Telegraph and Gilman Trails, Chino Hills State Park, CA

This would appear to be my fifth trip to Chino Hills State Park, but first in over a dozen years. My last trip was from the 4721 Sapphire Road / Bane Canyon Road entrance, at the north end of the park. Note, at the time, this was just parking on a street curb, and walking up a dirt road. As I look at a map, now, I see that Bane Canyon Road is paved, and continues to an actual entrance gate and restroom facilities. Wow, what a change!

An early trip started from the Rim Crest Entrance, at the southern end of the park. And I started a hike from this end, once before, way back in 2012. Additionally, I had an additional, shorter hike from the Sapphire Road entrance, which it appears I did not blog.

Today's destination was Gilman Peak, which is where I took the shots of the snow-covered San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains. To get there, I took the Telegraph trail about 3.8 miles, then the Gilman trail north, about 1.2 miles, to the peak.

The photos are not in order of them being taken, so don't use them to follow along!

The Telegraph trail starts (or ends) near the Discovery Center, which is the formal visitor center for Chino Hills State Park, where there is paid parking. You could also park not too far away, in Carbon Canyon Regional Park, and walk an additional 100 yards to a 1/2 mile or so (depending on which lot you use), but save five dollars or so.

Apparently, there is now a paved road and entrance gate.

On my return trip, by the way, a couple of younger hikers asked me how far the trail was. I answered, honestly, that you could walk pretty much "forever," but at least ten miles on this trail, with various connections. Then they asked how far it was to a mountain top, and I said about five miles. This was about 20 minutes before the park closed, and I told them there's no way they could get there before dark. They continued walking.

At any rate, for my hike, the section on Telegraph trail is a slight incline, along a broad, dirt road. There are substantial hills on either side, which means you're shielded from sight or sound of city life. Because of the recent rains, the hills were green, punctuated by mustard blooms.

By contrast, I've walked here when it's just brown and dead-looking, and not very pretty, at all. So this was nicer, and why I wanted to hike here now, in the first place.

The Gilman trail heads off to the left, dips ten feet or so into the canyon bottom, then climbs pretty steeply up towards Gilman Peak. Currently, its tightly bound by various plants, mostly mustard in the lower area, with lots of thistle leaves to scratch you legs. Kind of wish I had worn long pants.

No poison oak on the trail to Gilman, fortunately. I'm pretty sure it gets too dry on the hill in the summer for the poison oak to survive. Did see quite a bit along Telegraph trail, but that trail is so wide that poison oak is not an issue.

The climb was annoyingly long, mainly because I knew I was cutting things a little tight. I didn't start until about 1:30, leaving me 3:20 minutes to get my hike in and then get my car out of the lot, and I wasn't sure ahead of time the actual distance I needed to travel. I had a rough estimate, by looking at a map. I also knew I was heading uphill, so figured my return time would be somewhat less than my outbound leg.

According to my Alltrails recording, I took about 1:45 of "moving" time to get to the top of Gilman Peak. Not sure how long of a stop to take pictures before the clock stopped, but, still, I figured I'd need about 1:30 of "moving" time to get back, minus stops to drink or take more photos. And although I had an idea that I could continue over the peak and return via a different trail, if it turned out that trail was closed, I migth not have had time to backtrack and get out the way I came, so I just returned the way I came.

As previously mentioned, the most common flower on this hike was the common mustard. There were also a few spots with morning glory. Numerous bush sunflowers near the start, as well as some wishbone bush and desert chia.

Lots of thistle plants were growing along the trail up to Gilman, but very few had blooms, yet. Scattered blue dicks, and some decent patches of lupine as I neared the top, too.

Temperatures were comfortable, probably mid-70s. At these temperatures, things should stay green here for a while. Not sure if the other wildflowers will fill in more as we progress toward summer.

After my hike, I was too tired to make the short detour into Carbon Canyon Regional Park. There's a stand of coast redwoods in the park, which I didn't photograph the one time I was in there, and that was a dozen years ago, so they'd be a bit taller, now. At any rate, maybe one of these days I'll manage a return.

