Three Days of Hiking in Los Angeles
This weekend I packed my bag each morning with food, water, cameras and film to hit three peaks above the city of 9 million.
Los Angeles is a city most don't expect to have any mountains. We mostly think of it as the city all the movies are made (err, were made). The city where everyone is trying to become something they aren't. The city everyone loves to hate.
But Los Angeles is my home. It’s where I grew up and it’s where I live now. It certainly has its dark spots, but I love this city - and its mountains. The Verdugos, the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Gabriels. These are some of the mountains that make LA a real mountain city. Not like that one in Kansas, I mean Colorado.
Nearly half of LA County is made up of these mountains. And LA County isn't small either, but this was by design to maximize the city's water rights for the water it stole from its LA Aqueduct - a topic for another time though. But read Cadillac Desert if you are interested.
These Transverse Ranges rise out of the city high above anything else. They form the basin that Los Angeles nestled itself into. Marine layer and smog get trapped in the basin, but up here above everything is a whole new world. So, I spent three days last weekend making the drive up the Angeles Crest Highway and into the Angeles National Forest to escape the city for some higher elevation sights.
Strawberry Peak
I packed up my bag just after sunrise, loading in the necessary supplies like water, food, cameras and film, then I made my way up Angeles Crest Highway to the trailhead at Red Box. During the week there are very few people up here in these mountains, and this morning I am one of the few in the parking lot. People might be trying to rush through traffic to get to the office on freeways 4000 feet below me but up here you are in a completely different world. Ravens soar overhead, and all I can hear is their caw and my footsteps through the dry, rocky terrain.
This hike runs along a hillside and is incredibly pleasant for the first few miles. You are met with grand views to the west the entire time as the mountainside falls off to your left, just a few inches from the edge of the trail.
Upon reaching the Lawlor Saddle perched between Mount Lawlor and Strawberry Peak you begin the real climbing. It’s not too long and it’s not too tough but it is a fun scramble at times that will leave you with some of the San Gabriel's best views. 360 degrees around me at the top I can see for many, many miles. The Vedder Mountain lookout tower to the east, Downtown LA down to the south. But up here I am surrounded by no one but the reptiles and birds. Surely there is more wildlife around, but on this morning these are the only signs of native life I see.
On my way up to the peak, the lizards are still moving quite slow from their night in the cold. They fill the trail as they bask in the morning sun, warming their cold-blooded body's temperature. They're nearly too slow as I come close to stepping on one as I make my way to the top. Yet, on my way back down, now an hour or so later, I come across a healthy rattlesnake that hisses and rattles at me as I hike past it. I hadn't noticed it hiding in the shrubs just a foot off the trail, but once it starts making noise it spooks me immediately. Further down the trail I come across another, yet this one much more mellow.
And just like that, I'm back at the truck. With a few burned rolls of film in my bag, and a depleted water supply I start the engine and drive back down the hill heading home.
San Gabriel Peak
While I do get three-day weekends on many weeks, I usually end up doing some sort of work on at least one of the days. And this morning I needed to go in for just a couple of hours. So, while I knew I couldn't get a full day ride or hike in, I still wanted to get outside and into something new during the free time I had. So, Sami and I planned on hiking up San Gabriel Peak for sunset with our dog, Rider.
Again, this hike isn't too intense but you do end up with some great sunset views of Mount Wilson and the surrounding San Gabriel Mountains.
On the way up we begin losing light faster than we had thought. We got out of the house later than expected, so we move quickly as to not be hiking back in total darkness on our way out. We summit right as the sun dipped past the mountains to the west and use up the sun's last remnants of light down the switchbacks. But once we turn the corner behind the hillside, just about all the ambient light had been used up and I am forced to pull out my headlamp from my pack to make it through Muller Tunnel and back to the car.
Mt. Hillyer
To close out my three-day weekend, I woke before sunrise, brewed some morning coffee and headed back up into the Angeles National Forest for one more hike, and one more peak -- although this peak is hardly that and the summit proves to be quite anticlimactic, albeit still a wonderful hike. Rarely is a hike not.
Beginning from Upper Chilao, you climb the Silver Moccasin Trail. Winding through the hills and trees, climbing slowly, you reach the top of Mt. Hillyer almost without even realizing it.
There's a few miles of a primitive road walk on my loop back down, but this zone and its scenery are new to me, so I don't mind the absence of singletrack for this section.
It's incredibly nice to be able to spend my weekend in the mountains. Even on the weeks where I cannot get away fully, and do something more "grand," we can always get into the local mountains where I can get that feeling of being out in nature. Out here with a camera or two, and a bag full of film is a freeing feeling.