TrailLogDec

Tuesday December 2 Flintridge to Angeles Crest Highway via the Arroyo- 10 miles. Difficulty: Easy

Since I am suffering from a badly twisted ankle, I have been avoiding the rougher trails and decided just to do a short run up the Arroyo and explore the fire road from Gould Mesa Campground over to Angeles Crest Highway. The run was pleasant - lots more water running in the Arroyo, the leaves falling in places and an easy effort up to the fire road out of Gould Mesa. It is only about a mile and a half over to Angeles Crest Highway, but was all uphill and moderately steep. I crossed the highway and discovered that the Cross Town Trail picks up where this fireroad ends and continues on up to the Mt. Luken's Connector Trail (VERY steep with poor footing). This does provide an alternate route up to Lukens from the Flintridge area, however.

Wednesday December 3 Bailey Canyon Park to Mount Wilson via Bailey Canyon Trail, Mt. Wilson Trail and back via Mt. WIlson Trail - 17 miles. Difficulty: Moderate

The climb up Bailey Canyon Trail is pretty and steepish. Bailey Canyon Park is at 1110 feet and when you hit Hasting Saddle about 3.75 miles later you have climbed to 3350 feet. The half mile or so from the saddle to the Mt. Wilson Trail is ALL down hill (not what I had expected) and you give up almost 600 feet of your hard fought gain. Now it's a 5 mile climb from 2720 feet at the trail junction to Mt. Wilson at 5630 feet. The trail is quite pretty and reasonably runable with a few short exceptions where there is too much loose rock. Summertime would make most of the first 3 miles pretty warm as there is no tree cover at the lower altitudes, but from the trail junction on there is lots of shade under groves of oak, sycamore and alder. A note of interest - there is what appears to be a new trail off of Bailey Canyon that heads from Hastings Saddle west across the ridge to Hastings Peak and then to the Toll Road. Looking at the map it is probably about a mile and a half across the ridge. This route would seem to offer another variant for someone wanting to take part trail and part fire road up to WIlson.

Tuesday December 9 Eaton Canyon Nature Center to Mt. Lowe Rd. via Idlehour Trail - 18 miles Difficulty: Strenuous

Climbing up past Henninger Flats about a mile or so is a currently unmarked trail branching off to the left around the side of the mountain - Idlehour Trail. Idlehour drops from the ridge behind Henninger at about 3300' to descend down into the canyon about 600 feet to the Idlehour Trail Camp, a very pretty spot beside a babbling creek., before starting the LONG grind up to 4450' at the junction with the Mt. Lowe Road. The scenery is great and most of the trail can be run as the footing is decent. I can tell you that at this time of the year it gets COLD down in the canyons - my hands were numb before I got back, so take gloves and perhaps a vest or long sleeve Coolmax shirt for early morning or late afternoon runs if you want to stay comfortable. The Idlehour Trail is one of the prettier trails I have run this year with a variety of flora and geography. This run was well worth the effort!

Wednesday December 17 Clear Creek Ranger Station to Tom Sloan Saddle (almost) via Gabrielino Trail to Bear Canyon - 10 miles. Difficulty - Moderate effort, very poor footing - more of an adventure than a run.

To get to the Clear Creek Ranger Station, head up the Angeles Crest Highway from Flintridge about 9 miles to the junction of Angeles Crest and Angeles Forest Highways. An Adventure Pass is required to park anywhere in the National Forest. You can get one at many outdoor supply shops like REI for $30 for a year. Be sure to hang your pass from the rear view mirror or you will be ticketed. Clear Creek is a good place to leave your car since it is staffed during most daylight hours. From Clear Creek there is an interestiing half mile trail below the highway leading down to the Switzers Picnic Area entrance road. There are various interpretive signs along the trail that are worth reading about the surrounding vegetation and the history of the area. Watch out for several metal stakes sticking up a couple of inches above the dirt about 1/4 mile from the top. They will send you smashing to the ground if you catch your foot on them. Another half mile down the Switzer's road and you are in the picnic area. The trail follows a very eroded paved road path down the Arroyo Seco (yes, this creek ends up in Pasadena!). A bobcat bounded across the trail at one point (made my day). A little over a mile down the trail is the Commodore Switzer Trail Camp and a short 1/4 mile backtrack up the stream bed takes you to the lower (and smaller) of the Switzer Falls. The Upper Falls requires some climbing up the rock cliff (which I didn't do), but the falls and the many deep pools along the trail make this a beautiful side trip, although the footing is poor (lots of boulder hopping) and the trail washed out in sections. Another half mile takes you to the Bear Canyon Trail junction which descends down into Bear Canyon. This stretch is indescribably beautiful with the trail sometimes disappearing in the creek bed, at times clinging to the cliffs (and there are some very hairy vertical drop offs were a fall would kill you, not just break some bones). The trail branches off the Arroyo and follows Bear Creek up a much smaller and even more beautiful canyon, but the footing is even worse. After Bear Canyon Trail Camp the trail deteriorates even more and I was forced to turn back and retrace my steps with about a mile to go since I had to pick the carpool kids up from school. I really wouldn't want to try to run this route for time and it really makes a better hike than a run. Just plan on taking your time and doing lots of careful walking to prevent twisted ankles or even more deadly falls. I think I will pick up the last mile I missed by coming in some other day from the Tom Sloan Saddle end. And, as on the Idlehour Trail run, take some warmer gear - it got cold down in the canyon in spite of the 75 degree weather up above on the exposed ridges. I would also advise that you do this one with a buddy for safety reasons.

