Moments in Dirt and Ink

These are only a few sketches I did "in situ" for May. Fog oozing over the mountains viewed from the lookout . And also, the lookout . Another lookout , although this one is less complete.

Los Padres National Forest Map link. I'm looking at going down the Sespe for a hike, but there's just more and more trail that looks interesting to hit to the point it can't be done in a day. Not too far off, and a good one for a cool day rather than a warm one, is Chief Peak. I decided to head to it. Although the news was saying things about possible rain (only 20% chance), the cloud cover was only predicted to be about 68% and temperatures were also heading for a high of 68F. I got to Rose Valley Campground to start just after 8 and headed up the road past the gate. Nearly all of this route may be driven by special permit which is obtained simply by having a 4 wheel drive vehicle and an adventure pass, in season. The road is currently open and there were plenty of tire prints, but no one came while I was hiking it. The upper falls of Rose Valley is a damp, dark spot on the cliff. So far it looks like a brilliant day for peak climbing. The bleak white ...

Los Padres National Forest Map link. A few years back, I hiked out of Upper Oso for a short evening hike up to 19 Oaks, a campground that is just about 2 miles from the parking lot and is downright delightful. Since then, I have not returned to the area even though the trail continues from there and makes a wonderful entry point into the deeper wilderness areas. I decided to hike a bit further along this route and Little Pine Mountain and Happy Hollow Campground seemed to be perfectly reasonable destinations for such a hike. I also decided I better do it before the end of May because my Adventure Pass is expiring and I really, really don't want to hand any money over to a concessionaire such as the one operating the entrance booth just before the river crossing. Asked for $5 for day use, I showed my pass and was told to be sure to hang it. Yes, yes, I know. Then I pulled up to the river crossing. Ah yes, the river crossing. The road has just recently been opened. That...

Circle X Ranch Map link. At (just) 3111 feet high, Sandstone Peak is the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. There are two nearby trails and connectors allow a very nice loop hike through the rocks that are actually volcanic rather than sandstone. The folks at Hike the Geek decided to head around it. There was some difficulty getting everyone to the same trailhead since the words said Mishe Mokwa while the coordinates used were for the Sandstone Peak trailhead. Cell signal meant that everyone could be collected and we headed off counterclockwise. I hear that is the unlucky direction, but it seemed a good direction for this hike putting the peak near the end. We climbed up to join the Backbone Trail, then turned right at the intersection. Left at the next intersection had us following Mishe Mokwa up through picturesque canyon. Coming around into the canyon Mishe Mokwa follows. The start of the Echo Cliffs. The trail passes above some rocks that are called...

Los Padres National Forest Map link. I thought it might be nice to head up to a spot where not only was there an old fire lookout tower, but it's still there and in good enough shape to poke around in. There does happen to be such a lookout with a nice hike up to it at Thorn Point. I checked to see if the road was open, but didn't see it listed among the closures because I was looking for Mutau Flat instead of Grade Valley. I did see the campgrounds up it were listed as closed. As I came into view of the road, a big white truck bounded across Lockwood Valley and stopped a short distance along the road. "Oh, no, there's a gate right there and it's closed," I thought. Then I made out the tree on the door and thought, "But he'll probably be just opening it up for himself." The ranger locked the gate open and backed out of the road again, so it seems my timing was perfect. Overall the road was very good. That and the knowledge there ...