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.

Red Rock Canyon State Park, Cantil, CA

Hiked May 18, 2026. Twenty-first hike of the year.

This was not the original plan. My 21st hike was supposed to be in the eastern Sierra, on the afternoon-evening of the 17th. But as the 17th moved from morning into afternoon, I saw what looked like a huge bank of dust, to the north of Bishop, and coming our way. By about the time I would have headed out for a hike that would end with the soft afternoon-evening light, the winds were whipping, dust was heavy and tree branches were breaking. I siren wailed.

So, yeah, no hike above Bishop on Sunday afternoon. After a few hours, the thick dust blew by, but the winds continued. The building shook. So I just hunkered down in the room, and hoped things would be better, tomorrow.

The next morning, it was still windy, but the air looked pretty clear. I considered a hike locally, but that would have meant a long, unbroken drive home. So I figured I'd try to leave relatively early, then stop and hike a bit around Red Rock Canyon State Park.

Red Rock Canyon State Park is about two hours from my home, so it's a little long for a day trip, but too close to feel like making it an overnight trip. Basically, it's Joshua Tree far, but withot a convenient gateway town to stay in. Also, the campsites are exposed, which would be a problem if it's windy, and potentially hot. In any event, I never managed to hike here, before, despite many trips through the area on the way to or from Bishop.

[Lancaster is about 45 minutes from Red Rock, but that's not enough time saved to be worth an overnight stay; Mojave is just twenty minutes away, but it's a pretty desolate area, with basically nothing but gas stations and fast food, although there is a Stater Brothers (market) in town. Overnight for Joshua Tree only makes sense because I usually stay late for astronomy.]

Stopping on the way back from Bishop broke up the drive, and let me stretch my legs for a few hours.

With no particular idea of where I would walk, I just drove to the visitor center, which, it turns out, was not open on the day I arrived. There was a roofless vault toilet in the parking lot, however, and an electronic ticketing machine. So I used the restroom, then spent a few minutes figuring out how to pay ($6 for general admission, $5 for seniors over age 62), grabbed what I needed, then started walking. I could see a very obvious far off to the south, along a ridge, so I headed that way.

At the top of that ridge, was a sign pointing to the left, saying, "Whistler's Ridge," so I headed up to that viewpoint, then came back down, and headed further south. Ran into a steap dropoff through volcanic rocks, so I turned back, again.

Then tried to make my way back towards some cliffs I saw on my way out, far to the west. This led me to a couple of box canyons, so I wound up having to backtrack all the way back to the pass I took to get here.

Once back on the CA-14 side of things, I headed a bit west, running briefly near a cliff, before arching back towards my car.

Total distance for this walk was 4 1/4 miles, according to my Alltrails recording. 584 feet of altitude gain.

Interesting formations were I walked, but not too much color. That was more near the offramp from CA-14, and further north, but on the opposite side of CA-14. Because I still had a fair walk remaining, and work, the next day, I didn't want to walk too far on this walk, anyway. So, less than two hours of walking, and a nice break. Could defintely take at least one more similar walking day to see the other areas of the park, though.

Two more hikes this week, in addition to anything I haven't blogged from earlier, yet.