Archive for July, 2009

Progress Report (July 17th)

Jul 17

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This is a progress report for July 17th, 2009:
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The graph above compares the number of hikes I should have completed so far (the blue line) with the number of hikes I have completed (the red line). Oh, blue line. How you taunt me so. Although, I jumped ahead a bit in late May with my 5-day trip to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park (read the hike reports here), I’ve started to gradually fall off goal ever since. I’m not worried, though. I’ve been averaging about one hike every 2.5 days since I began, so I’m OK with being just one hike behind schedule (as of today). I plan on jumping way up over that blue line next week: I’m leaving tomorrow for a 9-day trip to Oregon!

Here’s something fun for those of you who like numbers:

Number of hikes completed: 29
Number of days into project: 74
Number of miles hiked: 129 miles
Longest hike: 14 miles (Hike #21 – Telescope Peak, Death Valley)
Hardest hike: Hike #21 (Telescope Peak, Death Valley)
Furthest hike from home: Hike #15 (Fremont, California – 372 miles from home)

If you hike with me, you become a prestigious respected member of the newly-formed “100 Hikes Club.”

Number of members: 16
Top ranking members:
- Melanie (4 hikes: #5, 13, 26 & 28)
- Nathan (3 1/2 hikes: #4, 9.5, 10, & 11)
- Sharon (3 hikes: #22, 23 & 25)

I want to thank all of my friends and readers for their support, and not just those who joined me on the hikes. There were quite a few hikes I wouldn’t have been able to get through without your words of wisdom, motivation, or kick in the butt.

I’ll be leaving tomorrow for a trip to Oregon. I don’t know if I’ll have time to add any new hiking reports to the site, but I’ll most certainly be tweeting. Why don’t you follow me? I might also post a few photos of my Oregon hikes up on flickr.

Tags: progress report

Hike 20 – Aliso Canyon, Faultline, Ranger Ridge Trails

Jul 13

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A hot day bushwhacking.

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Faultline Trail in Chino Hills State Park

I was determined to do more than hike #19 in Chino Hills State Park, so I returned the next day (Sunday, June 21st) to do another. I brought along some gear that would make hiking a bit more enjoyable. On Saturday, I had been attacked on two fronts by the weeds growing out of control in the park: at head level, I was constantly whacked by the tall black mustard plants along the trail and renegade burrs attached to my boots and socks. This time, I came prepared with a pair of sunglasses and nice tall gaiters.

At first, I thought I was a fool for wearing long pants with gaiters. The heat was tough even for hikers in shorts. I passed a family that looked like they were melting and were grateful when I suggested the shaded areas found on the Lower Aliso Canyon Trail (which I was on yesterday). But I trekked onwards and upwards along the Upper Aliso Canyon Trail, which was basically a fire road. Eventually, the road reached the Faultline Trail, which at first was another fire road but eventually became a narrow path cut into black mustard plants. The sunglasses and gaiters became my best friend.

The Faultline Trail runs up into the golden hills of the park and meets the Ranger Ridge Trail, a fire road that follows the power-lined ridge back to Rolling M Ranch and the parking lot. For both of these trails, I passed no one. I was probably the only one crazy enough to explore the mostly-unshaded park on a hot day, but it wasn’t so bad. It was quite peaceful on the trails and I could become lost in my thoughts.

Thoughts about the hike:

I saw two deer pronking. Yes, that’s right: I said pronking.
Did you know that I have seen a darkling beetle on every single hike for this project? The Eleodes beetle is becoming a good luck charm and I don’t feel right ending a hike without seeing at least one.
The story of the Freeway Complex Fire is a sad one: 95% of the park’s 14,000 acres went up in flames..

Hike #20 Trip GPS Stats:

Date of hike: June 21st, 2009
Location: Chino Hills State Park – Chino Hills, California
Length: 3.7 miles
Duration: 2 hours, 15 minutes
Average speed: ±1.6 mph
Altitude at start: 797 feet
Altitude min.max: 759/1,350 feet

This map was made with the data my GPS captured on the hike.
For a more detailed trip report map, check this out.

Photos:

One of the historic windmills the park is known for.

Sidewinder Trailhead off of Upper Aliso Canyon. Just out of this shot is a closed sign. It has been closed since the bridge had burned in the fire last year.

Raptor Ridge Trailhead - notice the burn scars on the bottom of the post.

Peek-a-boo!

I'm invincible with my gaitors on! Take that, weeds!

The Ranger Ridge Trail passes right under scenic metal trees.

There's one of these beautiful flowers for every one million black mustard plant (background).

