Today was pretty nice – went out to the beach in Canandaigua for a bit, then stopped for lunch down there, on top of doing some garden work and generally puttering around the house. The first tomato turned red today, so here is hoping that there are continuous fresh tomatoes from now until October! Two weeks to go; most of the details have been hammered out, so I think we’re good. We’re getting the leaded glass sidelight windows repaired, so, one step at a time to keeping everything in the house shipshape.
Now, back to a hike we did in the mountains north of LA, some three solid summers ago…man, that summer was packed!
Up at Windy Gap. I think which way the wind goes is reasonably apparent.
Jill and Lee were visiting, and I asked them if they’d like to go for a hike, which they told me they had already been hoping for. Nathan has also been wanting to go up to Crystal Lake, since they had finally opened the road up that far just this March, and I was pretty happy to participate, since I had never been up there during my time in California. The other team members agreed, and so we all headed up there. Jill and Lee headed to our house, and we headed out from there, a hair later than originally planned. Once we managed to get to Highway 39, the fun started. We got to see one of the reservoirs at full fill (pretty awesome!), and the road just kept going up and deeper into the mountains. The farther we got, the more twisty and windy the road got, and we also shortly got above the cloud layer that was blanketing the city, and we stared, blinking, into the bright light of the day.
LA is beneath all those clouds down there (ok, fine, and to the right side of the image)
When we got to the Crystal Lake turnoff, we saw Kathryn and Janet in the first parking area (right near the trail that leads to the lake), they flagged us over and said it was all parked up in the higher area, and we should pull over there. So we parked, and started getting ready to actually go, and just about when we were getting to “we’re still waiting for Joe”, Joe pulled up, so that timing worked out very well. All of us ended up getting there within about 10 minutes of each other.
Once we had gotten ourselves all arranged, just getting to the trailhead provided a bit of an adventure. First we had to walk up to the main visitor area, where we saw the store and the ranger station and the closer, full, parking lot. As the trail guide said to start from the “north end” of the main parking lot, we headed out that way, and started out on a bit of trail there (after also picking up a regional trail map page from the ranger station), but then when a sign said we were at the amphitheater, we realize we were all the way over on the wrong side of the Crystal Lake area. We then headed over to the other side, through the open part of the campground, to the closed part of the campground, quickly realizing that most of the campground was closed and the parking lot we were supposed to be heading out from hadn’t even been open or accessible! Nonetheless, we eventually made it to the sign that we had been looking for.
Hooray! We found the trailhead. We are so successful.
You have to include a photo of the dog.
After already having walked hither and yon, we were pretty happy to finally set out on the “real” trail. The beginning part cut past the campground, and at first went through a bit of forest, before starting to head up the slope. We hadn’t made it very far however, before Thao started really feeling the effects of the sun. Poor dog is too darn insulated! He wanted to run ahead of everyone, but would then drop exhausted to the earth in full-body flop anytime there was even a hair of shade. We hadn’t gone far at all when Kathryn realized this really wasn’t going to be feasible, and she and Janet turned back with the dog. They did end up walking more around the campground and lake area, so their trip up wasn’t all in vain.
burnt trees, and part of why there wasn’t so much shade.
Taking photos. Very meta.
Anyway, we continued on our way up the trail, as it first wound up the bowl heading one way, and then turned back towards the gap we were heading for. It was definitely a warm day out, and I took a fair number of breaks as and when we found shade along the way. There were a few nice views along the way. along with some interesting bits of retainment walls along the side of the trail that were doing quite a good job, visually, of holding up the load that had fallen on them. Apparently the “Curve Fire” burned in this area in 2002, and while there is a fair amount of regrowth, there is still really no density of trees to speak of, so there wasn’t as much shade as we might have hoped. It must have been quite a pleasant hike back before most of it burned, however.
We zig and zagged our way through this bit, and while I didn’t know which of the two notch like things in the line above us we were heading to, we were clearly getting higher and higher, and approaching rapidly. As we got to the last bit before the gap, it became clear where we were going, and I just pushed through the heat and the exposure of the last bit, and suddenly broke at out Windy Gap, which was, as the name implies, quite Windy. With the heat of the day, it was honestly quite pleasant. I also quickly recognized it as the location where I’d been with Chris and Rashied when we had gone up to Mt. Hawkins.
This retaining wall is earning its keep here
The trees are much taller than the men
We briefly discussed trying to get up to one of the couple of peaks around there, but decided against it. Instead, we sat around and had a bit of a snack, and enjoyed the breeze until it stopped being enjoyable, and then headed back down. Around then, Lee realized he had dropped his hat somewhere along the way, so asked us to look out for it on the way down. To aid in his remembering, he put a pine cone balanced on top of his head for a bit. Heh. Good balance!
Every one of us is a winner
Lee demonstrates skills
Anyway, we continued well on down the trail, but before having gone very far, I heard the very very distinct sound of a rattlesnake rattling, emanating from a bush right next to the trail – it really sounded like no more than a few feet from me. At that distance, my hindbrain took over, and my adrenaline kicked in, and all I could think was GET AWAY GET AWAY GET AWAY as I propelled myself back up the trail the way I had came, pushing past Lee, half falling off the trail, and falling to one leg as I grabbed onto Nathan when I got to him. I finally sat down, and tried to let my heart slow down, and the adrenaline surge drain off. Jill suggested I try and eat some sugar, which was probably a reasonable suggestion, but I was just trying to sit and catch my breath and regain my senses. After a bit, I managed to pull my head mostly together, and calm my breathing. That’s when I noticed that my leg hurt, and I had a gash and a big bump on my right shin (still a good mark as of August 8, 2011! And still a scar and minor divot in July 2014. I tried to take a photo for you (you’re welcome), but really, taking a shot of your own shin is a mug’s game, and it’s not really that noticeable ) I was mostly able to walk, but my ankle was definitely a bit tender, and my whole leg basically hurt. I immediately downed some ibuprofen, gingerly moved past the site where the snake had been, and started delicately picking my way back down the trail, leaning on Nathan on the few cases where it was steep and challenging.
Soon enough we made it back to the trailhead area, and Nathan and Joe proceeded to walk back to where the cars were (Joe to leave, and Nathan to bring ours up) while Jill, Lee, and I stopped in at the small food store. I wanted some ice cream, but they didn’t have any yet, so I settled for getting a gatorade and some ice for my leg. The person behind the counter seemed very confused by the ice, but Lee ended up getting some for me – I guess you had to pay for a cup of ice!
We then just sat outside until Nathan came back up, me icing my leg, and cleaning it off a bit. So – a nice hike, but a big gouge in my leg, one giant moment of terror, and some hot sprained ankle action. But on the ride back down, we ate lots of delicious sun-warmed apricots, and Jill really said she enjoyed seeing this other side of Los Angeles, so perhaps all in all, still a net win.
stupid rattlesnakes
