Hike 2015.064 -- Eaton Canyon

Hiked Sunday, August 16. 4 miles. I had ambitious plans for my Sunday morning, but the heat and the anticipation of heat just sapped my motivation. I finally headed out for an afternoon hike around 4pm. Hadn't really been following the news that day, but I did see that the mountains to my north looked pretty clear.

So I laced up my newest pair of boots and headed north. It was freakin' hot.

About 100 degrees when I arrived in Altadena, at Pinecrest Drive, to access the trail I intended to take up to Henninger Flats. Along the way, I heard on KNX about a fire in the Whittier Narrows.

Once I started heading up the trail, I could see the smoke plume, rising from that area. The smoke was blowing to the east.

At the same time, I could see a "front" of smoke, rolling out of San Gabriel Canyon. That smoke seemed to hang around Arcadia, and was threatening to roll along the foothills and right at me.

So I continued upward, towards Henninger Flat. At the same time, it was still ridiculously hot. I was moving slow because I didn't want to risk heat exhaustion. Just moved up slowly, and tried to keep an eye on the smoke.

Once I got enough discomfort about the direction of that smoke, I decided to turn around. I did not want to have to hike any significant distance in heavy smoke. Yet, once having done that, the smoke no longer seemed to be coming my way.

So once I reached the bridge, I decided to head on up the canyon, to see if any water was still coming down the falls. It was almost, but not quite, dry. Took a few shots, then headed back to my car. My guestimate of 4 miles could be off; it's only about a mile roundtrip from the bridge to the falls and back. I'm figuring I went about 1.5 miles up the Mt. Wilson Toll Road before turning around. But if it was only a mile up, then call it 3 miles.

This hike was from almost two weeks ago, the day after I got back from the White Mountains. At least two more hikes since then I haven't blogged, plus a fair number from before. Still have to try to catch up on those.