Tenth hike of the year, so I'm still slightly ahead of schedule for my "once a week" goal. Of course, after daylight savings, and into late spring and summer, the days get longer, and I can sneak an occasional weekday hike in there. But, for now, it's mostly just on my days off that I can hike, and I can't always count on that.

I forgot my hiking boots on this one, but most of the way, my athletic shoes were fine. It does get slick in spots, though. After rains, in fact, the park will close, because, like the Puente Hills, when it's muddy, the surface can become super slick, and highly erodible.

Informationally, dogs are generally not allowed on the "backcountry" trails, but are permitted in the paved areas and overlooks. Mountain bikes and equestrians are allowed on many trails, but not all. Check their website to be sure.

Redstone Area, Lake Mead NRA, NV

Hiked February 15, 2026. Ninth hike of the year. Redstone is off of Northshore Road, about 6.4 miles north (east) of Northshore Summit Trailhead, and 15.5 miles east of the turn for Callville Bay.

I've hiked here many times, but not often enough that I've exhausted the possibilities. Today, I mostly headed southeast, trying to see areas I hadn't seen before. I succeeded.

"Redstone" is the same rusted "Aztec Sandstone" you find in Bowl of Fire and Valley of Fire. It's layered, but it's been uplifted, twisted, and shifted, and has crossbedding. The result is you get some fantastical shapes and "fins," and lots of windows and arches.

Unfortunately, the uplift is most apparent either looking to the northeast, or the southwest. That means you can only get the heart of the Milky Way against this background when it's in the direction of Las Vegas, so you get quite a bit of lighting on the horizon. Still, I may try for some nightscapes out here during the coming spring.

Most of the arches are relatively small, but at least one, I'd estimate an opening of 12-15 feet. Lots of thin layers of protruding sandstone, though. The thinest protrusions are where people haven't walked on them as much, which means the further from the parking area, the finer the fins. Relatedly, you should avoid walking on top of the thinner, finer structures, to preserve them for later visitors, who will hopefully also be careful. And, the fact is, even being careful, your footsteps will ground down some of the finer details. All you can do is try to minimize your impact.

Despite my substantial wandering, there are still additional sandstone structures I didn't get to, further to the east and southeast. Those, I can visit on a future date.

According to my Alltrails recording, I covered about 5.5 miles. Some of that was just rock scrambling, in the area closer to the parking lot, where the finer fins have already been impacted. The fair-sized arch, closest to the parking area, I've been to, before, but chickened out, this time, on climbing up to the opening. I guess part of it is, "Eh, "I've been there before, no need to go there, again."

The result of that was a lot of circling and criss-crossing, and lingering around interesting rock formations, so it wasn't continuous walking, by any means. I didn't measure my actual time in the field, but it felt like 3-4 hours, which is a long time for a relatively short distance. There's just a lot to see.

It was an enjoyable late morning/early afternoon. The temperatures were comfortable, and the weather, though occasionally windy in exposed areas, was perfect for hiking. Definitely a good use of my time!

Plenty more pictures below, but not a lot more to say. So just a bit of general information in blurbs, below, to accompany the pictures.

Lake Mead National Recreation Area is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). It was the nation's first national recreation area, established in 1964. It surrounds both Lake Mead (behind Hoover Dam) and Lake Mojave (behind Davis Dam), and the part of the Colorado River between them.

Standard private vehicle entry fees are $20 for one week. $15 for motorcycles. You can also use/buy an annual pass for just Lake Mead NRA ($45), a regular federal lands ("America the Beautiful") pass ($80), or a senior pass ($20/year, or $80 for life). Military or Gold Star families qualify for free passes. Currently, Non-US residents pay the same regular standard entry, or can buy an annual federal lands pass for $250.

