Hike 68: Sawpit Canyon

Hiked Thursday, June 17. I ended up cutting this hike short; I just couldn't take the bugs! They seemed to get worse and worse as I approached Deer Park. Buzzed around my ears and face, and ocassionally bit me. Very unpleasant.

My initial plan was to hike from outside of Monrovia Canyon Park at least to White Saddle, via the road that is paved to the Boy Scout camp, then becomes dirt pretty much indefinitely into the Angeles National Forest. I had previously hiked the road from "Deer Park" (near the cabin) out of the park, on the exit portion of Hike 12 (January 27). I had also hiked from Duarte (Melcanyon) to White Saddle (Hike 17, Feb 7). However, it would appear I've never posted about eitehr of those hikes. I don't have time to post about them at the moment, but I will do so after I finish another job application.

Despite the plan to go at least to White Saddle, I ended up turning around where the Twin Springs trail meets the road. According to the signs on the trail, it's 2.8 miles from the "trailhead" (actually a fork in the road, with the main road heading towards Monrovia Canyon Falls and a private road, closed to cars but open to hikers and bikers, bears right, past Sawpit Canyon Dam and on to White Saddle and beyond). That makes it about 5.6 miles roundtrip. In addition, there's the distance from just south and west of where Monrovia Canyon Road heads towards the park, and the trailhead. I'm guessing that was about a mile, roundtrip.

The only nice thing about the hike was that flowers were blooming. Most were familiar by now: white cliff aster, yellow monkey flower, yellow mustard, red Indian pink. One new one was a very bright, red and pink flower. Looks to be related to some of the big lilies we get in the desert. They were prominent at the very start of the trail, which runs along the road, so they may not be native to the area. There were also these red and orange flowers, which I have seen before but have not yet tracked down a name.

[Edit--I have tentatively identified the flower below as a "Canyon Liveforever." The actual plant throwing up these flowers is hidden by the leafy plants above it.]

SkyHiker

I changed my blogger "name" to SkyHiker. I originally selected "site blogger" because I wanted something neutral, that would make sense for both of my blogs. However, then it looks funny when I post a comment on to someone else's blog.

I picked SkyHiker because it'll go with this hiking blog, as well as my rarely used and rarely viewed sidewalk astronomy blog.

Hike 67: Telegraph Peak

Hiked Tuesday, June 15. 12.5 miles. (Mileage is approximate--as with many trails, the signed mileage and the trail mileage doesn't always seem to add up or make sense--for example, the .25 signed mileage from the main trail to Timber Mountain seemed a whole lot shorter than the .25 signed mileage from the trail to Telegraph Peak, while the map mileage for the former is given as .2 miles, and the map mileage for the latter is .1 mile!).

I initially planned to do this hike last week, but my knee injury and assorted other demands kept me off the trail. Finally dragged myself on this hike yesterday. And I do mean dragged. Although the majority of this hike as a simple retrace of Hike 61--Timber Mountain the additional 4 miles seemed to make this one twice as hard.

Most of this hike is at 7,000 feet and above, so it's not surprising that this can be hard. Gaining and losing altitude in the thin air is very draining. And, as feared, the descent off of Timber Peak, down to a saddle, then back up to Telegraph Peak was a killer. Although I started the day thinking I might go on to Thunder Mountain, by the time I got to Telegraph Peak, that feeling was long gone. In addition to being beat, the view down from Telegrpah Peak on to Thunder Mountain made it seem like going down to Thunder would be anticlimactic.

The picture at the top of this post shows the view of Mount Baldy from Telegraph Peak. The flat area right of center is Thunder Mountain, which doesn't seem to be a mountain at all. Instead, it's a cleared area with a paved, private road to the top, designed to support the Baldy ski resort. I may walk up that paved road later in the week.

In the meantime, Hike 67 began around 10am. Within five minutes, I came across a small bear cub. All I have to show for that is a very fuzzy picture, which sort of reminds me of the sort we used to see when ever Big Foot was mentioned.

Although this cub was the size of a large dog, I was nervous. For one, there's always the fear of winding up between a mother bear and her cub. For two, this bear didn't seem too frightened of me. Living where he was, I guess he saw lots of people every day. I wouldn't be surprised if some people tossed him food. That's a recipe for disaster, for both bear and hiker.
After leaving the scrawny little bear behind, I snapped pictures of the late spring flowers. I identified these little purple ones as "splendid gilia." What a name, huh?

