Hiking Los Angeles: Mount Disappointment

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 story.

     The mountains are reopening.
     After a year and a half of waiting, the trails (mostly) and the roads are reopening.
     I live in Pasadena, and we hike up the Sam Merrill/Mount Lowe trail about once a week. But Kate had never been to the top of the trail, (my story about hiking from the bottom and the top is here) so for the past year I have planned to drive Kate to Mount Wilson, show her the view and hike down to Inspiration Point.
     Today we failed to hike on the Mount Lowe trail, as it is still closed, but we did find a new hike, to the top of Mount Disappointment.

     Angeles Crest Highway (2), the road that leads north into the Angeles Forest -through the city of La Canada- is still closed. So we, upon hearing that many of the trails had been reopened on May 15th, 2011, went the back way.
     The back way is Big Tujunga Canyon Road, through the town of Sunland. It is a beautiful drive, and the road twists and turns around the hillside, slowly climbing upward until it reaches the Angeles Forest Highway. A right turn here and it is just a few miles to the Angeles Crest Highway (2).
     Once on the 2, we headed east, as the western road is still closed, heading further into the mountains. After 5 miles or so is Mount Wilson Road on the right. Up this road, that is filled with 15 mph blind rock face corners and to the top of the Mount Lowe trail.
     Which, as I said, is still closed.
     That was disappointing, so we drove up to Mount Wilson to look at the view.

     Now somewhat lost, and not knowing where to hike, we drove all the way back down to the ranger station for a map and hints on hiking. It was closed. We went across the street to try to find more information, but it was a firehouse. But one of the firemen took pity on us and opened the ranger station, and we looked at maps, and decided on Mount Disappointment.
     But the Fireman did say something else: ANGELES FOREST HIGHWAY WILL REOPEN ON JUNE 1ST 2011.
     The road that takes me away from the congestion that is Los Angeles will reopen.
     That makes me happy.

     The base of the Mount Disappointment hike is only a quarter to half a mile up the Mount Wilson road, on the right hand side. Now here was a choice, and Kate and I contemplated what to do. There were two ways to climb the mountain.
     There was an old road, with a thick metal bar across it. The road was wide and paved. Obviously maintenance vehicles drive up it on a regular basis.
     Then there was the trail. It began at the base of the road, and instantly zigzagged straight up the mountain, through the trees.
     We decided on the road, because we’re wimps. Not only did the trail look steep and hard going, we were probably one of the first people to be on this hike in a while. We had no idea what the conditions were like. It might even be washed away half way up. So, as I said, we wimped out and took the easy route.
     The road twists and turns up the mountain, following the curves of the gullies and hills. It is beautiful.
     Today was one of those odd days when Los Angeles is covered in a blanket of clouds, but up here in the mountains it was clear and warm. [Note the photograph from Mount Wilson above]
     Below is a view from the Mount Disappointment road, looking east, with the clouds that cover Los Angeles slowly encroaching the mountains.

     As we slowly plodded our way up the road, I daydreamed of a bicycle. It would be perfect to hike up this road, and then bicycle down. A chairlift -just for bicycles, I guess a bicyclelift- would be perfect to hoist the bikes to the top of the mountain, to be waiting for us and our wind-in-the-hair downward ride.
     Because –that’s- what the park service really needs to spend their money on.
     In between these pointless thoughts, we looked at the burnt trees.
     This area must have been on the edge of the Station Fire [the Station Fire is the reason the mountain has been closed] as parts of the area are green and lush, but parts still have blackened trees standing. But all the blackened trees have green around their base, as life begins again.

     The road up Mount Disappointment is three miles long –or a six-mile round trip. Which is longer than we thought it was going to be, but since it was an easy stroll along a smooth even road, it was not a hard walk.
     The journey back down would have been perfect on a bike.

     As we climbed further upward, getting closer and closer to the buildings on top of the mountain, the weather changed from warm sun, to wisps of clouds slowly streaming up the side of the mountain. The white drifts floated up, following the contours of the hillside.
     The road was half in and half out of cloud.

     The photograph below is the top edge of Mount Disappointment, with the clouds rolling up the hillside.

     At the top we found what the disappointment was all about.
     But before we get into that, two days after this hike I hung out with my friend Jane. She and her husband live in these mountains, and we discuss hiking regularly. She said that it was called disappointment because when the explorers and cartographers first officially measured these mountains, they thought that this peak was the highest. But upon further study were disappointed to find that this was not the highest peak.
     Thus Mount Disappointment.
     We were not disappointed because it was not the tallest mountain, but were disappointed because of the view.
     There was none.
     Normally everything can be seen, from Pasadena to Long Beach to Santa Monica.
     Today the view looked like this.

     The top of this mountain is covered with buildings and radio towers. Kate read a sign about radio waves exceeding acceptable FCC levels in this area. She worried vaguely about brain cancer standing near all those towers.

     What was not disappointing was the fog wrapping around the mountain, giving us the feeling of being in the middle of nowhere. There was no sprawling metropolis of 13 million below us. That was nice.

     Near the top, the trail we ignored at the bottom of the hill meets up with the road again. A sign says that the trail is 1.8 miles, which makes it shorter than the road.
     I looked down the trail, all I could see were two switchbacks heading down the side of a mountain that is so steep it should really be considered a cliff.
     We thought about taking the trail, but decided, again, that it might be washed out and we would have to hike back up in order to get down.
     So rather than take the steep trail, we hiked slowly back down the road, looking at the view, studying the wonders of pine cones, taking pictures of the flowers, and eventually making it back to the car.
     I am so happy the mountains are open again.