This is the end of my hike looking back up Ranger Ridge Trail. I think the trail is easier if approached from the west (via Faultline Trail) rather from here to the east. I'm glad I came down this hill at the end of the hike rather than started be climbing up it.

Tags: Aliso Canyon Trail, Alyso Canyon Trail, Chino Hills State Park, Faultline Trail, Ranger Ridge Trail, Raptor Ridge Trail

Hike 19 – Water Canyon Trail via Aliso Canyon Trail

Jul 8

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A great day to spend in one of California’s fine state parks!

Water Canyon Trail in Chino Hills State Park

The weekend of June 20th was Save Our Parks Weekend (as blogged about here). To mark the important occasion and spread the word about California’s park system, I visited Chino Hills State Park. The 14,102 acre land is found at the north end of the Santa Ana Mountains in the Los Angeles Basin. It consists of mainly rolling hills and canyons, the highest spot at 1,781 feet in elevation above sea level (the lowest is 430 ft). The park is fairly new, created in 1984 thanks in part by a local citizen group called Hills for Everyone. Over the years, the park has grown in size with land acquisitions from various landowners.

This hiking trip would mark my first trip to the park and it definitely wouldn’t be my last (see hike #20!) The weather was perfect for hiking: cool, overcast and a slight breeze. At some points, it seemed the dark clouds would break, but it never rained. I was hoping to find more people at the park, but I’m afraid the ominous clouds and lack of cover kept them away. Unless you hike along the stream beds, most of the park consists of rolling hills of golden grass.

I fell in love with the park immediately. It is so different in ecology than the other wilderness areas of Southern California. The fine oaks standing proudly on rolling hills of grass and the wooded dells reminded me a lot of my years living in Fair Oaks, California when I was a pre-teen. The wildlife kept me from hiking too long, too fast for I was stopping every few minutes to study a butterfly, frog, or lizard. Although I was hoping for many people to come out and enjoy the state park on this SOS Weekend, I didn’t mind the seclusion on the trails. I saw only two other souls along the Upper Alyso Canyon Trail and Water Canyon Trail.

Thoughts about the hike:

A non-native mustard grass has overrun the area. So much so, volunteers have come in and removed patches of them and planted native foliage in their place.
According to a ranger, this park is a part of a wilderness corridor that extends all the way down to Mexico.
If you want to do your part in saving our state parks from budgetary cuts, please go here to sign the petition. Thank you!

Resources:

Hike #19 Trip GPS Stats:

Date of hike: June 20th, 2009
Location: Chino Hills State Park – Chino Hills, California
Length: 3.3 miles
Duration: 3 hours, 17 minutes
Average speed: ±1.0 mph
Altitude at start: 716 feet
Altitude min.max: 655/760 feet

This map was made with the data my GPS captured on the hike.
For a more detailed trip report map, check this out.

Photos:

Banie Canyon

A small frog calls Aliso Canyon home.

Simple beauty

Definitely not a through trail (watch the video)

Governor Schwarzenegger: Please don't shut down this park!

Should have work pants and gaiters! It took me 20 minutes to remove all the burrs in my socks and boots after this hike!

Tags: Aliso Canyon Trail, Chino Hills State Park, Save Our State Parks Weekend, Water Canyon

Hike 18 – Millard Canyon

Jul 6

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A peaceful hike in a canyon almost ends in a serious injury!

Sam and I at Millard Canyon

A new friend and I explored one of my favorite haunts in the area: Millard Canyon. I’ve probably hiked this trail a dozen times in the past, but it’s been a few years since my last visit so I was looking forward to seeing it again. Sam and I met at 9am in the parking lot closest to the trailhead. We passed many parked vehicles along Chaney Trail, possibly foreshadowing the amount of people we would find on the trail. However, this wasn’t the case. Although it is one of the more popular family hiking trails in the front side of the San Gabriel Mountains, there were very few people in the canyon. We saw only one or two families along the 1/2 mile trail to the waterfalls.

Sunny blue skies bathed most of the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valley this morning, but clouds hung over the peaks of the lower San Gabriel Mountains, sliding into canyons such as this one. Humid atmosphere hung in the canyon dampening the ground, trees, and rocks. The thick air made Millard Canyon all the more magical, as if taken from a fairy tale.

Most visitors to this canyon only take the trail as far as the waterfall and do not attempt the upper canyon area. To get to the upper canyon, find the trail about 100 yards below the falls on the south side of the canyon. It is marked by a simple post. This steep path runs right up the side of the canyon and is one of the most difficult areas of the trail. Scramble on hand and foot up about 100 feet and you’ll find a trail leading up and around the waterfall, rewarding hikers with a few miles of less disturbed nature. There’s also an old mine at the end of the canyon – Dawn Mine – that offers some spelunking for those adventurous enough to explore dark wet caves.