Tuesday January 6, 2004! Happy New Year. Clear Creek to Josephine Peak and then to Strawberry Meadow. 14 miles. Difficulty - Moderate, but lots of poor footing

Knowing that winter will eventually get here, I am now trying to get as much of the high country out of the way as possible. Missed several weeks due to winter break from school and the holidays, so I have some ground to make up. To start this run, park at Clear Creek Ranger Station and head north about 50 yards down the Angeles Forest Highway. On your right is a bar gate leading to a dirt road, marked "2N64", Josephine Road. This road is a 2.4 mile climb from 3650' to the junction with Josephine Saddle Trail at 4890'. I followed the road west to Josephine Peak (5558'), which used o be a fire lookout tower station (boy, would this have been lonely duty). The peak is very small and rocky, but the view is fantastic. I headed back down to the saddle, and across the saddle trail (ran into some deer and several covey of quail here) to the junction of the Colby Canyon and Strawberry Portrero trails. I headed up toward Strawberry Meadow, a 3.2 mile trip. The footing is poor, loose and a bit hairy in places. I twisted my weak right ankle three times on this segment! The south side of Strawberry Peak is an impressive wall of granite that is slowly dropping HUGE slabs down onto the meadow floor. As I rounded a bend towards the meadow a rumbling sound echoed across the meadow as the boulders came tumbling down toward the meadow. So... once you get to the meadow, DON'T go rock climbing at the foot of Strawberry! To continue across the meadow to the junction with the Strawberry Trail, go straight across the center of the meadow. The trail is not marked here and it may take you a few moments to find the exit through the brush. It's another half mile or so down the trail (lots of rocks here) to the junction, but you get some great views of the distant Mt. Baldy from here. I turned around ad headed back, deciding not to try Colby Canyon with my ankle and to seek instead the relative stability of the fire road back down to Clear Creek. All in all a pleasant run, with great scenery, but with some pretty poor footing along the way.

Tuesday January 13, 2004. Mt. Lukens via Haines Canyon 12 miles. Difficulty - Moderate, but good footing

I was limited in time for this run, so I chose to run something from the Tujunga side of the mountains to save driving up into the back country. I knew there was a fire road to Mt. Lukens from the west, but had never run it. The Thomas Guide shows several city streets that end near the dotted lines of the fire roads leading to Mt. Lukens. The one at the end of Haines Canyon is the best (Tujunga Canyon exit off the 210). If you park at the top of Haines Canyon make sure you don't park in the dirt lot beyond the last gate at the top of the paved road since the last house on the street apparently controls the gate. The last block or so before the gate is also posted as no parking any time, so park down below the last street at the top of the hill and start from there. The fire road itself is in pretty good shape with a few small rock slides here and there. The climb is steady with no surprises but, as you can see from the photos, the views are great. This is a great route to get to Mt. Lukens with a minimum of logistics and driving.

Tuesday January 20, 2004. Flintridge to Upper Brown Mountain Road via El Prieto Trail - 10 miles - Moderate effort

Mid terms at Raine's school have made the car pool run only half day or less, so my range has been limited. This run took me up the Arroyo and to Brown Mountain Road via El Prieto trail. I did this one back in September, so for details see the September log. The only items of note on this run were my encounters with 1) a group of newbies on the trail who (running without water) asked me where the water was at the top (answer: there isn't any) and 2) a fox! He was loping down the trail ahead of me and finally dropped of the side into the bushes. What a treat! Haven't seen a fox in a LONG time.

Sunday February 1, 2004. Clear Creek to Josephene Peak and then to Strawberry Peak Trail with return via Colby Canyon. 15 miles Difficulty - moderate

Today I had company. Jeff Robins from the store ventured out with me on this one. Jeff hadn't done anything this steep in a long time, but he did great and although he was tired, the run (so he says) was worth the effort! The day was sunny but cold on the north side and we both wore gloves, long sleeves and vest or jackets for the entire run. I had done this run earlier and found it challenging but doable and very pretty. I returned via Colby Canyon which branches off just east of Josephene Saddle and heads down a somewhat rocky but runable trail to Angeles Crest Highway for about a half mile until I could pick up the nature trail from Switzers to Clear Creek. I include a few new pictures here, although there are more on the Strawberry Peak entry on January 6 above.

Tuesday February 3, 2004. Haines Canyon to Mt. Lukens via the Haines Canyon Trail. 12 miles. Difficulty - moderate.

This is a duplicate of the run from January 13, except that I branched off the road about 2 miles up to try the Haines Canyon trail. It is moderately steep, but runable. It is shady with oak and bay lining the trail for much of the way. This would be a great summer route to use to Mt. Lukens. Trail maintenance has been done recently and the trail is in excellent shape most of the way up (tool pile in the bushes about 1/2 mile from the top told me that there is still more work to do). The Haines Canyon trail rejoins the Haines Canyon fireroad and continues on up to Mt. Lukens. This route is s great one to use as a regular training run - close to the freeway, but scenic, challenging, but runable. This one will become a regular for me.