Willet Hot Springs, 27-28 April 2013

Willet Hot Springs

Sespe River Trail, out and back
20 miles
Roughly 500 feet of elevation loss
Peter, Jennifer, and Ariel West, Lucie Birnie, and Corrina Peipon

 

I finally left for Ojai around half past seven in the morning. I hadn't been out walking much during the winter, and I'd been wanting to take this backpack to Willet and Sespe Hot Springs for two years. I was raring to go, but I got bogged down in odds and ends. Before I knew it, I'd already been awake nearly two hours and still wasn't in the car. There was no traffic leaving Los Angeles, and I pulled into a spot in front of The Farmer and The Cook at half past eight. I was finished with my huevos rancheros by the time the West cohort arrived and considered ordering a second helping while I watched them eat their breakfast. I made do with a fresh vegetable juice and a couple of fig pumpkin seed and banana walnut spelt muffins to take along on our walk.

After a stop at the Los Padres National Forest ranger station for a fire permit, we wound our way up route 33, a quiet, scenic road that climbs around 2,000 feet via gentle curves and long switchbacks with a couple of dramatic hairpin turns. At the Piedra Blanca trailhead, the parking lot was full, so we improvised a couple of spots along the side of a horse corral. With all of our fussing over gear and clothing, it was at least another hour before we set out, and the temperature was already in the high seventies.

Cheeseboro Canyon, 21 April 2013

Cheeseboro Canyon

Cheeseboro Canyon Trail, out and back
9 miles
800 feet of elevation gain
4 hours
Chelsea Beck, Kurt Mueller, Virgil Mueller-Beck, Mona, and Corrina Peipon

From the Chesebro Road exit off of the 101 freeway in Old Agoura, it's only a couple of turns before the road narrows and a long, lazy curve in the country road leads to the Cheeseboro and Palo Comado Canyon Park entrance. A small parking lot with timber fencing marks the entrance to the park.

Mount Zion and Mount Wilson: 31 March 2013

Mount Zion and Mount Wilson
From Chantry Flat: Upper Winter Creek Trail, Zion Trail, Sturtevant Trail, Mount Wilson Observatory, Old Toll Road, Lower Winter Creek Trail
14 miles
5,710 feet with 4,000 feet of elevation gain
5 hours
Solo

I went to Mount Wilson in search of winter. I had no prior memory of wanting to hold on to winter. Now, at the very end of March, spring had signalled its arrival, and I couldn't get the hang of it just yet. Earlier in the month, the vernal equinox caught me off guard. Cast in a haze of semi-winter light, the days grew longer but somehow lacked the full promise of spring. The warmth of the sun was interrupted by a meager fog that never quite burned off, giving the impression that the weather was experiencing a mild existential ambivalence. I wasn't ready to accept this flimsy brightness. I wanted the grey winter chill to hang around for a little longer to match some kind of mood I was in.

The Verdugo Range, 17 February 2013

The Verdugo Range
Verdugo Motorway from Village Avenue (Burbank), Beaudry South, Los Flores Motorway at Sunshine Drive (Glendale)
13 miles
1,900 feet of elevation gain
7 Hours
Olivia Booth, Jennifer and Peter West, Finn West and friends, Corrina Peipon

The city of Los Angeles is bordered to the north by two transverse ranges: the San Gabriels and the Verdugos. The San Gabriel Mountains stretch from the Santa Monica Mountains in the west to the San Bernardinos in the east. The Verdugo Range, tucked into a graceful curve in the footprint of the San Gabriels, floats like an island between the rushing tributaries of the 210 and 5 freeways, to the north and south, respectively. The north end of the range is in Burbank, and the south end is in Glendale, separated from the San Rafael Hills to the southeast by the 2 freeway. At just eight miles in length, the Verdugo Range is the smallest in the group of transverse ranges that divide southern California from the Central Valley. When I learned of the network of trails and fire roads that made it possible to cross the range from end to end, it seemed suddenly very necessary to walk its entirety. 

John Muir Trail

This confirms your reservation, made on 03/19/2013, for a wilderness permit for the following trip.  
THIS IS A RESERVATION CONFIRMATION, NOT A PERMIT.
Permit ID: XXXXX
Entry Date: 09/02/2013
Entry Trailhead: Happy Isles->Little Yosemite Valley
Exit Date: 09/15/2013
Exit Trailhead: Whitney Portal
Number in Party: 2

Walking Blues

The Arizona Diaries: 13-21 October 2012, Part VI

In October of 2012, I spent ten days on a road trip that traced a loop. Starting in Los Angeles, I went through Tucson, Arizona to the Grand Canyon and back to Los Angeles through the Mojave Desert.

As the stars faded, I dressed, made tea, and walked over to the little beach where I'd stopped the day before. I stared out at the Colorado River and thought that I'd never been in a place where the stillness was so complete. Sitting there next to the powerful river, feeling the energy of its never-ending movement, I felt outside of time. The river speaks of what it knows, and the present moment is its eternal story.

By the time I returned to my campsite, the Canadians were packed up and ready to go. I was trying to light my stove when Rainy came over the retrieve Joe's tent peg. While pitching my tent the day before, I managed to break a titanium peg. I didn't have an extra one and was lucky that Joe was willing to let me borrow his. When Rainy saw that I had run out of fuel, she offered me her stove. I had already benefited so much from my new friends' hospitality, and I was staunch in my refusal. I had enough other food and didn't really need to make oatmeal. I wrote down my contact information and said goodbye to the Canadians. Rainy invited me to come with them on a different route than I was planning to take, but I was worried that I would be too slow to keep up with them and wanted to see the whole Bright Angel Trail. Rainy insisted that this would not be the end; she predicted we would meet again at Indian Garden Campground, on the way back up to the South Rim. At the very least, we would surely meet up in the Backcountry Office parking lot.