However, I could not find a positive i.d. for these orange and yellow ones. They look a little like Humboldt lily, but I did not notice if their petals had all of the markings of the Humboldt lily.

The most dramatic change since the May 21 hike to Timber Mountain was that pretty much all of the snow has melted. Today, I passed only one tiny patch on the way to Telegraph. A few small patches remained on Baldy, while, on the tall peaks to the south, snow was seen only in a few deep cracks. Although the ranger at the Mt Baldy Village station said snow would be a factor on the way to Ontario or Cucamonga Peaks, I really think those routes would be almost entirely snow free. If not already clear, it can't be more than a week more.

Baldy may take two weeks to be essentially entirely clear of snow, but I suspect one could make it to the top without crampons or ice axes, and without taking extraordinary risks. Nonetheless, I'll give it another week or two. :D

At the peak, the wind was howling to the north, meaning there must be low pressure out in the desert. I saw one very large dust devil, twirling on a dry lake bed to the north.

I-15 cut across the north, and the view down the Lytle Creek drainage looked pretty clear.

To the south, the mountains between here and Mt. Wilson and even beyond gave a nice "Great Smokey Mountains" look to that view.

Hike 66: Whitewater Canyon Nature Preserve

Hiked Saturday, June 12.

I first heard about the Whitewater Canyon Nature Preserve from a Los Angeles Times article, back in mid-April. It sounded intriguing, particularly since I regularly drove by the Whitewater exit of I-10, and the idea of, not just *water*, but a raging river, out here in the middle of the desert sounded amazing.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it there during the main wildflower season. Well, I guess I *could* have made it, but my free time coincided with fee-free national parks events, so I went to Joshua Tree NP, instead.

On Saturday, I was heading out to the desert, again. There's a relatively bright comet in the early morning skies, Comet McNaught. Being a long-time amateur astronomer, I often head out to the Mojave Desert to observe from a dark sky location. Nearly always, I just drive out there in the afternoon, do my observing, then either head back late at night or stay overnight and return the following morning. However, given the temperate weather and my six-week long itch to visit Whitewater, we (my wife and I) managed to leave before noon on Saturday. That put me at the trailhead around 1:30pm. Since the Whitewater Preserve is open until 5pm, this was early enough to permit a moderate hike.

Taking the I-10 eastbound, the Whitewater exit is several miles past the Casino Morongo develop-ment. It's also just before the CA-62 exit, which would take you through the Morongo Valley and on to the towns of Yucca Valley, Joshua Tree, and 29 Palms. You take the offramp for "Whitewater," turn left at the end of the ramp (on to Tipton Road). Tipton Road takes you over the freeway. Just before you reach the big rock company parking lot, you'll come to Whitewater Canyon Road, and a sign directing to make a left here to get to the nature preserve. You'll pass numerous residences along the way. Also, on this Saturday afternoon, a number of cars were parked along the road. Apparently, this is where many of the locals go to cool off on the weekends.

The road deadends at the place marked "trout farm" on Google Maps. This building is now the ranger station/visitor center/preserve headquarters for the Whitewater Preserve. Google maps still indicates a trace where Whitewater Canyon Road used to go, but that road was removed some time ago.

The preserve HQ is a beautiful building, set among trees and near a very imposing conglomerate cliff. The material looks similar to what you find at places like Vasquez Rocks and Devil's Punchbowl. It's compressed sedimentary material, composed of silt, clay, sand, pebbles, larger rocks, and large boulders, slowly built up over many, many years, then "cemented" together by its own weight.

Behind the park HQ building is a series of trout ponds. I guess they provide small containers of fish food for kids, and occasionally allow catch-and-release fishing by youth education program participants. Of course, the fish are very fat and not very streamlined. It's surprising that the water stays cool enough all year for the trout to survive.

On this Saturday, however, the temperatures were unusually mild (and humid). The mostly cloudy skies kept things comfortable, so, when I finally took off on my hike, all I brought was my camera.

The trail I took heads north from the HQ, where a moderately-sized pool provides wading for kids. There's a large rock with mileage markers for several destinations. Turns out it's 219.1 miles to Mexico and 2445.4 miles to Canada. It's also .5 miles to the Pacific Crest Trail, which explains why those mileages are mentioned. It astonishes me that they can be that precise with the trail distances.

