Mt. Islip
On my train ride home from the airport, I was delighted to see that the high mountains (save for Baldy) appear to be clear of snow. So, in order to test out my feet (and, well, yeah, bag another peak), I decided to head out for a nice short six-mile walk up to one of the 8,000 foot peaks along the Angeles Crest.
Getting up to Mt. Islip was the hard part. I started out at 6AM (yeah, there are some advantages to jetlag!), but to my surprise, it still took me an hour to drive to La Canada-Flintridge, just about the same as I see when I leave at 7:45! Yow, why aren't those people sleepin' in or something? I guess maybe the traffic at 7:45 would be worse if they slept in, so maybe I shouldn't complain.
Anyway, the drive up CA-2 was beautiful. There was nobody on the road, the air was still clear, and I just had a great time. Barring the poor deer that I came within about 20 feet of creaming. Fortunately, the deer scrambled as best it could and I braked as hard as I could and it all seemed to work out. Still, that was the closest I've ever come to nailing Bambi. Doh.
The trail was beautiful, flitting along a big bowl full of low scrub, with a great view out into the desert. To my surprise, there were still some big patches of snow, and in one place, a big avalanche had brought down a bunch of trees on the trail. The snow eventually fooled me and I wound up off of the trail and had to slog almost straight up a steep slope.
That wouldn't been so bad, but snow or not, the mosquitos were out in force. It was amazing how dense a swarm surrounded me; they only left when I'd made it to the ridge, and the wind blew them away. Doh. The only other person I saw out there was a woman who was messing with an anti-bug mesh bag over her head -- she didn't respond to my friendly good morning, but perhaps she was too busy fending off the mosquitos.
The view from the top of the mountain at some 8,250 feet was beautiful, despite some obvious recent fire damage. LA was under it's own little smoggy shell, so I just saw mountains, mountains, and distant mountains, with a little foggy area in between. It was wonderful.
And my feet seem, for the moment at least, okay.
Getting up to Mt. Islip was the hard part. I started out at 6AM (yeah, there are some advantages to jetlag!), but to my surprise, it still took me an hour to drive to La Canada-Flintridge, just about the same as I see when I leave at 7:45! Yow, why aren't those people sleepin' in or something? I guess maybe the traffic at 7:45 would be worse if they slept in, so maybe I shouldn't complain.
Anyway, the drive up CA-2 was beautiful. There was nobody on the road, the air was still clear, and I just had a great time. Barring the poor deer that I came within about 20 feet of creaming. Fortunately, the deer scrambled as best it could and I braked as hard as I could and it all seemed to work out. Still, that was the closest I've ever come to nailing Bambi. Doh.
The trail was beautiful, flitting along a big bowl full of low scrub, with a great view out into the desert. To my surprise, there were still some big patches of snow, and in one place, a big avalanche had brought down a bunch of trees on the trail. The snow eventually fooled me and I wound up off of the trail and had to slog almost straight up a steep slope.
That wouldn't been so bad, but snow or not, the mosquitos were out in force. It was amazing how dense a swarm surrounded me; they only left when I'd made it to the ridge, and the wind blew them away. Doh. The only other person I saw out there was a woman who was messing with an anti-bug mesh bag over her head -- she didn't respond to my friendly good morning, but perhaps she was too busy fending off the mosquitos.
The view from the top of the mountain at some 8,250 feet was beautiful, despite some obvious recent fire damage. LA was under it's own little smoggy shell, so I just saw mountains, mountains, and distant mountains, with a little foggy area in between. It was wonderful.
And my feet seem, for the moment at least, okay.
posted by K at
1:14 PM
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