Entrances are "cashless," meaning you can't pay with actual money. You need to use a credit or debit card. Of course, if you enter or leave particularly early or late, the entry kiosks are not staffed, and you don't have to pay. Same with the seemingly-recurring government "shutdowns." If the park is "shutdown," but access remains (the gates aren't locked), you can also enter and leave without paying.

Additionally, some entry kiosks are "temporarily closed" (unstaffed), so no fees are collected there, and portions of the park are accessed via roads or parking areas with no entry station (White Rock trailhead and Gold Strike trailhead occur to me, of the top of my head).

Pets are permited anywhere outdoors, and in campgrounds. I'm not sure about inside the facilities, except for service animals, which, of course, are permitted.

Launching and flying drones over NPS-administered lands is generally prohibited, and Lake Mead NRA is no exception. That doesn't mean I didn't have to listen to the annoying whine of a drone above the Redstone parking area when I got back to my car, however.

Oh, yeah, almost walked over this guy. Cute little guy, wound up tight, just a little bigger than a beverage coaster, trying to get some of that weak sunshine on his skin. It's just warming up, so reptiles are awakening. Keep your eyes peeled!

Ryan Mountain and Hall of Horrors, JOTR National Park, CA

Hiked February 8, 2026. My seventh hike of the year.

This was following another night of astronomy at Sky's the Limit. I stayed in Twentynine Palms overnight, then got a couple of really short hikes in, before returning to the motel to check out and drive home. There are a few shots I took the previous night in my last post.

I've hiked this mountain many times, including at least once in the last six months or so, though it looks like I didn't blog my last trip up here (nor my hike around Lost Horse Mine, also within the past 4-6 months, I thought). If I have the time, I'll need to find those photos and write up a post.

Ryan Mountain is one of the few official "mountain" hikes in Joshua Tree, proper (the others "mountain" hikes I've taken in JOTR are Eureka Peak and Warren Peak, both accessed from the Black Rock area of Joshua Tree, south of Yucca Valley).

The parking for Ryan Mountain is a designated stargazing site, and I've used it or the area around it for astrophotography on several occasions, which is why I know I hiked here recently. I took photos of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, in October 2024, and Comets SWAN and Lemmon, in October 2025.

It's a large paved parking lot with a vault toilet, where headlights won't usually shine directly into the parking lot. The ground also slopes down, to the west, so good for looking at things near the sun, after sunset. Conversely, it does rise somewhat to the east, and you've also got Ryan Mountain blocking a bit of your south, so it depends on which way you want to look. For looking to the east, before sunrise, I have observed from the Arch Rock trailhead parking area. For the south, Sky's the Limit would work fine, although it's slightly less dark, due to its proximity to Twentynine Palms.

For this hike, I was up a little earlier than planned, and needed to get back to town moderately early, so I settled on this one. It's a very easy trail to follow, which meant I could, if I got an early enough start, have hiked up in the dark, with a headlamp. I ended up not getting that early of a start. The sun hadn't risen at the base of the mountain, but the sky was plenty bright by the time I started.

Just prior to sunrise, if you look to the west, you'll see a banding in the sky -- darker near the horizon, transitioning into orange, then white. That's the Belt of Venus, which is the result of the shadow of the earth on the atmosphere. Sunlight hits the upper atmosphere, making it brighter. The lowest part is still in darker shadow. Because the atmosphere scatters light, the transition from dark to lighter color is gradual, rather than sudden.

You get the same thing in the east, after sunset. Since I'm often up and wandering about around sunset, I see that, often. I'm less frequently having time to wander and admire a sunrise, so seeing a morning "Belt of Venus" was kind of cool.

Because of my relatively early start, I had few people heading down as I went up, although one couple was already switching out their boots and getting into their car when I got to the parking lot. Three people were already at the top when I got to the top, and several more arrived within a few minutes of me. Still, relatively quiet, up there. Wandered around the summit, and took some pictures. Did not bother trying to scramble up the pile of rocks at the summit, which would have given me another five feet or so of altitude. What's the point?