Just past the rock with the distances, a pair of palm trees stand on either side of the trail. When I google-mapped the area before my trip, their shadows stood out clearly on the satellite image, so they seemed like old friends there to see me off on my walk.

Before you get to the junction with the PCT, the trail on this day was a little mushy. It wound between seeps and wetlands. Tadpoles were swimming right near the trail. Wooden bridges crossed the water at several places, while rock hopping was necessary at others. The crumbly cliff was right up against the water in some places. When the wind blew, you could hear the cliff eroding into the canyon.
At the PCT junction, another sign provided some direction. Turning left up the hills would place us on the southbound PCT. It would also have placed me on the Canyon View Loop. However, since I wasn't sure about my leg strength, yet, I kept on the mostly level path, which was also the northbound PCT.

The main wildflower bloom was long past. However, there were still some small flowers blooming (both yellow and purple). Datura (looking like Devil's trumpet) was also in bloom, as were the desert willows. The willows, in fact, were pretty much covered with blossoms.

Most of this trail is spent hugging the western (or southern) wall of this canyon. The broad wash stretched out to my right, ranging anywhere from several hundred yards to over 1/2 mile wide. Desert willow and yucca were common, as was a great deal of other greenery that I can't identify, but grew thicker where the water was. In other areas, only boulders, rocks, sand, silt and logs washed down from higher altitudes provided the cover.

About 1.5 miles after the PCT junction, I came to Red Dome. It's not marked at the site, but it is red and it is domed and there was nothing else like it along the way.
From there, the trail heads bears to the right, and crosses the wash. Intermittently, the trail is marked by signs, poles, rock piles or other indications of the way to go. However, because of shifts in the water course and the building and destruction of convenient crossing points, I suspect this part of the trail changes somewhat from year to year. Also, because it's a mostly-barren wash, it is crisscrossed with potential trail routes.

Near the middle of the wash, a tall stick, perhaps thirty feet tall, was held upright by a pile of rocks. It helped indicate the general path to the trail on the other side.

However, when I reached the water, there was no obvious crossing there. Of course, with a walking stick, one could cross the water at almost any point, provided one was willing to get wet. Also, later in the year, the water is probably much lower, and easier to cross.

Since I was not willing to get wet, I looked both ways, and saw a possible crossing point about 100 yards to my left (upstream). When I got there, my hope was confirmed. The only iffy part was that the two thin logs (possibly yucca stalks) that spanned about ten feet of the way were on the thin side. I was not completely sure if the thinner one would bear my weight. Fortunately, it did. But I would really not expect it to survive a whole season of crossings.

Once on the other side, I looked again for the trail. Against the hills on the other side, I saw a pole with colored tape wrapped partially around it and flapping in the breeze. Getting closer, I saw the familiar shield of the PCT. From there, the trail climbed pretty steeply, with multiple switchbacks.

I checked the time as I started up the hill. It was about 2:40pm. To provide myself with a margin for error, I planned to turn around at 3pm. I wasn't sure how long this climb would be, but I definitely wanted to make it to the crest of this hill. So I walked briskly up this hill, though still stopped occasionally for pictures.

The top of the hill was tinted green. Don't know if that means copper. Another nearby cliff had pink rocks sticking out. Down below, the brown annual grasses provided some relief against the white rocks of the wash bottom. More soft browns were on the hills across the Whitewater wash. As I climbed higher, Mount San Jacinto became more prominent, off to the south, rising high above the hills around Whitewater Canyon.

Nearing the top, I startled a horned lizard, which, nonetheless, stayed within photo range.


I made it to the crest around 3pm. Had I continued further, that would have taken me to West Fork of Mission Creek. Obviously, the PCT continues on to Canada from there. More reasonably, it also crosses a trail that runs along the West Fork. A left turn at that junction would have taken me to a Mount San Gorgonio Overlook. A right turn there would have taken me to Mission Creek Preserve, which is also managed by The Wildlands Conservancy that manages Whitewater Preserve, as well as a preserve in Oak Glen, and several other preserves that are not in what I would consider to be southern California.

I returned the way I came. In addition to re-startling the horned lizard, I also saw a squirrel, taking cover in some tree branches.

Atop the hill facing me, another dead tree provided an interesting sight.

A cactus also gave some perspective to the pass I just crested.

I got back to the car around 4:15pm. That left plenty of time to continue on our way, stop for dinner in Indio, and still get to our dark-sky observing site by 7pm.

Seeing was great and I got some nice views of the late spring sky, including our temporary visitor, Comet McNaught. But that's the topic of a different blog!

A hike-less week!

Between stupid things I had to do (and dinging my knee after slipping on some rocks during one of those stupid things), it's starting to look like I'll go a whole week without hiking. :(

I don't want to aggravate the knee-thing, though. If the June gloom continues, maybe I'll try a shortish, relatively level hike later this week. I'll have to put off my plans for the Mt. Baldy area until next week.

Fox Peak?

There was a story in the SGV Tribune about hikers that were helicoptered off the "Fox Peak Trail," in the Angeles National Forest, yesterday.

I've never heard of Fox Peak or a Fox Peak trail. When I googled the terms, I still didn't find any info. Anyone ever hear of this trail? It's reported to be above Duarte. I suppose it could be something garbled in the translation. Maybe they said "Fish Creek," and the deputy heard "Fox Peak"?

Hike 65: Mount Wilson Trail

Hiked Tuesday, June 1. 15 miles.

I'm pretty sure this was the first trail I ever hiked in the San Gabriel Mountains, back when I was in high school. As for the current drive for 100 hikes in 2010, I hiked up the lower part of this trail on hike 33, when I looped up the Mount Wilson trail to the old Toll Road, then looped down on the fire break, over Hastings Peak, down to Jones Saddle, then down to Bailey Canyon Park.

I also hiked down the very lowest part of the Mt. Wilson trail on hike 8.

Tuesday was about the fifth time I've walked up to Mount Wilson this year, though the first time I went to the top after starting at Lower Santa Anita Canyon. I'm convinced this is the hardest way up, although the current sign at the trailhead claims it's just 6.8 miles each way (plus 1/4 mile or so each way to get from Mira Monte Avenue to the actual trailhead).

There's lots of southern exposure the whole way up (that's what makes it so hot--and the heat plus the steepness makes it tough and long). Plenty of lizards sunning themselves in the morning. Later in the day, and higher up the trail, I passed through some thick flowers that were providing a virtual smorgesborg for butterflies, sipping nector from the flowers.

On the other hand, there are also some deeper canyons that cut through the southern face of Mount Wilson. Many of those canyons have perennial streams with pretty cascades. The sound of gurgling water can be soothing, and, for those inclined, are a nice place to cool off and rest. You can admire stream-side flowers and the filter sunlight of a maples, alder, walnut, and other deciduous trees.

I wanted to get one more trip up here before it got too hot. To try to beat the heat, I started at about 9am. It was hazy or overcast for most of the way up, so this plan mostly worked. Also, it didn't get as warm as expected--probably only the mid-60s at the summit, which I reached at around 1pm. Back in the car a little after 4:30pm. This was with my slow-slog pace up the hill, and time to snap a LOT of pictures both ways.

The change in season meant different flowers blooming today versus back in February. No western wallflower, for example. But plenty of familiar friends, including larkspur, lupine, morning glory, cliff aster, and several plants I did not recognize. One of the plants I did not recognize included these pretty pink flowers that I saw along the toll road. They looked great in backlight.

The other big difference is at the top. The large parking lot in front of the pavilion has been appro- priated by a construc- tion company. There are stacks of telephone poles and pipes, plus room for semi-tractor trailers to pull in, plus a landing area for helicopters. It's all fenced off, so when you reach the top, it isn't imme- diately obvious which way to go. Turns out you're supposed to go right at the top. This takes you along the edge of the summit, with the San Gabriel Valley to your right. Along part of this walk, you'll actually be between a pair of fences--one to keep you out of the construction area, and one to keep you from falling off the cliff.

As you turn up the east side of the lot, you'll pass a rock with a plaque recognize Don Benjamin (Benito) Wilson, who re-blazed the trail to the top of the mountain that now bears his name. Two towers of the solar telescops are also easily visible as you make the turn. That's the picture at the top of this post.

After I got back home and took a shower, I stepped on a belt buckle (my own fault for not putting that where it belonged). My foot's still a little sore, so I wasn't up for hiking on Wednesday or today. (Kind of a shame, since this morning is starting out overcast, which I wasn't expecting--should keep the temperatures down on the front range, at least in the morning). Probably heading for Telegraph Peak on my next hike, unless I end up settling for something short because of foot pain.