Sam and I hiked about two miles into the canyon until we reached the second difficult spot on the trail, an area where a landslide and/or flood had filled the canyon with truck-sized boulders. We took a break here. While we were resting, a group of hikers approached. I had my back facing the lower trail and had only noticed the first two hikers, but in just a minute or so, fifteen hikers had snuck up on us. Without a word, Sam and I decided it would be best to stay in front of this group, so we quickly got up and going. Sam took just a few steps before she slipped, falling face first off a small boulder and down onto another boulder. I looked on helplessly as she hit the rock hard. She took a minute to take a damage check – a bruised knee and some dings here and there – but relatively unscathed. It could have been a lot worse. A broken leg here and it would have been a difficult medical evacuation. Sam is a great hiker (she would end up kicking my ass up Telescope Peak for hike #21) and her fall just made it more clear on how dangerous hiking can be. Every step counts.

We turned around after the fall and kept a constant pace with few stops back to the trailhead. We both assumed that the rush of adrenalin Sam experienced immediately after the fall would wear off sooner than later, making it hard for her to walk, let along hike. Sure enough, Sam’s leg would need to be iced at home, but she was back on her feet the next day.

Thoughts about the hike:

I’m glad I always pack a first aid kit when hiking. Not sure how much good it did Sam other than cover up a few scratches, but bandages are better than nothing, I suppose. The pain-relieving pills were probably the most appreciated aid given.

Resources:

Hike #18 Trip GPS Stats:

Date of hike: June 14th, 2009
Location: Millard Canyon – Altadena, California
Length: 3.8 miles
Duration: 3 hours, 7 minutes
Average speed: ±1.2 mph
Altitude at start: 1,795 feet
Altitude min.max: 1,795/2.542 feet

This map was made with the data my GPS captured on the hike.
For a more detailed trip report map, check this out.

Photos:

Right near the trailhead, someone installed this informative sign.

A Coast Range Newt

Sam exploring the upper canyon

A few minutes after this photo was taken, Sam would fall on these rocks.

Columbia lilies in bloom

Tags: Angeles National Forest, Millard Canyon, San Gabriel Mountains

Hike 17 – Mt. Hillyer via Horse Flats

Jul 1

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This hike was all about trusting my instincts… and my instincts failed me.

Near the top of Mount Hillyer

For my second hike on this Angeles National Forest weekend (see Hike #16), I headed a little deeper into the forest. The hike begun at the Horse Flats Campground, a mile or so from the Chilao Visitor Center up Chilao Campground Road. The thin road looks like it has seen many decades of cars, but it isn’t suffering from any major potholes or storm damage. The trailhead for non-campers has been moved past the Horse Flats Campground, adding at least a mile in each direction to the three-mile hike. It was 2pm and I was hoping to get a third hike in after this one, so I cheated and parked in a campsite. I figured that with only a few of the 26 sites filled, I wasn’t doing much harm. I parked at campsite #8, the equestrian site with horse ties.

My first “mistake” of many happened just as I started the trek. The trail I started walking down was not the official trail head. I would learn later that this was just 100 yards further into the campground, near campsite #10. I realized my mistake fairly quickly with just a glance at my GPS, but continued on believing (incorrectly) that this trail would hit the main trail to Mt. Hillyer. The area here was much different than my earlier hike in the day. This hike took me through chaparral and pine, but mostly shadeless exposed boulder outcrops. (Add to the list of mistakes my decision to take the sunscreen out of my backpack for hike #16 and forget to put it back in for this hike.) The trail I was on had a few steep inclines up sandy paths, following the spine of rocks right up to the top. But after a mile or so, the path evened out on a plateau of about 6,000 feet in altitude. The summit of Mount Hillyer was difficult to find. This landscape has been worn down by wind and water, and the mountain top is long and flat. However, on the northeastern edge of this plateau is a steep hill. This is the summit of Mount Hillyer… I think.

It seemed to be the summit, at least. My GPS showed it as the summit, at 6,165 feet. But there were no trail signs or other hikers to confirm this.

Most of the problems I had on this trip was due to my final mistake: to trust my GPS. I had made it to the peak, where my GPS showed the dotted line of the actual trail ending. I figured that if I headed down the eastern side of the peak, I’d hit the trail and looping me back to Horse Flats campground. Almost immediately after leaving the summit, I “lost” the trail. It simply vanished among the Yucca, Mountain Mahogany, and Manzanita. I hiked up and down the side of the mountain in a search pattern, watching on the screen of my GPS the green dashed line representing my path crossing the black dashed line representing the trail.

