101 Hikes in Southern California. Jerry Schad

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Elevation Gain/Loss: 700'/700'

      Hiking Time: 2½ hours

      Optional Maps: USGS 7.5-minute Mint Canyon and San Fernando

      Best Times: October–June

      Agency: PCP

      Difficulty: Moderate

      Trail Use: Dogs allowed, good for kids

      Barely 10 minutes’ drive from northern San Fernando Valley and the sprawling suburban city of Santa Clarita, Placerita Canyon Park nestles comfortably at the foot of one of the more verdant slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains. A very civilized nature center housing exhibits on local history, pre-history, geology, plants, and wildlife complements the park’s wild backcountry sector (the subject of this hike).

      Placerita Canyon’s fascinating history is highlighted by the discovery of gold there in 1842. That event, which touched off California’s first (and relatively trivial) gold rush, predated by six years John Marshall’s famous discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Northern California. By the 1950s, Placerita Canyon had become one of the more popular generic Western site locations used by Hollywood’s moviemakers and early television producers. First the state and then county eventually acquired the canyon as parkland.

      To Reach the Trailhead: Take Exit 3 for Placerita Canyon from Antelope Valley Freeway (Highway 14) at Newhall, and drive east 1.5 miles to reach the park’s main gate, which is open from sunrise to sunset. Nearby lie the nature center and a paved path leading under Placerita Canyon Road to the Oak of the Golden Dream, the exact site (according to legend) where in 1842 a herdsman pulling up wild onions for his after-siesta meal discovered gold.

      Description: This trip begins at the signed Main Trailhead near the Nature Center and parking lot. Go straight ahead on the Canyon Trail, which soon veers left. Pass an unsigned junction on the right leading to a water tank, and continue east up Placerita Canyon.

      Bigleaf maple leaf

      The canyon’s melodious creek flows decently about half the year (winter and spring), caressing the ears with white noise that echoes off the canyon walls. During the fall, when the creek may be bone-dry, you make your own noise instead by crunching through the crispy leaf litter of sycamore and live oak. Down by the grassy banks are wild blackberry vines, lots of willows, and occasionally cottonwood and alder trees.

      Soaring canyon walls ahead tell the story of thousands of years of natural erosion, as well as the destructive effects of hydraulic mining, which involved aiming high-pressure water hoses at hillsides to loosen and wash away ores. Used extensively in Northern California during the big Gold Rush, hydraulicking was finally banned in 1884 after catastrophic damages to waterways and farms downstream. At Placerita Canyon, several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of gold were ultimately recovered, but at considerable cost, effort, and general messiness.

      Cross and recross the creek. In 1.85 miles, you reach the scant remains of some early-20th-century cottages hand-built by settler Frank Walker, his wife, and some of their 12 children. The area is now used as a group campground, and it has drinking water.

      Our way lies ahead, along the Waterfall Trail, which leads into Los Pinetos Canyon. Don’t confuse this trail with the Los Pinetos Trail on the right. The Waterfall Trail momentarily slants upward along the canyon’s steep west wall, and then drops onto the canyon’s sunny floodplain. Presently you bear right into a narrow ravine (Los Pinetos Canyon), avoiding a wider tributary bending left (east).

      Continue past and sometimes over water-polished, metamorphic rock. Live oaks and bigcone Douglas-firs cling to the slopes above, and a few bigleaf maples grace the canyon bottom. Beware of the poison oak that abounds along the trail and near the waterfall, especially in the winter when its bare twigs are difficult to recognize. About 0.2 mile after the first fork in the canyon, there’s a second fork.

      Go right and continue 50 yards to a small waterfall and a sublime little grotto, cool and dark except when the sun passes almost straight overhead. As you listen to water dashing or dribbling down the chute, enjoy the serenity of this private place and contemplate that it lies only 3 miles—but a world away—from the creeping boundary of the L.A. metropolis. Return the way you came.

      HIKE 15

      Mount Lee

      Location: Griffith Park

      Highlights: Hollywood sign

      Distance: 3.2 miles (out-and-back)

      Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 750'/750'

      Hiking Time: 1½ hours

      Optional Map: USGS 7.5-minute Burbank

      Best Times: All year

      Agency: GP

      Difficulty: Moderate

      Trail Use: Suitable for mountain biking, dogs allowed, good for kids

      Mount Lee is recognizable around the world for the iconic Hollywood sign. This trip draws a steady stream of hikers to see the sign up close. Located at the western end of Griffith Park, Mount Lee also provides a stupendous view of Los Angeles and out to the Pacific Ocean. Don’t mix up this summit with nearby Mount Hollywood, which is not the site of the eponymous sign.

      To Reach the Trailhead: From the westbound 101 Freeway, take Exit 8C for Gower St. Before the ramp reaches Gower St., turn right onto Beachwood Dr. Follow Beachwood Dr. 1.9 miles north to its end in the Hollywood Hills just outside Sunset Ranch Stables. Park in the dirt hikers lot; if this parking lot is full, head a quarter mile south to look for streetside parking.

      Description: The broad Hollyridge Trail climbs briefly south to a saddle with an excellent view of the Hollywood sign. It makes a hairpin turn and continues north to a junction with Mulholland Highway (here, an unpaved road) in 0.5 mile.

      Turn hard left and follow it 0.3 mile, then turn right onto the Mount Lee Service Road (paved but closed to traffic). Continue 0.9 mile to the road’s end immediately above the sign. The sheer slope is fenced off to discourage vandalism.

      Hollywood sign over Hollyridge Trail

      HIKE 16

      Verdugo Mountains: South End Loop

      Location: Glendale

      Highlights: Incomparable city and regional views

      Distance: 6 miles (loop)

      Total Elevation Gain/Loss: 1,500'/1,500'

      Hiking Time: 3½ hours

      Optional Maps: USGS 7.5-min Pasadena, Burbank

      Best Times: November–May

      Agency: СКАЧАТЬ