August 2007 Archives

From the Forest Service:

IF YOU PLAN TO ENJOY OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES THIS WEEK...BE PREPARED FOR
VERY HOT WEATHER...EVEN IN THE MOUNTAINS. TAKE PRECAUTIONS TO PROTECT
YOURSELF FROM THE HEAT. REDUCE OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES IF POSSIBLE...AT
LEAST FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH EARLY EVENING. WEAR LOOSE FITTING
LIGHT WEIGHT CLOTHING AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. TAKE ADVANTAGE
OF SHADE AND AIR CONDITIONING IF AVAILABLE.
NEVER...EVER LEAVE CHILDREN...THE ELDERLY OR PETS IN ENCLOSED
AUTOMOBILES...EVEN FOR THE SHORTEST TIME. TEMPERATURES QUICKLY RISE
TO LIFE-THREATENING LEVELS...EVEN IF THE WINDOWS ARE PARTIALLY
OPENED.

Guess maybe we should all go to the beach. But, wait!

DURING THE PEAK OF THE HEAT TODAY
AND THURSDAY EVEN THE BEACHES WILL PROVIDE LITTLE RELIEF WITH MAX
TEMPS REACHING INTO THE MID 80S.

On the plus side, the worst is expected during the week, so this weekend may be a little better.

(click to see full image)

This is one of many examples I could show of outdoors club hikes that are far beyond my capabilities. This hike plan involves climbing three peaks, and totals 13,000 in elevation gain and 30 miles. These are unreal totals... as far as the forest service is concerned (and I am approximating based on my experiences) a hike of 7 miles and 2,500 elevation gain would probably be labeled as "strenuous." They tend to err on the side of caution, but anyway you look at it this is a huge hike.

Yet, there are people who do this kind of thing with a fair amount of regularity. There are even some who run hikes like these (I think the term is ultra-marathoners).

To note my own experiences contained within this hike: I have climbed Mt. Baldy (10.5 miles, 4300 feet), Timber Mountain (9 miles, 3,200 feet) and Cucamonga Peak (12 miles, 4,000 feet). Combining all three of those in one day would just about give me this day plan... I can't even imagine it, considering I almost curled into the fetal position after getting up onto Baldy.

I actually got rained on yesterday up in Monrovia Canyon... just a few drops, but still surprising. It looked like a storm was coming in all afternoon, but I doubt it amounted to much. More possible today:

MOSTLY SUNNY THEN PARTLY CLOUDY IN THE AFTERNOON. A SLIGHT
CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE
UPPER 70S TO MID 90S. SOUTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.

Noticing my colleague's crime blog best video pick, I thought I would counter with the best outdoors video. This is a long one, but you will see two animals fighting over a kill that you have never seen before.

It take place at Kruger National Park in South Africa, where I traveled last summer, but I sure as hell never saw anything quite like this in my five days there.

Apparently, it is more humid and cooler than in previous days... doesn't seem much different to me, but the authorities say it is.

There is still a lot of smoke from the burning fires so hiking could be a little rough on the lungs. Personally, I try to avoid hiking the day after a fire... burns my lungs up.

Here is the Forest Service's forecast:

SUNNY. PATCHY SMOKE IN THE NORTH. HIGHS IN THE 80S TO MID
90S. SOUTH TO WEST WINDS INCREASING TO 15 TO 25 MPH WITH LOCALLY
HIGHER GUSTS IN THE AFTERNOON.

From Santa Barbara to San Jacinto to right here in the SGV, fires are raging today. The Santa Barbara and SGV fires are the worst from a residential/property standpoint, but the Snow Fire in the San Jacinto range is burning up some beautiful hiking trails.

I last hiked in the area in May... after an unusually successful run of high altitude hikes I approached the prospect of summiting Mt. San Jacinto, the second highest peak in SoCal, with just a hint of cockiness.

For whatever reason, perhaps bothered by the high altitude, I moved shamefully slowly, and having not gotten to the hiking trail very early in the day, was forced to turn back without making the top to avoid hiking in the dark. Here is the trail description for the hike.

I was planning to give it another crack next weekend, but now maybe not.

We have the full story today of the elevated fire danger in the Angeles National Forest. None of the Forest Service people interviewed seem to think we can avoid a fire up in the park.

Could mean some hiking area closures this fall... I haven't had experience being turned pack from the Angeles National Forest before, though over in the Santa Monica Mountains I know it is almost futile to try hiking in October, at least in areas that are near ranger stations.

I'd just as soon avoid getting caught in the middle of a brush fire anyway.

Here is the expected forecast, probably good for all week:

SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 80S TO 100.

Here is a Google Earth image of one of my nightly bike rides. Click here to see the normal map view which has the distance I biked (7.37 miles) and also has a note mode where you can point out landmarks and places to get water and use the bathroom (for longer rides).

You can do this on Google Maps, which is where I discovered it, but the site I took this from, MapMyRide.com, has other people's saved routes, and has a calorie calculator and rating system to make a log of your workouts, if you are a biking fanatic (I'm not- even though I have been doing a daily ride I don't wear the spandex uniform of a biking fanatic- however I can see why they do wear it because the wind resistance on normal shorts and t-shirt is astounding).

