Moments in Dirt and Ink

The park nearby, but the palms weren't given the height they have. The palms again in the park nearby. Stopping by the official camp one afternoon after trail work.

Angeles National Forest This weekend, I am joining up with a big celebration of the Hundred Peaks Section . Virginia Simpson is finishing the peak list and Bill Simpson is finishing leading other people up every peak on the list for the fourth time. They picked a mountain with a road up so that those who cannot hike can go too. Unfortunately, the road has not actually been open for a while, so everyone will be hiking in anyway. It is about 5.5 miles on trail then a last push up the mountain to the finish. The requirement to hike a decent number of miles does not seem to have reduced the crowd any. At least there is plenty of parking for them. We are a little later than scheduled as we start up the Pacific Crest Trail to Pacifico Mountain. This is how a Hundred Peaks party gets started. The area was burned by the Station Fire in 2009 and the hillsides are a bit more open than they used to be. Counting the people as we stop to lose a layer in the chill and overcast d...

Los Padres National Forest Monday I joined up with the "working vacation", the third of the year being put on by Los Padres Forest Association , for Monday through Friday. I had my fun planned for Saturday and more fun planned for next Saturday, so that is what I can fit. We hit Cachuma Saddle a little before sunrise to drive up the road to the trailhead. I jump in one of the more capable cars and watch the road as we go. There are a couple spots that look like they would be tough with the little car, then one that looks highly improbable. John says they brought out a jack hammer to this spot once to make it as passable as it is. He will be coming out on Sunday, but seems to be worried about all the things he has on his plate to do and is thinking about coming out on Friday with me. That would be great, because then I would have a ride out. Otherwise, I have to walk all the way out since right now, no one else is leaving that day. We stop by McKinley Springs ...

Los Padres National Forest After hiking to Lizard Head, we went up to the fire lookout on top of Cuyama Peak. Unfortunately, the lookout collapsed almost four years ago, so it is not as impressive as it once was. We stopped about 250 feet short of the fire lookout, but it is possible to drive all the way up. Wood that was once walls and roof of the fire lookout.

Los Padres National Forest With the fall and the falling temperatures, the Hundred Peaks Section calendar is really filling up. I decided to go for a day climbing a spot on a map I had noticed once and then driving up to visit the collapsed fire lookout on Cuyama Peak. Since the expected temperature is not quite so low as we would hope, Bill decided we should all get a nice, early start. Our early start got lost a bit with some unforeseen traffic, but we still found our way to the upper end of Tinta Trail with the sun low in the sky and the air a little bit crisp. Starting down the motorcycle trail while the shadows are still a little long. It is a touch cool right at the trailhead, but as we turn the corner and start hiking into the sun in the wide canyon. The lookout base sits high on the peak to our left. There is hardly any slope to the trail. It is an easy stroll until we reach the old Upper Tinta Camp. We stop for a minute in the camp, which is marked only by ...

Instant oatmeal: The standard breakfast backpacking is instant oatmeal and hot chocolate. So is the standard breakfast car camping. We would go car camping for a month at a time as children and I developed a strong aversion to both instant oatmeal (always fruit and cream flavors) and hot chocolate. For a while, I thought I could eat none of it, but then I found that I could eat apples and cinnamon instant oatmeal (briefly) and the extra chocolate hot chocolate version sold as "dark chocolate". I have also had good luck adding in a packet of "instant oatmeal" that was full of hardy things like flax seeds.  It is the texture that gets to me, and this is sufficient to change it for the most part.  I still have a cup of cider nearby to help wash it down if my body decides to revolt and my stomach try to convulse. Yes, my revulsion is that extreme. It is no way to start a day. I need something else. Soup packets: As a teen heading out for 10 days, I dropped in a couple...

Los Padres National Forest (Map link.) Robert wanted to be shown the way up to "Medicine Circle" and I have been meaning to do it in the daylight so I can more easily go a little further to the peak nearby. This is a common hike for the Wednesday "conditioning hike" that the local Sierra Club chapter hosts. (All are welcome to come to that. Hike participants meet at the Santa Barbara Mission at 6:30 PM on Wednesday.) For that hike, we start at the Rattlesnake Canyon Trailhead and walk up to Gibraltar Road, then a little way along the road before starting up a rough use trail. You know a hike has to have something good to be popular in spite of it involving a road walk. For Robert, I am cutting off those initial three miles and starting at Gibraltar Road. We find parking easily enough near Gibraltar Rock as no one seems to be climbing today. The trail is easy to spot heading east from beside the rock. The trail starts off near the road beside a pull...