I could have turned around and gone back to the peak, heading down the mountain the way I came, but I didn’t. Instead I continued whacking through the bushes, following animal paths or making my own. It wasn’t easy. Chaparral and Manzanita are strong plants with stiff branches, not caring to move for anything, let along a big hiker. The worst though were the Yucca whipplei, more commonly called Our Lord’s Candle. These spiky plants showed no mercy for my clumsiness. A brush up against one of these spiky plants and I’d have a sharp blade-like leaf puncturing my leg.

When I finally made it back to my car, blood from wounds sustained by stabbing agave had stained my pants and socks. I had blood caked onto one of my legs from the knee to the ankle. But I felt like I accomplished something much greater than expected. An adventure was had and I explored the unknown. I could have been smarter on my navigation, but I never felt in immediate danger. The last mile took me though some killer terrain, but I always stayed in visual contact with the campsite. If worse came to worst, I could have yelled for help down to the campsite.

What I learned on the hike:

Sometimes the trusty GPS can be GP No. My guess is that the trail had been moved but the map inputted in the device was old.
One of my favorite natural smells is that of Ponderosa Pine trees. Their bark smells like vanilla or butterscotch. Next time you see one, stick your nose into it and give it a good sniff!
I saw some indistinct tracks in the silty dirt that looked like they belonged to a heavy animal. I wonder if there are any bears or mountain lions in this area?

Hike #17 Trip GPS Stats:

Date of hike: June 13th, 2009
Location: Horse Meadow Campground, Angeles National Forest, California
Length: 2.8 miles
Duration: 2 hour, 26 minutes
Average speed: ±2.3 mph
Altitude at start: 5,651 feet
Altitude min.max: 5,640/6,171 feet

The map below was made with the data my GPS captured on the hike.
For a more detailed trip report map, check this out.

[VIDEO COMING SOON]

Photos:

Big Boulders and lightning-struck trees were a common sight on this trail.

Small purple flowers

More trees! More boulders!

Honey bees gathering water from a damp stream bed.

Impressive views near the top

A velvet ant, which is actually a wingless wasp. Red means 'go away' for this insect: their sting inspired the exaggerated nickname of 'cow killers'

I'm lost with a GPS, if that's even possible. I'm hiking a trail that's not on the GPS, but when I go to where the trail should be, it isn't there!

The last of the cloud cover

Bloodied by a yucca.

Tags: Angeles National Forest, Horse Flats, Mount Hillyer

Hike 16 – Vetter Mountain Lookout

Jul 1

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An unexpected meeting at the best real estate in Southern California.

On top of Vetter Mountain

I was strongly impelled to hike today. Even after rolling out of bed early and driving through the rain towards the mountains, I was consumed with a strong desire to hike. I’m officially addicted to the outdoors!

Another good reason to be outdoors was that it was National Get Outdoors Day. This annual event started two years ago by The American Recreation Coalition and is designed to motivate children to put down their cell phones and video games and to explore the world outside. Being the big kid that I am, I was happy to oblige.

My first hike of the day would be to the Vetter Mountain Lookout. I briefly read about this hike in the book Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels by John W. Robinson, but seemed to miss the fact that the lookout isn’t just a mountain peak, but also a Forestry Service fire lookout tower! I hiked up the fire road and arrived at the tower to the warm welcome of the two volunteer staff. Volunteer Ken showed me around the 14×14 foot single-room building – nicknamed “the cab.” Although it only takes a second or two to see everything in the room, I could have spent an hour looking at all the framed historic photos, topographical maps, and fire-spotting tools that the tower is equipped with. (Check out the video below for a tour of the lookout tower.) The view out of the large windows of the tower is one worth the time to gaze out at. So I’m told. The clouds hung low for most of the morning, dunking the mountain in a thick fog.

After a half hour at the tower talking to volunteer Ken, I headed back. This time, I would take the Vetter Mountain Trail instead of the fire road I took to get here, looping around back through Charlton Flats. Some websites and books list this hike at about 1.6 miles RT, but with the gate locked, it’s at least 2 miles RT via the shortest route (Wolf Tree Nature Trail).

What I learned on the hike:

Apparently, the Charlton Flats gate has been locked for a good portion of the last few years.
Taking the fire road up and the trail back doubles the length of the hike from the parking lot to the lookout tower.
Some mountain bikers don’t seem to care that hikers have the right of way. I find it irresponsible for bikers to go 20mph down a hiking trail and expect the hikers to watch were they are riding.
Interested in becoming a volunteer Fire Lookout? Check out the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association
Volunteer Ken would like to spread the word about his friend’s quest to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada for the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Here’s his blog.

Hike #16 Trip GPS Stats: