Hike 2013.049: Aspen Grove and Santa Ana River Trail

Hiked Saturday, October 5. A full-scale post would take too long, so I'll do a short one, instead.

Anyone planning on a trip to the Aspen Grove this year, just wanted to let you know we're around peak color, now. Many of the leaves still have a hint of green, but other trees have already dropped their leaves. I'd say you ought to aim for a visit during the next one to ten days.

In addition to the aspen, oak and willow are also changing color nicely. Nothing quite matches aspen for their yellowness, but both are much more widespread. Along the streams, willow often form the foreground, with aspen in the background. Conifers, of course, provide another, darker contrast with the changing colors of the deciduous trees.

I began this hike right near where Forest Road 1N05 splits off from Road 1N02. In the little triangular area where the two road split is a small parking area. Immediately across the dirt road that is 1N05 from this parking area is a trail head, which is probably the westernmost section of the hiking section of Trail 2E03, the Santa Ana River Trail. Officially, it appears the Santa Ana River Trail is claimed to start about four miles east, where Forest Road 1N02 intersects with the Pacific Crest Trail.

According to the Tom Harrison map, it's about 3/4 of a mile on the Santa Ana River Trail before it intersects with a trail that heads towards the Aspen Grove Trailhead. From the intersection, it's a steep additional 3/4 of a mile. The trail intersects with Road 1N05 maybe 150 yards from the parking area, so there's a short segment of dirt road you need to walk.

From the parking area, it's about 1/4 mile to the crossing of Fish Creek, which is the boundary for the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area, and where the upper section of the Aspen Grove is located.

Once across Fish Creek, the Fish Creek trail heads north (left), and would quickly exit the aspen grove. This is the path I took last month.

However, if you turn right, you are heading downstream, and the aspen grove is thicker this way, and you get a nice backlighting that makes the leaves really pop.

In the past, I only took this trail a 100 yards or so, to get a good view of this grove. Today, however, I continued south. Although the Tom Harrison map only shows a short segment of foot path, in real-life, the trail continues south for at least several miles, apparently running all the way down to Highway 38. (The woman I ran into heading up this trail as I was heading down reported she had started out across the highway from the Wild Horse trailhead. It also turns out that there are several other aspen groves this way, spread out over what seems to be another mile or so.

The woman i chatted with also noted that she had seen a trail branching off this one, and headed up a hill, to the east. I was pretty sure that one would be the one I wanted, and it turned out I was correct. After a brief and steep climb, this trail was again heading back towards my car.

Since some of the trails I walked are not on the trail, my distance traveled is somewhat uncertain. Seemed to take about six hours, but I don't think I went anywhere close to ten miles. I did take over 200 pictures, so it's possible I was simply walking really slow. So maybe as little as 7 miles?

Very nice hike, and very colorful. It was a good day.

Hike 2013.048 -- Calico Hills Trail, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV

Hiked Saturday, September 28. Fall flowers are in bloom! The temperature was also a perfect mid-70s, sunny, with light winds. It's one of those relatively rare days in Las Vegas where you think this place is just perfect for the outdoor enthusiast.

Although I've hiked in Red Rock Canyon probably a dozen times or more over the years, I don't think I ever actually did the Calico Hills Trail. It always seemed like this trail would be too crowded and not challenging enough, so I usually tried something with a bigger climb and a longer distance from the road. So it was that, on this day, I figured I might as well do a hike I had never done before.

Turns out Saturday was National Public Lands Day, which meant free admission to federal lands that charge an entry fee. This might have led to slightly larger than usual crowds. It also rendered my America the Beautiful pass moot. Oh, well.

The south end of the Calico Hills Trail starts just inside the fee station for Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. It's on the right side of the road, and there's a large sign there. It indicates 1.5 miles to the visitor center,

There's no parking there, so you'll probably park up near the visitor center. Where ever you park, you'll head down through the lowest level of parking, and find a small "Trail" sign heading downhill, towards the visitor center. There are a few road crossings before you pop out near the sign for the Calico Trails System. The sign says it's 1.5 miles to the visitor center, 1.1 miles to Calico I, 2.0 miles to Calico II, and 3 miles to Sandstone Quarry (where I started my hike to Turtlehead Peak, back in March). The 1.5 to the visitor center would be via a looping route, which branches off near Calico I. It does not count the 1/4 to 1/2 mile down from the visitor center it would take to get down to this trailhead, so the full loop is between 2.25 and 2.5 miles.

