Moments in Dirt and Ink

Sketches for the month. Baldy hiding behind a tree across Vincent Gap . The creek by the campground. The view from near the lookout location on South Mount Hawkins . A bit of fog. Kelp on the beach.

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead. When doing the loop of trails out of Crystal Lake that brought me up to the top of Islip, I noted that the map I was handed marked a trail along Hawkins Ridge as well, allowing for another loop that stops by the two Mt. Hawkins. To do it, I again traveled up to Windy Gap, then turned east along the Pacific Crest Trail, the only direction I hadn't yet traveled from Windy Gap that contained a trail. Climbing up, the ridge trail leaves to the south, then a trail to Lily Spring. The mountain rises as a cliff to the south and at the far side, a trail proceeds up the top of Mt. Hawkins. Proceeding back to the ridge trail, I traveled down along the ridge down to South Mt. Hawkins. After taking in the view from there, I traveled back along the fire road until it crossed the trail and followed the trail back down from there. The lot in the campground next to the trail head was still closed with most of the campground, so I parked behi...

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead and the end of the trail. After hiking over to Big Horn Mine, I stopped at Buckhorn to look for a camping spot so that I might hike around one of the many trails in the area again the next day as well completely neglecting that it was a three day weekend and the campground would be a madhouse. The sites were overfull with people packing three cars and over a dozen humans into sites that only allow two cars and eight people. I walked down the trail a short way to read for a bit, then turned to go home and found the sun to be at a level that completely blocked my vision when going in the direction the road goes. In the campground, I could just stop and get a view of where I was going, but I wouldn't want to miss a turn at speed. I decided to really see where the road at the end of (what is now) Buckhorn's exit really got to. I parked in the turnout in front of the old road and made my way up its water rutted route to near th...

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead. The area around Iron Mountain is riddled with mines. I've got a hike hitting many of those mines in my dream hikes, but that has not happened yet. While looking around the map for the various mines, I found one far up north that would be much easier to get to as it was down an unimproved road just a couple miles from the highway. Looking it up, I found that it is a popular hike that is still possible to make and that the cabin of the man the gap and gulch it starts at is named for can be viewed nearby. They say it follows the old wagon road to the mine, but I'm not so sure that's entirely true, although it is probably close enough. I printed out a map and headed to Vincent Gap. Vincent Gulch is a wide open valley heading down toward the San Gabriel River (prairie fork going to the east fork). Mount Baldy is visible in the background and the Blue Ridge is to the east. The trail starts next to the Pacific Cr...

Sketches for the month. The stoves at Little Jimmy Campground . The cabin at the top of Mount Islip . Somewhere up Bear Canyon a ways. The remains of a sea wall past Goleta. Smoke from a dry lightning strike. We watched it get put out from the mountain top . A few bristlecone relatives with very little bark left at the top of the mountain . Roots that come through the rock .

Circle X Ranch Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority Locate the trailhead. I had read about a trail to a place that was full of funkyness and a good place to go on those hot days as the destination is shady and has pools of water and water flowing around, at least after the rains. The general plan for hot days seemed to be hike down and wait until it is cool while playing on the boulders then hike back up. This was a hot day and I really wanted a hike, but it wouldn't be expected to be flowing very well. I decided to try it out anyway. I had errands to do before hiking, so didn't get started until the middle of the afternoon. I had a bit of an extra drive getting there because the directions missed a turn. Even the gooogle maps directions missed a turn. Something about being on two roads that are actually the same, then a third joins and one of the original roads continues while the other two turn... Anyway, my directions said to be on the one that continu...

Angeles National Forest Locate the trailhead. Mount Baden-Powell is not the highest peak in the local range. That is Mount San Antonio (Baldy) SSE of it. After that, a few of the peaks around Baldy also top out higher than Baden-Powell, but rising over 9000 feet is sufficient to dwarf the nearby peaks and be generally higher than a lot of people ever get to while being able to freely look around and feel the wind in their hair. The Pacific Crest Trail passes near it and a spur trail finishes the journey to the very top. I took the quickest route, catching the northbound PCT as it travels southward through Vincent Gap. The trail switch backs for nearly 4 miles up the north side of the mountain before continuing on the generally western traverse of the San Gabriels. Over the elevation gain, the trees dwindle from a lush forest full of ponderosa and its usual neighbors to a few limber pine populating the nearly bald top. Vincent Gap is obvious if you know what to look for, but...

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 ...