June 13: Hiking Club on Echo Mtn

Hiking Club had a group of 12 to climb Echo Mountain above Altadena, but the marine layer was thick enough to cover even the summit! No matter, we had fun anyway.

Ruins of Echo Mtn House

Our group by the old bullwheel that drove the cable incline railway

Photo in the drizzle

Upon sumitting, I recognized Ric and Jen Serena, two of the filmmakers who made the outstanding JMT film, Mile...Mile & A Half.  They and their artist companions busted their humps hauling high-def recording gear down the entire length of the John Muir Trail in the heavy snow year of 2011. While hikers like me count ounces, these guys hauled really heavy packs loaded with cameras, audio equipment, mikes, batteries and dollies, recording for 25 days. They did it in hi-def first, did it all, did it best, and after spending two years in postproduction, released their highly anticipated (by people like me anyway) film in October 2013. And there they were, on the summit, for me to get to express my full appreciation.
MMAAH is now on Netflix, iTunes, or you can watch the entire film on YouTube for a few dollars.

Memorial Day Weekend at Joshua Tree

Sunset

Four days of hiking at Joshua Tree National Park!  My friend Nina spent two weeks in the LA area, and so a JT trip was in order.  We explored some of the park's newer trails on the north end, spent two days hiking off-trail routes including climbing the highest point in the park, Quail Mountain; and a day spent hiking in the south end of the park to Lost Palms.

Remote inscriptions from a 1920's homesteader

1849 inscription, this one was a mystery

Warbird plane wreckage from 1999 on Quail Mtn summit. That's San Jacinto Pk and Mt San Gorgonio behind

Bighorn sheep on Quail Mtn, this hike was the trip highlight and offered a chance to practice cross-country map & compass navigation

Lost Palms Oasis

Lost Palms Oasis

May 16: Hiking Club in Fish Canyon

Fish Canyon in the Angeles NF offers a route into the wild and empty northwest corner of LA County, and our May outing with the Honda Hiking Club was an 11-mile dayhike through the narrows of Fish Canyon (two of them, really), with a lunch stop at Rogers Camp. Afterward was supper at the Rose & Crown pub in Valencia.  A good time was had by all.

At Rogers Camp

In the narrows