As you may immedi-ately suspect, nearly all of this trail is within sight or sound of the main Red Rock Canyon loop road. That's part of why I never took it before. But, today, I was feeling good about my choice. As soon as I drove in, I saw a carpet of small yellow flowers near the entrance, and this trail was going to let me walk right among that carpet. They formed a nice foreground to either the hills across Blue Diamond Road from where I stood, or all the way across the drainage, at the Rainbow Mountains, or up towards the Calico Hills and Turtlehead Peak.

As I walked, a steady flow of cars headed up the road, on my left. I wondered if they knew a trail was here, just a few feet from where they were driving, and the view of the flowers was so much better, here?

Meanwhile, ahead of me, I repeatedly saw the red sandstone of the Calico Hills. As I got closer to them, they covered more and more of Turtlehead Peak, and the La Madre Mountains, beyond. The twisted, stacked sedimentary layers were also obvious, and one can only imagine the amount of uplifting and folding that must have occurred over the years. This must be a very geologically active place here, that's for sure.

As the trail approaches Calico I, the road is not 15 feet to your left. Many people are parking (illegally) right along the road, and walking across to near the trail to look upon the Calico Hills. On the hills are a number of rock climbers. They all seem to be tied down, which is good. However, I rarely watch rock climbers, because I'm afraid I'll see one fall.

Nonetheless, at Calico I, the trail briefly heads directly down from the road towards the cliff, and the rock climbers are right in front of you and impossible to miss. After about 100 feet of this drop, the Calico Hills trail bears to the left, paralleling the road and the cliffs.

In this section, the trail runs near the base of the V-shaped canyon. The road is well above you, on your left. The cliffs are even higher above you, on the right. On both sides, numerous wildflowers bloomed in this somewhat-shaded area of valley. And, in an occasional spot, was pooled water from the unusually heavy rains of September.

The largest of these pools was right near the trail that headed back up towards the road, at Calico II.

Right around here, I feel I lost the official trail. I'm not sure if I should have headed somewhat up towards Calico II here to catch the real trail. Instead, I went downward, following a trail that dropped to the very bottom of the canyon. It crisscrossed the dry stream bed a few times, and it seemed to me this was no longer the trail. But since it was near where I thought I might turn around, I was not concerned.

I made my way up one of the drainages, picking my way to the top. I passed wonderful red-orange sandstone, some of it carved into little arches and alcoves.

Once at the top of a decent cliff, I stopped, drank and ate some, rested, then turned back. On my return trip, I mostly just retraced my steps, except near the end. There, rather than heading down towards the entry station, I took a more direct route towards the visitor center. I'll estimate about 5.25 to 5.5 miles for the day.

Hike 2013.046: Aspen Grove to Fish Creek Meadows

Hiked Friday, September 13. I've got two other hikes that I still need to blog. They're repeat hikes, however, with nothing unusual to report. Also, on one of them, I forgot to insert the SD card into my camera. Those blogs, if written, will be pretty brief.

In the meantime, this is just not my year for hiking. I scheduled Friday off a few weeks back, with the intent of going on a hike. And, obviously, I did. But I kept it short, 'cause I was feeling pretty lousy. I've spent the last three days mostly laying down, trying to get over this cold before the work week starts.

It's about a month too early for this hike, but I wanted to scout the area ahead of time, to see what might have changed in the three years since I was last here.

Specific directions to this trailhead are included in my older post, so go there for driving directions.

Today, I got myself a Wilderness permit so that I would be legally allowed to hike beyond the aspen grove. Without a Wilderness permit, you are technically in violation of the law to be standing in the aspen grove, though it appears they have no problem with allowing people to proceed to the grove without a permit.

Also, unlike two years ago, you no longer require an Adventure Pass to park at the Aspen Grove trailhead.

Incidentally, if driving on a narrow dirt road does not appeal to you, you have two alternatives that would obviate the need for going off-pavement, but do add between 3/4 and 1 mile each way of walking to the trip. Given the short hike involved, this should not be a deal killer.

The more obvious alternative is just at the split of 1N05 from 1N02. A signed marker for the Santa Ana River Trail is there. After a half-mile heading west on the Santa Ana River Trail, you'd turn left, on to the equestrian trail, and take that another 1/2 mile southwest, to the Aspen Grove Trail. There's also an unsigned but perhaps reasonably easy to identify equestrian trail that crosses 1N02, about 1/4 before the 1N05/1N02 split. This latter trail connects the equestrian campground with with trail to the aspen grove. Both trails are shown on the little half-page handout for the Aspen Grove Trail that they have at the visitor center, so I assume they mean this to be the alternative for folks who don't want to take their cars off-pavement. I did not actually walk those trails this day, however.

