a few shots up near the top, then headed back down. Only took me about 90 minutes to walk back to the Observatory, with fewer stops than one the way back. I did stop to admire the rising moon, and get some observatory shots, again.

I think I passed this tiny snake on the way back, along the Mount Chapel trail section. Like the size of a big worm. Couldn't see the head or tail, so I could tell if it was a tiny rattle snake or a tiny gopher snake. Either way, at that size, there's no way he could get his jaw around my leg. But he was still, and I walked over him, and he seemed not to care.

I think the sacred datura was also on the way back. Pretty common out here, though I may have actually seen more mariposa lily on this hike than sacred datura.

Couple of shots from the top of the Hollywood sign. One looks right over it, overlooking Lake Hollywood. The other one is from a bit west, looking back, towards the Observatory.

And here's some mariposa lily.

The horses were from earlier, on my way out, after I missed my turn and wound up briefly on the Mulholland trail.

As for my return trip, I walked mderately quickly, though I still had time to take shots of the rising moon, and the DTLA skyline.

Only about 90 minutes, with no wrong turns, from the top of Mount Lee to the Observatory. So my general guess of about 3 to 3.5 hours, roundtrip for someone to walk between the Observatory and Mount Lee, at a fair pace, with only occasional rests. It's another 30 minutes or so to add Burbank Peak.

For myself, my Alltrails recording showed 9.5 miles, 1680 feet altitude gain, and 3:20 of moving time. So figure a bit less than four hours, depending on how long you rest along the way and take pictures and so forth.

This was my second significant walk in three days, so I was pretty tired after this, and for the next day. But I always feel good after a hike like this, so I was glad I had the time to make it.

No additional hikes since then, so I'm a little behind. Need to fit in three more hikes over the next two weekends to stay on track for 52 hikes for the year. Also still have a few to blog, though I've lost track of those now, too.

Griffith Observatory to the Base of the Hollywood Sign

Hiked May 28, 2026. Hike 22 for the Year. My hiking pace took a dive this month, but I managed to get a few in at the end of the month, keeping me on pace for this year's target of 52 hikes. I got a boost by cloudy weather and forgetfulness. For this hike, it was the former.

I was scheduled to work a lawn telescope, but the clouds made showing anything problematic for the night, though there would have been some brief peeks at the moon, had I stuck around all night. Most of the time would have just been standing around, or showing city sights, which is allowable, but not much fun, to me. So I put in my hour, then went hiking.

I have obviously been hiking in Griffith Park since the year this blog began. Looks like I last hiked to the top of the sign about two years ago. But I think it's been a while since I was at the bottom of the sign, so I figured I would do that, and get an idea of the hiking distance and time from the Observatory.

Turns out the answer is, "A lot." The problem is, from the Observatory, the trails you need to take to get to the base are very windy, weaving along contour lines that turn in and out of various erosion creases. It was about 8.5 miles, roundtrip. And since I hadn't gone on any longer hikes in a while, I found it pretty tiring.

It was longer than it needed to be because I don't like having to cross West Observatory Road, down near the Vermont Tunnel, and I don't like walking up or down West Observatory Road, because of the foot traffic. So either staying up from the Charlie Turner trailhead, or returning over the tunnel, both add a lot of distance and altitude gain to the hike. But I usually find that preferable to the foot and car traffic, down below.

So, on this trip, I walked past the Berlin Children's Forest, then dropped down to West Observatory Road, cross West Observatory Road and Western Canyon Road then walked up the paved but gated road that is Mount Hollywood Drive. I then took Mulholland Trail over to paved Mount Lee Drive, then turned down, to the left.

Then it was west, on and along Mulholland Highway (passing on the pedestrian bypass for a gate that otherwise blocks Mulholland Highway), to a lot that is signed as 6101 Mullholland, and has a steel sheeted placesaver and a "No Tressspassing" sign on the stairs leading up to the sheet metal outline of a home. I assume the intent is to one day build there, and so to preserve their private holding, no right of public access until they do. Google maps calls the place, "The Last House on Mulholland."

Of course, if you buy and build, there, I would expect an awful lot of foot traffic around your house, and you'd probably have to grant an easement of some kind, to preserve the view of the sign.

I returned to the Observatory via the "three mile" trail, back up to near Mount Hollywood, then took the east side trail around Mount Hollywood, then back down to the Observatory, via the Charlie Turner trailhead.

A screen shot of my Alltrails recording is here: 8.79 miles, 1,053 feet of vertical. I was pretty tired, the next day, and the day after.

Unlike national park areas, dogs are permitted. No smoking is allowed anywhere in the park. You may need to share the trail with horses, and you'll definitely see horse poop and smell horse urine. Also, there's a lot shorter way to get here, if you park down near Lake Hollywood Park. Parking is free, down there. But because I'm me, I almost always park near the Observatory for my hikes in Griffith Park.