The return trip was faster than the way up. Overall, my Alltrails recording gave me 3.2 miles and 1078 feet of altitude gain for this segment.

Even as I walked down, I was considering my next step, which I decided would be the Hall of Horrors. I've parked and walked around there, before, but hadn't found the actual "Hall," before. Decided to look for that. Alltrails helped.

This parking lot was also pretty empty at the time. Funny thing was the trashcan, with all the trash sprawled about. Ravens have figured out that people toss their fast food garbage into the trashcan, and so the birds hop into the trashcan and take out bags and boxes, then open the box or wrapper to eat the prize, inside. And, of course, they don't bother putting the trash back inside. :D

For the hike, I walked in a counterclockwise direction. Impressive rock structures all over. Relatively dense Joshua tree growth, too.

Every now and then, my phone buzzed, and Alltrails told me I was off-track. Not really much of an issue, when you're just wandering. But I did use the app to find the actual hall, which is a narrow gap between two large slabs of rock. Actually walking between them would require shimmying under rocks, which I could have done, but opted not to.

More poking around, later. At one point, I reached a place where I would again need to shimmy under boulders. This time, I did go under. Bad decision.

After starting under, and kicking up lots of dust, I realized I was moving over a large collection of rodent droppings and seed husks. So now I have hantavirus on my mind. I'll have to monitor my health for the next few weeks, which will be complicated by the circulation of flu around town. If I do start getting flu-like symptoms, I'll need to go to urgent care and see about testing for hantavirus, too.

Alltrails says I walked 1.1 miles around Hall of Horrors, so 4.3 miles for the day. Pretty short bit of hiking, but at least a decent start to the day, with a significant climb. And, as noted, seventh hike of the year. Staying on track for my target. Hoping I didn't kill myself, in the process. If my blog posts suddenly stop, you'll know why.

A few shots from Sky's the Limit

Along with doing some astronomy outreach at Sky's the Limit, on February 7, 2026, I also took some astrophotographs.

I have long-owned a 152mm Explore Scientific triplet, which I have used for sharp, color-free views of the moon and planets. The focal reducer/field flatner for this telescope was somewhere up over $500, with tax, however, so I never felt tempted to buy one. However, it recently went on sale for $300 (plus tax). Still not cheap, but no longer extravagently so. That, plus my middling level of success with my 80mm setup, persuaded me that I could spend an additional $300 to see if I take astrophotograph with the 152mm, at least for brighter, larger objects.

I think they might be clearing out their stock of a lot of items, including the 152mm triplet and associated accessories, because they have been aggressively cutting prices. The current price on the 152mm triplet is just a bit more than half of what I paid for my telescope, about twelve years ago.

The focal reducer yields a focal length of about 850, with an f/5.6 focal ratio. So same "speed" as my 80mm setup, but with almost twice the focal length. It's also a lot longer and heavier, however, so I wasn't sure if, even on my Orion Atlas mount, that would be steady enough. The answer seems to be, not really. Even a little wind and you get streaky stars. But, keeping the exposures really short (10-20 seconds), and with ridiculously high iso speeds on my Nikon D780, you could get something at least recognizable. I mean, I'm not going to win any astrophography awards, but, as with a lot in my life, I do it because I enjoy it, and not to win awards.

The increase in satellites orbiting the earth is obvious, and I've got plenty, crossing Orion, at least. Orion is near the "celestial equator," and where satellites in geostationary orbits are parked. They show up as streaks because the telescope is tracking to compensate for the earth's rotation, slowly slewing to the west. That makes the satellites appear to move east, relative to the stars.

My targets were the Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33), the Pleiades (M42), and the Orion Nebula (M45). The results, for me, at least, were not hopeless. I'll keep fiddling around with this set up, and I'm willing to try it out on things like brighter comets and what not, similar to what I've been doing with my 80mm, but with a bit more magnification. So, depending on how (apparently) large the object is, and the weather conditions, I may use this setup in future, or stick with my 80mm setup. The latter is a lot quicker and easier to setup, and more resistent to wind.