Once at the official trailhead, it's maybe 1/3 of a mile to the crossing of Fish Creek. The Aspen Grove is on the other side of Fish Creek.

As of Friday (September 13), the aspen had no hint of yellow, so I assume peak color is at least three weeks away (depending on weather, of course). I intend to make a return trip in 3-4 weeks.

Because I was not expecting the aspen to be in color yet, I intended to hike a bit further along the trail today. I picked as my destination "Fish Creek Meadows," because it would give me a just over 2 miles of distance for the day, and seemed to hold some promise for scenery.

In practice, however, Fish Creek Meadows was dis-appointing. It's a willow meadow, rather than a grassy meadow, so it was not the saturated green I was hoping for. This is the lower portion of Fish Creek Meadows. As mentioned earlier, I was too tired to be willing to hike any further on this day.

The Tom Harrison map of the San Gorgonio Wilderness gives the distance from the Aspen Grove Trailhead to junction with the trail to Fish Creek Meadows as 2 miles. From the junction to the start of Fish Creek meadows seem s to be about 1/3 of a mile, so I'm giving today's hike distance as 4.7 miles (roughly 2.33 miles each way).

It was pleasantly cooler at the 8,000 foot level than it was down in town, so it was a pleasant, if too short, break from city life.

Hike 2013.043 -- Lake Hollywood (Hollywood Reservoir), Southwest of Griffith Park

Hiked Saturday, August 31. Unbelievably, it's been over three months since I saw a story in the L.A. Times that the closed section of trail around "Lake" Hollywood was now open. When I hiked this area last year, the trail along the west side of the lake was closed, due to a landslide.

I began my hike near Gate 2, which is at the base of the hill, along Lake Hollywood Drive. From the Hollywood Freeway (U.S. 101), head north from Los Angeles, and take the Barham Blvd exit. The exit will deposit you on Cahuenga Blvd, which you'll take north about 1 mile. When you reach a light, that'll be Barham. Turn right. The second light will be Lake Hollywood Drive. A big blue sign will be hanging from that light, so it's almost impossible to miss.

The most direct way to the lake from there is to take the first left, which is La Suvida Drive. After about 1000 feet, La Suvida re-intersects with Lake Hollywood Drive. Make a slight left there to get back on to Lake Hollywood Drive (If you had just stayed straight on Lake Hollywood Drive, this would also have gotten you here, but that way's a little narrower and somewhat longer).

Once back on Lake Hollywood Drive, the third right (just *after* Wonder View Drive) is, again, Lake Hollywood Drive. This'll take you down a rather steep road. When the descent ends, you'll be near Gate 2.

Two porta-potties were here, and two more were immediately east of Lower Lake Hollywood Reservoir Dam, not quite halfway through this hike. (There's also access from the east side of the dam, at the end of Weidlake Drive. However, getting there would require a lot of turns on small streets).

Access through Gate 2 and the other gated access points is only during the hours listed in the picture at the end of this post.

As you pass through Gate 2, a chain link fence is on your left. It will be there for pretty much your entire walk, except for the part that crosses Lower Hollywood Reservoir Dam.

Despite the fence, this "hike" is generally very relaxing. It's all on asphalt, and you'll have lots of company, but actually less company than you'd find if you were heading up Mt. Lee or Mt. Hollywood, for example. Also, the curving, wood-lined path keeps visibility short, so even with people nearby, you can still get a feeling of privacy during much of your walk.

Upper Hollywood Reservoir is the first thing you see. There's a rather classic-looking intake structure across the reservoir.

Very expensive homes are on your right. The homes become more obvious further down this western end of the reservoir, where you see what must have been extremely expensive retaining structures built as the road was cleared of a mudslide.

Next up is Lower Hollywood Reservoir. Nice views through the trees of the reservoir, which make an unusual foreground for the many pictures of the Hollywood Sign you will undoubtedly take.

The lower dam is a concrete arch dam. On the back side of the dam are what are supposed to be grizzly bear heads. They don't look very ursine to me, though.

