This hike is confusing. There are at least two different places to park, numerous trails to follow, and more ways to get spun around than a Dreidel on Hannukkah.      But in another way, this hike is not confusing at all. It’s a short hike, it is situated in the center of one of [...]

     While wandering the Internet for trail information on Wilacre Park, the same phrase popped up over and over again. For some reason this hike, among all the hikes I have traveled in Los Angeles, is considered an ‘Urban Hike.’      It seemed strange that this particular hike received this title more than any other. [...]

        The first thing to do after any hike is to find out why it received that specific name. [My favorite is Mount Disappointment.] On this particular hike, my imagination conjured fabulously absurd reasons why this canyon was named after the devil. This must be the place where Lucifer stopped on his [...]

     Rich I say! Rich! It’s waiting for me in them thar hills. Don’t tell anyone, because it’s sitting right there, bubbling to the surface, in the hills overlooking the 5 freeway, just north of the 14.      Texas Tea, Black Gold.      I might buy me a mansion in Beverly Hills, with a swimming [...]

     I know this is a sacrilegious thing to say for those of us who live in Los Angeles: but I don’t care that much about movies or television. Oh, I have a tv and I watch it, and I go out to movies, but I’m not that bothered with the story of where the [...]

     The Eagle Rock Canyon Hiking Trail is cute. It is a trail that is obviously loved, there are hand painted signs, like at the fork in the road there is a sign saying ‘Trail Continues Right’ with an arrow. Half way up is a child’s drawing of a snake and how to avoid them. [...]

     It was prior to 1906 when the hiking craze came to Los Angeles. At its center was the town of Sierra Madre and the Mount Wilson Trail. But in 1906 the electric ‘Red Car’ line was extended to Sierra Madre and an already thriving business expanded exponentially.      There were three ways to make [...]

     Twice I had hiked past the turn-off for Hermit falls, on my way to Sturtevant Falls. Sturtevant Falls is the one everyone talks about out here in the Big Santa Anita Canyon. So I didn’t think much of Hermit Falls. It seemed like an afterthought. Something not worth visiting. But on this warm Friday [...]

Wild Flowers on the San Merrill Trail in the San Gabriel Mountains above Alta Dena. Globe Gilia Gilia capitata (Orange?) bush monkeyflower Mimulus aurantiacus Indian paintbrush Castilleja Lacy Phacelia Phacelia tanacetifolia Deerweed Lotus scoparius Globe Gilia Gilia capitata Golden Yarrow Eriophyllum confertiflorum Prickly Phlox Leptodactylon californicum

Wild Flowers on the San Merrill Trail in the San Gabriel Mountains above Alta Dena. Orange bush monkeyflower Mimulus aurantiacus Golden Yarrow Eriophyllum confertiflorum Red larkspur Delphinium nudicaule Red larkspur Delphinium nudicaule

The hills of California are blooming. All of the flowers, 31 pictures in all, over the next three posts, were taken on the bottom half of the San Merrill trail, [link to my blog post on hiking this trail], just above the city of Alta Dena. I have done my best to name some of [...]

Title: Hiking Mount Disappointment was disappointing because it wasn’t a disappointment. …no, that’s not right. Hiking Mount Disappointment was sadly not a disappointment at all. …hmmm. With a name like disappointment, it has to be good. …no, that’s horrible. If you want disappointment, don’t hike Mount Disappointment. Ok, that’s enough dreadful titles, on with the [...]