Moments in Dirt and Ink

Malibu Creek State Park (map link) For a $12 day use fee (or free parking along Mulholland Highway and a bit further to walk in with more hills), Malibu Creek State Park offers quite a lot of easy hiking past popular swimming holes to the extremely un-Korea-like part of an old Paramount movie ranch where MASH was filmed. (A number of other movies and shows were also filmed there and in an old 20th Century Fox movie ranch on the way.) It seems like an excellent hike for an extremely hot day. A sign points to the "backcountry trail", which seems a bit of a stretch for the set of stairs leading down to an initially paved road leading to a large visitor center past a detailed information sign. The road crosses over the first swimming hole, a deep spot just below it in Las Virgenes Creek, then launches into the dry and hot park past the first of many signs pointing the way. It tells me that if I go a little further, I can visit something called "Reagan Ranch" ...

Jeffco Open Space Map link. I am told it was not the case a couple days ago, but today is hot in Golden, Colorado. We will hike up from the highway to the top of Lookout Mountain where Buffalo Bill is buried to reassure ourselves that he is, indeed, dead. The hike is a popular one that starts at the edge of highway 6 and climbs through a semi-familiar landscape of sages and, higher up, pines. Garth, who has been hiking barefoot some recently, points out the three cacti that can make that miserable. One is the prickly pear that is so common everywhere, including at home. Some of the familiar is not so much so upon closer inspection. These hillsides seem to be covered in Matilija poppies, but it is more likely that they are crested prickly poppy (Argemone polyanthemos), which also has the big, crinkled, white petals. A selection of prickly poppy on the hillside just along one of the parking areas on the side of the highway. The trail climbs along Chimney Gulch. The bo...

Los Padres National Forest Click for map. While wandering up Romero Canyon in the dark as part of the Wednesday conditioning hike held by the local Sierra Club, I got an offer for a hike down to the Manzana Schoolhouse, something I've wanted to do but never quite got around to planning for myself. That could partly be because it is a little bit more than eight miles down to the schoolhouse and partly because this area can become quite blistering in the summer when the hours to do a long hike are easier to come by. The hike on offer didn't just go down the creek and back up, but would make a loop taking in the western section of Hurricane Deck, so is exactly the hike I would have planned. This does bring the total distance to a bit more than eighteen miles and adds some actual climbing to the otherwise very flat route. We start downstream from NIRA shortly after the 8AM meeting time, following the Manzana Creek to Potrero Camp. The trail along this section stays up ...

San Bernardino National Forest San Gorgonio Wilderness Map link. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 The night was cold, the morning is cold. The camp is devoid of the sounds of people getting up, but I'm pretty far from the other two groups. The water in the Platypus isn't frozen and I eventually get up to turn it into breakfast. The new pump refuses to add any pressure to what is already in there, but the stove goes just fine after four matches fizzle and a fifth lights. After breakfast, the last layer of washing water left in the pot freezes to it. I'm wondering if it could actually be getting colder as the sun gets up when the sun finally starts hitting the camp. Once it gets to me, the neighbors who got it first finally emerge. The sun instantly heats the place to the point I don't need my jacket anymore. Some of the area of Limber Pine Bench with one of the rock walls that grace the south face of the numerous flat spots. The big group is a bustl...

Carrizo Plain National Monument Map link. The morning was clouded over and looking a bit too much like the weatherman might have been right, but that first round of clouds started to burn off as the sun got higher. I headed up the road to the top of the ridge where the Caliente Ridge trail, an old road, starts. This is the only trail listed on the monument's web site that is over one mile in length. This one is 8.5 extremely easy miles to Caliente Mountain where there are views and the remains of an old aircraft lookout from WWII. Some also start at Selby Campground, continuing on the road out the back of the campground. This road quickly becomes a trail which climbs up to the public road near where it reaches the ridge. For an even greater challenge, there is an access trail that starts down on 166 although it is unclear what it connects to from the monument map. The road continues down the ridge on the other side to 166, but does not allow public access that whole w...

Los Padres National Forest Locate the trail head. The family wanted a little walk and with bright blue, freshly washed skies and the last of the lingering grey clouds puffing out of existence in the sun, it didn't seem like the time to wander some ocean bluffs, but to head to some high place. Knapp's Castle was among the suggestions, so we went there. George Knapp was a driving force in first laying down the roads we still use to access the backcountry , so it is no wonder that he knew a good spot to build his house. Somewhere below, there is a waterfall, but it is not along the maintained route and the tales of getting there describe a fair bit of work, especially considering that the route was once a road. I couldn't get anyone interested and hadn't dug out the bit of map that would be necessary, so we stuck to the very short stroll to the ruins. Every road that isn't open to driving by the public has to have a gate, and this is the one at Knapp's ...

Bronson Canyon Park Locate the trailhead. I joined the geeks for another hike, this one to pass through the old "Bat Cave" of the Batman TV show and up to the Hollywood sign. I was sort of in the neighborhood and I have managed to never be anywhere near the remains of the Hollywoodland sign, so I thought I might go. Besides, Bat cave! So I got there and waited for more to come and found some new folks trying it out for the first time and then a few old folks and finally our leader, uncharacteristically late. Once gathered, we headed up the road and took the right at a fork to get to the "cave". Apparently, this is the Bat Cave, or at least the entrance, even though it is not a cave at all. After poking around the tunnel, which had a couple more off it before getting all the way through, we headed back to the fork and took the left to start climbing toward the sign. We had a fair bit of up to do to get up to it, but initially went a little bit ...

Will Rogers State Historic Park Map the trailhead. It seems it is about time for another Rustic Canyon hike for Hike the Geek. Apparently some people hike down from the road into the canyon and call that the Rustic Canyon hike, but the geeks, or particularly the leader, like the hike I've done before for its variation in terrain type. The hike starts off at the tended green of polo fields, then climbs up to the Backbone trail for a little way before dropping down into the canyon. The canyon starts off wide and lush and narrows into a stony V, but is still rather lush. I got there very early, so sat down by the polo fields where they were actually playing polo. Horses running up and down the field and then at the half, the folks in their summer dresses and wedge heels came out onto the green, champagne in hand, to stomp divots. There was also a contest to find a cork hidden beneath a divot. Someone won and the folks meandered back to the side for the entertainment to ...

Uttarakhand, India <- Back to day two. We climb out of bed for a breakfast, including chocolate chip pancakes, and the last bit of hiking, climbing to the top of Chandrashila. The trail up the mountain starts a little way up the road, so we drove up to it. Buildings to serve all the needs of the average tourist stood empty so no one tried to sell us postcards of where we were about to go. The trail starts off paved until an area of temple and shrines about halfway up that also stands abandoned in anticipation of the coming winter. A couple of male Himalayan monals, the state bird of Uttarakhand. The paved path snaking up the mountain side.

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead. On the first of October, they opened up a few unburned areas in the southern section of the Angeles National Forest. One section is the piece right behind me at the top of Lake. The trail itself isn't actually in the forest until some time just before Echo Mountain but there is no sign so it's difficult to tell exactly. I decided to hike up by Castle Canyon again. The fire road behind the pavilion at Inspiration Point marked the boundary of the open area and, in that immediate area, the burn. After climbing up, I would explore a little by going down the fire road and then taking one of the other trails back down to Echo Mountain. On the way up, very little burn could be seen. There was a small spot of something that had peeked over the edge of the ridge. The further mountains could be grey with ash or grey with distance. Going up Castle Canyon, I found the bay I had gathered leaves from last year are still quite s...