Lots of turtles and a few waterfowl are in or on the water. For the size of the lake, the number of waterfowl may be surprisingly low. I assume that's because there aren't any fish. At least, I don't think there are any fish.

Although I saw no deer here today, I have seen many in the past. For much of the hike, I kept my longer telephoto lens on my camera, just in case I did see any deer. It was an unnecessary precaution.

Once on the east side of the dam, you're again winding your way between a fence and some trees, and expensive homes are again on your right. You're also approaching the Hollywood Sign. You can get even closer if you drive up Tahoe Drive, which is where this trail next reaches a public access point.

Before you get there, there's an extended area where the local gutters must drain down towards the reservoir. There's about a 200 yard segment with seeping water and pretty much permanent flowing water. That area's become stream-like, with stream-like plants and dragon flies buzzing around and claiming territory. I don't know if the water is there year-round, and if the next generation of dragon flies will be able to rise out of the mud, though.

Once at the corner of Tahoe Drive and Lake Hollywood Drive, the rest of the walk is along a roadside. It's relatively busy, with lots of out of state plates and cars loaded with tourists looking for a close approach to the Hollywood Sign.

I don't begrudge that, but I do get annoyed when people who don't know where they're going don't just pull over for a while and get their bearings. Driving slowly and unpredictably is annoying and dangerous.

The gates to this trail open at 6:30am. They close at different times, depending on the month. Check the previous picture for the hours. There's also a map near the Tahoe Drive entrance, which says it's 3.3 miles to walk the perimeter of the lake. However, if you add the distance for the three segments it displays, it would actually be 3.4 miles. Also, I had to walk up and down an additional 1/8th of a mile each way, since I was parked a bit away from Gate 2. Thus, I'm sure I made at least 3.4 miles for the day. Very little altitude change, so it was a pretty easy 3.4 miles. No dogs are permitted on this trail. Other rules are on the sign in this picture, as well.

Hike 2013.042 -- Henninger Flats

Hiked Sunday, August 25.

I was reading an article a few days ago about weight loss, and the importance of developing a good "default" reaction. We need to get to the point where our habitual behavior is a good one: Eating healthier foods rather than sugary foods, and exercising rather than becoming a couch potato, for example.

When I started this hiking blog, my default action was to go hiking. There was never a shortage of time, because I was unemployed. Even after spending hours each day looking for work, there was always time to go hiking, if not today, then tomorrow. Two, three, or even four hikes in a day became common.

However, once I started working 40 hours a week, making time for hiking got tougher. Then I upped that to 50-60 hours a week, and it got even tougher. Particularly if I tried to pick up extra work shifts, there just weren't many days for hiking. And if something came up that required my attention on a now-rare free day, things often didn't allow for a hike "tomorrow," either.

So now, I find that my default habit is no longer to hike. I don't manage to get out of the door early enough on many summer weekend mornings, and then it's too hot (I convince myself) to do any hiking. Also, sometimes it's nice (or even necessary) to use my free time for something other than hiking--say, just vacuuming the house, or sorting through the recyclables, or doing some laundry, or making a run to the pet store to buy some cat food or kitty litter.

I've got some plans on how I might get a few more hikes in during the fall than I have managed during the summer. But I don't know if I'll manage to follow through.

In the meantime, this week I managed but a single hike. As noted above, I waited too long, and finally postponed my hike into the later afternoon hours. I settled on a 5pm-ish start up to Henninger Flats, which I've hiked many, many times before. No need to add the description again.

But I did have some interesting encounters. First off, the area was getting buzzed by helicopters. Southern California Edison was pulling their new high tension wires taut, and men were working at heights that I would find impossible to work at. This is all part of the Tehatchapi Renewable Project that I mentioned in a number of posts last year. It seems like the transmission corridors are all exactly where I like to go hiking!

Also, just as I started off, I was asked by a young couple which way they should go to Hermit Falls.

Now, I've been hiking quite a lot these past few years. But if someone asks me about a hike in a different area, it often takes me a few minutes to orient myself and fit the geography together. So as I stood here, just below Crescent Drive, near the mouth of Eaton Canyon, I had to think it over before I said something stupid. But, no, after a moment's thought, I determined what I was thinking was correct: Hermit Falls is in Big Santa Anita Canyon. To get to Hermit Falls from Eaton Canyon by foot would roughly (without checking a map) six miles up the toll road, until you intersect with Upper Winter Creek trail. Then you'd have to follow that one down probably 3 miles or 4 miles, back down to Chantry Flat. Then down another mile or mile and a half to get to Hermit.