This ride is a very pleasant one, winding through tree-lined Pasadena and San Marino streets, through Lacy Park, and past El Molino Viejo, a pretty cool local historical landmark. There is one big hill to get the heart rate up, and one big downhill to get some speed on.

In all fairness, MapMyRide, is not the only site that has this map... since Google developed it, it has sprung up on a couple of sites, but this one seemed to work the best for me.

Today's forecast from the Forest Service:

MOSTLY SUNNY IN THE MORNING. PARTLY CLOUDY IN THE
AFTERNOON. HIGHS FROM THE 90S TO 103 AT LOW ELEVATIONS TO THE
MID TO UPPER 80S AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. LOCAL NORTHWEST TO NORTH WINDS
15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH NEAR THE INTERSTATE 5 CORRIDOR IN
THE MORNING. SOUTH TO WEST WINDS 10 TO 20 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

No big surprise here.

Earlier this week one of our reporters, Alison Hewitt, had a chance to visit the Angeles National Forest to speak about the fire danger with some of their rangers. They make it sound pretty bleak:

The risk of a fire is extreme in the Angeles National Forest, north of the San Gabriel Valley, according to the USDA Forest Service.

Local Forest Service officials make twice-a-month trips into the brushy mountains to test the moisture content of the most most common plants growing there.

Test results show the plants are dry enough to burn as though they are already dead, and a fire is expected before November, said Byron Kimball, Forest Service Fuels Battalion Chief for part of the Angeles National Forest.
Officials encourage residents to be extra cautious, and avoid smoking or parking cars on top of the dry brush.

Because of the "extreme" level of fire danger, wood and charcoal fires are not allowed at campsites, and smoking is only allowed inside cars.

"There's always a possibility that we could get through the fire season without having a fire," Kimball said. "But the likelihood is we're going to have a fire before the next rain."

Only goats can save us now.

Speaking of Ice House Canyon (see previous entry), this is a photo of Old Baldy I took last May from atop Mt. Timber. Notice the heavy accumulated snowfall? I was also standing in snow about 6 inches deep on Timber, which is only about 8,500 feet high.

I don't think Baldy ever got this inundated with snow at any point this winter, much less in May. I climbed Baldy early May this year and didn't see a trace of snow, not even the high-altitude crusty, brown type that manages to stick to the shady underside of rocks into the summer.

Not a good hiking day up in the mountains:

MOSTLY SUNNY IN THE MORNING. PARTLY CLOUDY IN THE
AFTERNOON WITH A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
THE SAN GABRIELS. AREAS OF SMOKE. HIGHS FROM 93 TO 103 AT LOW ELEVATIONS
TO THE MID 80S TO AROUND 90 AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. AREAS OF SOUTH TO
NORTHWEST WINDS 15 TO 25 MPH.

The best local place I have found in these types of conditions is Icehouse Canyon on Mt. Baldy. The lower half is shady and besides a cold river (as the name indicates), and once you reach the upper half you can feel cool high altitude breezes. I went up there last summer when it was 100 degrees in Claremont, and felt pretty cool the whole way up to Timber Mountain.

This case looks like it is going to be ugly and drag on for a while... the family of a man shot by a ranger in Malibu Creek State Park is saying that the ranger was nervous and shaking for no real reason, and shot their brother/son while his hands were up in the air in a gesture of surrender.

It is sad to see this happen in a state park, and makes me wonder if the value that a gun has to protect a ranger and enforce the law outweighs the potential of a life needlessly lost. After all, a state park is hardly a rough urban street- without looking at the statistics I imagine a lot of the law enforcement problems have to do with people starting fires, abandoning vehicles, and harassing wild life.

On the other hand, crime rates at national parks has continued to rise over the years, and according to this (somewhat dated) article being a ranger can be extremely hazardous.

When I woke up today at 6 and saw there was no marine layer in the sky, I kind of figured this theory that there could be rain in the mountains was over with. Today's mountain forecast:

MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S TO 101.

Same as down here... take a lot of water up there today.

A picnic area in the Angeles National Forest, about 5 miles north of La Canada Flintridge is still closed because the local squirrels have bubonic plague.

Always interesting to hear when a disease popularized by Monty Python's The Holy Grail flares up

No rain yesterday, less chance today... I think it is safe to say nobody will be needing rain gear to hike in the mountains today:

From the Angeles National Forest forecast:
PARTLY CLOUDY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY OVER THE SAN GABRIEL RANGE. HIGHS IN THE 80S
AND 90S.

The Angeles National Forest is cranking up its fire danger level to "extreme" today, likely due to.... hmmm, maybe the prolonged lack of rainfall in Los Angeles County this year.

But if there is any accuracy to the weather predictions, maybe the new level will be short-lived. Check this out:

MOSTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...
MAINLY OVER THE SAN GABRIEL RANGE. HIGHS IN THE MID 80S TO MID
90S IN THE FOOTHILLS TO UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S ON THE PEAKS.
WEST WINDS AROUND 15 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

I have to voice my doubts about the possibility of rain actually falling, but watch out on those exposed San Gabriel peaks today.