Moments in Dirt and Ink

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead. One day short of a year from the last go , and we're off again. Well, fewer than before. We're out to see the falls and the day is just a bit clearer. As we went up the canyon, there was actually water along the bottom, we could hear it. Also, we could see it for a short bit where it came up in the litter of rocks at the bottom when the trail hits there. We powered our way right on past the first waterfall and up the canyon on the side looking to see where we could get to. Instead of going along the first trail to the left, we kept going up the bottom of the steep, narrow canyon. Further up there was another trail going off toward the various falls that are promised to be up there. Now anyway. Up and up and up we went. Finally there was a low road that looked at least as well traveled as the one still heading straight up. What we found was a big waterfall. Thelehaha (top) and Roaring Rift (below) falls: Beyon...

Angeles National Forest When I got back from the Condor Peak hike, it had gotten quite dark and the moon was overhead. I played with the camera a little bit. Just letting the camera choose its own speed, the moon is easy to see. I was holding the camera against the car to try to get this at first. Since the shutter isn't open so long, it almost worked. Result was generally fuzzier than this. After playing with night mode, I tried again with this normal picture setting but this time making it pause for a long time between the press of the shutter and the photo so I could take my hands away from the camera before the picture was taken leaving it just resting against something. Plants, in this case, which isn't ideal. In between I played with the "night mode" which seemed to open the shutter for about six seconds. This turned out to be too long to try to hold the camera, even braced against something. That's when I found the plant to hold th...

Mount Gleason Angeles National Forest Taking off for a nice drive and a little hike, I headed for Mount Gleason. Which hopefully wouldn't be too high for snow. The plan was to take the trail down from Deer Spring, which goes along the canyon I hiked last week. The road is off the old crest highway. Even though the local mountains aren't so high, a few were obviously a little splotched with snow especially on the north side of the mountains. As the road wound up, it quickly gathered its own splotches nearby. They seemed to get thicker and then as the road passed into a north side slope it became clear it had been plowed. So it's looking good for getting to the trail, but not so good on actually traveling down it. Luckily it is down and a southern slope, so it might be okay. On the other hand, a canyon will generally keep snow longer. Anyway, see when I get there. But I didn't get there. Turns out the road is only plowed to "County Camp No 16...

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead. Myself and a crew of one decided to head up to Trail Canyon to see the waterfall about two miles along. He offered to drive up there, but I knew he wouldn't like to have his car on the last bit of road so I insisted on driving. When we got out he confirmed that he wouldn't have wanted to drive down that road and I probably shouldn't either. Unfortunately for my car, my philosophy is that it exists to get me where I want to go, and if that means a rough but passable road, then that is what it will go down. There is some parking at the start of the road for those who do not wish to beat up their cars, but I have rarely seen it used. The public road stops just before the first crossing of the creek. I could only recall crossing the creek a couple times on the first trip up this canyon, this first crossing being one of those times. It was the hardest crossing, and the current water level made it especially difficult. The ...

Santa Barbara front country Locate the trailhead. Somewhere along the windy bit that is Las Canoas Road off of Mission Canyon Road is Skofield Park and Rattlesnake Canyon, which is apparently part of Skofield Park. Start of the trail up Rattlesnake Canyon. Well, the one one the west side of the creek, anyway. This trail is an old standby from childhood. That is, we must have been on the start of this thing at least a dozen times. As is typical of front country trails, continuing on the trail can be a challenge at times. A little ways up, the trail goes straight while a bulldozer width trail turns right up the hillside. It goes a short way up to a road and fencing and, believe it or not, a bulldozer. There's an okay view from it too. A short offshoot of trail leads to a view of some of the city below and St. Mary's Seminary.

 Rattlesnake Canyon , Santa Barbara front country: Jan 2  Trail Canyon Trail , Angeles National Forest: Feb 2  Condor Peak and some Mt. Gleason , Angeles National Forest: Feb 10

Los Padres National Forest Locate the trailhead. There's been some fires in the backcountry for a month or two and their effects could be seen near Paradise Road on the way to Red Rock, even a little bit on the river side of the road. There was also a bit of construction on the last river ford forcing us to park a bit before the parking lot and navigate bulldozed areas and pumping equipment to get to the trail. Thanks to the fires and it being just about along the fire road, the trail also required navigating bulldozed areas if a little less extreme in the bulldozing. A nice wide trail thanks to the fire road being reestablished, but no actual burn around here. The river is just a series of puddles, though many of them are quite deep. A deep pool along the generally dry Santa Ynez River.

Los Padres National Forest Decided to have an overnight on the mountain. Haven't been there for quite a few years now and the little car should have plenty of clearance for the fairly well maintained roads up there. So up I-5 to Smokey Bear Parkway and just sort of go strait to get to the entrance to Hungry Valley. Then watch out for kids on dirt bikes that are worse than jackrabbits since they'll come back around to jump out in front of you again. I went up to the top of Alamo mountain some three times when I was a camp councilor near Fraizer Park and had been up there twice since, but not since the 4x4 died. The road used to be a bit of a sand trap but it had gotten paved the last time I went so I figured they were probably taking care of the road and it would be fine to take the car up it. It's now mostly gravel, but still a very nice road. Especially considering it's going through an off road vehicular park. I guess it's nice they're taking care ...