I asked them several questions, trying to figure out how they got here, and if their car was somehow over at Chantry and they had made an incredibly taxing hike in the wrong direction. Eventually, despite their uncertainty about which street they took to get to where they parked, I determined they really were just over at the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, and that they were really just interested in getting to Eaton Canyon Falls.

At any rate, I'm glad they asked, because sometimes people get lost and never ask. Then they get in real trouble.

Hike 2013.041 -- Ascot Hills Park, El Sereno (Los Angeles), CA

Ascot Hills Park is located at 4271 Multnomah Street, Los Angeles, CA 90032.

Hiked Saturday, August 17. A combinations of factors have again kept me from getting any hikes into my schedule. Today was the first time in over a month. Yesterday afternoon, for example, I had to attend a work-related party. No, that's not the worse thing to have to do. And, in fact, a convenient side effect is that it had me driving right by Ascot Hills Park. When I got back home that evening, I looked up the park and discovered it was hikeable.

A very un-current web page, apparently not updated in five years, is available here.

Google maps would send you from San Bernardino Freeway (I-10), north on Soto Street. After one mile, turn right (east) on Multnomah Street. The entrance will be on your left, after 4/10ths of a mile.

I took a slightly different route: Long Beach Freeeway (I-710) north to Valley Blvd (the end of the freeway). Left on Valley 1.4 miles to Eastern (which is the first light after Alhambra Road, just after you go over the bridge that crosses the train tracks). Right (north) on Eastern .3 miles to Druid (there's a light there). Left on Druid. After .3 miles, Druid makes a sharp turn to the left and becomes Multnomah Street. The entrance will be an additional .2 miles, on your right.

If you're coming form the north, you could also take Huntington Drive west to Eastern, then Eastern south to Druid. Either way, there's a large sign and gate at this entrance. Immediately after entering, there's a large dirt parking lot on your left. If you keep driving on the pavement, however, there's a large paved parking lot, further ahead, on your right.

There's a chemical toilet near the dirt lot, and flush toilets and drinking fountains near the paved lot. There's also a large amphitheater, further past the flush toilets. This lower area has been reseeded with native plants, and looks very attractive. It would make a fairly nice place to do sidewalk astronomy, if the park wasn't closed from dusk 'til dawn. But I didn't get here until the end of my hike.

I parked in the dirt lot and went up the broad dirt road trail that headed north, to the left of the paved road. This trail made some long and easy switchbacks up a rounded hill. The hills here are all pretty rounded, by the way. There are still some fair stretches of altitude gain, but there are no really steep drop offs like you find in the Puente Hills.

As you climb, you gain an overview of County USC Medical Center, with the downtown skyline another three miles or so to your southwest. Several tall radio antenna are seen in two large clusters within this park.

Once atop the ridge, I headed north. The San Gabriel Moutains were to my north-northwest.

After about a mile, I found myself walking with chain link fence on my right side. An LADWP reservoir was down in that holler, covered in solar panels. I did not notice, but believe there is a lateral trail that would connect the west ridge I headed in to the east ridge I returned on. There's also a trail that heads right up the bottom of the canyon.

Continuing north, the dirt turned to pavement, and I eventually reached a residential area. A street sign I saw said I was at the corner of Lynfield and Kewanee.

Judging by a Google maps satellite view, I'm pretty sure I headed east on Lynfield, to Bowman Blvd, then right on Bedilion St., then made a right at Okell Drive, which led me to a trail that headed mostly to the south, behind homes and climbing up a hill.

After about 700 yards, the trail turned almost directly to the west, and became a broad dirt road. it made an extended climb right on up a hill, towards a cluster of antenna. I passed dried grass stalks, with the bleached shells of dead snails stuck to those stalks.

This was the longest period of altitude gain in my hike.

Once at the top, I stayed on the broad road as it headed along the rounded ridge, east of the parking area. Here, as elsewhere along the trail, the datura was thick, and practically the only large living plants along the trail.

As the trail approached Multnomah Street, the massive main buildings of Woodrow Wilson High School, across the street from the park, dominated the foreground.

I then crossed over towards the small developed section of the park and tried my best to get a decent picture of a Monarch butterfly and assorted other insects and birds feeding on the nectar of datura and sunflowers.

My entire walk took about one hour and twenty minutes. I'm estimating 3 miles total for the day. Easy, and a new set of trails I have not been on before.