I figure I could add in some actual current bits as I write up what ends up being pre-history. Just got back yesterday from a Thanksgiving trip to Los Angeles. Flights out were saved only by Southwest holding the interim flight ( I presume they knew they would be SOL for rebooking many many people onto the next day, the day before Thanksgiving). We had a nice Thanksgivukkah, followed by a lovely engagement party the following evening, joined by very old family friends, family members, and more recent friends to boot. I haven’t seen that many people at the house at one time in ages. That done, here are a couple of hikes from summer 2010!
Night hike up Echo Mountain – August 23, 2010
This was the normal echo mountain hike, but…as it was the hot time of the year, and near the full moon, Sonja suggested we go at night. I agreed that we could do this, and we headed out at 7 PM or so. The hike was fairly standard, since the trail just isn’t that hard, but it was just the two of us, and there were definitely all sorts of nighttime things hanging out there. At one point, I looked down at the trail and saw some small scorpions sitting there. Another time, I looked over at the rock face to my side, and saw a spider hanging there from a string. And then I saw the red hourglass on its black body, and I shivered a little.
And then a little further on, I heard that scary scary rattlesnake noise, and heard it sort of “jump” up the slope to the right of me, where I think it had been lazing on a spot still warm from the sun. At that point I was honestly a little spooked, and I started continuously jingling my keys on my finger, in order to scare off anything that still might not notice I was around. When we made it to the top, we did enjoy the view and the rest for a little bit (and it smelled wonderful), but honestly, I was just generally creeped out by that point. Sonja was also going pretty slowly, as was I, but even so, I ended up outpacing her a bit. We did talk a bit on the way down, but basically we just walked continuously down, and made it back to the car a bit after there was supposed to be no parking (I think around 10 PM), and went on back to campus, a more scorpion, black widow, and rattlesnake-free zone (or at least such that I have ever noticed).
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And a trip up Icehouse Canyon – September 12, 2010
Nathan and I wanted to go for a nice hike somewhere,preferably somewhere that would be a bit cooler than the city, and also somewhere we hadn’t been before. I suggested heading out towards the three T’s (don’t recall which one, or more, we were actually going to aim for, but, as you’ll see, it won’t end up mattering). Anyway, we drove up to Baldy Village, stopped to get our wilderness pass, then drove on to the turn in the road / parking area for Icehouse Canyon. It was right there, sitting in the car, that I realized that I had all of my gear…except for my shoes. I had my Chacos that I was wearing, but not anything else. Eit! We decided to head on it for a little bit anyway, and see how it went.
Some anti-Obama feeling – as you do
Pine cone clumps
We started walking up canyon, and it was generally pleasant. We looked at some of the old ruins along the way, and stopped to take a break right by the sign where you enter the wilderness area. The weather was pretty good, but it was definitely fairly warm. After that part, there was some cutting through of some more rocky areas, before we got to the beginning of some larger switchbacks that would eventually take you up into the more interesting zones. It was at this point that my sandals really started to chafe my feet, and I really started to want to turn back.
view back down canyon
cleanliness is next to godliness
Just after the switchback point where we turned around, there was a little spring just off the trail, so we went down there for a few minutes and rinsed our hands, feet, and heads. It was all quite refreshing! From there, we mostly just walked back the way we came, but right before we finished, we ran into a couple of gentleman (friends of Ron) I had seen several times at the Ath, so we walked with them for a bit. We also saw a pretty big snake in the trail, which I managed to catch a picture of , and later identified as a California King Snake (no poisonous snakes down here except for rattlesnakes, but you do still worry). We made it out, my feet only slightly worse for the wear!
It’s a snake!
Two of us out for the day
