Wash + Water = ?
Plan:
1) Wake at 6, read email.
2) 7-8: Gym workout.
3) 8-10: Hike up to Henniger Flats and back.
Actual:
1) Check.
2) Check.
3) Che-
About an eighth of a mile in, my regular hiking trail crosses a dry wash. It rained last night for 10 hours. My dry wash isn't so dry anymore. In fact, it became a fast-moving stream of indeterminate depth.
The traditional crossing point was not safe, so instead of hiking along the normal trail, I turned left and hiked upstream looking for a crossing point. It was beautiful! I think I forget sometimes how dry and dull the southern California hiking trails can be compared with wetter climes. It reminded me of Philmont's better trails - after the daily rainstorm dropped an inch of water on your crew, you would still have a few miles to go before camp, and all the plants would be wet. Same here. For an hour and a half I was never out of earshot of the stream, and the constant roar of water was compelling.
This is why I need to move out of southern California. Portland apparently has an abundance of wetter hiking trails. Perhaps I will investigate that further soon.
Of course, hiking upstream turned into bushwhacking and bouldering pretty quickly. There was no trail, but that just made it more interesting. Highlights include:
+ Getting to see the Mt. Wilson trail canyon completely socked-in with mist
+ Hopping from rock to rock across the side canyon runoffs
+ Struggling to push my way through thirty yards of brush to reach the top of a little hill, only to discover a full-on survival shelter built into the rock on said high point! Someone had clearly been using it as their own personal fortress of solitude. I wouldn't mind spending a (non-rainy) night out there myself.
+ Meeting two gentlemen at the same time from two different directions through an odd twist of fate and being able to have a brief, very comfortable conversation. Nothing is as good as the outdoors for establishing a shared experiential base for communications.
Weather.com predicts more rain in the next 24 hours, so my hope is that I'll be able to repeat the experience tomorrow!
1) Wake at 6, read email.
2) 7-8: Gym workout.
3) 8-10: Hike up to Henniger Flats and back.
Actual:
1) Check.
2) Check.
3) Che-
About an eighth of a mile in, my regular hiking trail crosses a dry wash. It rained last night for 10 hours. My dry wash isn't so dry anymore. In fact, it became a fast-moving stream of indeterminate depth.
The traditional crossing point was not safe, so instead of hiking along the normal trail, I turned left and hiked upstream looking for a crossing point. It was beautiful! I think I forget sometimes how dry and dull the southern California hiking trails can be compared with wetter climes. It reminded me of Philmont's better trails - after the daily rainstorm dropped an inch of water on your crew, you would still have a few miles to go before camp, and all the plants would be wet. Same here. For an hour and a half I was never out of earshot of the stream, and the constant roar of water was compelling.
This is why I need to move out of southern California. Portland apparently has an abundance of wetter hiking trails. Perhaps I will investigate that further soon.
Of course, hiking upstream turned into bushwhacking and bouldering pretty quickly. There was no trail, but that just made it more interesting. Highlights include:
+ Getting to see the Mt. Wilson trail canyon completely socked-in with mist
+ Hopping from rock to rock across the side canyon runoffs
+ Struggling to push my way through thirty yards of brush to reach the top of a little hill, only to discover a full-on survival shelter built into the rock on said high point! Someone had clearly been using it as their own personal fortress of solitude. I wouldn't mind spending a (non-rainy) night out there myself.
+ Meeting two gentlemen at the same time from two different directions through an odd twist of fate and being able to have a brief, very comfortable conversation. Nothing is as good as the outdoors for establishing a shared experiential base for communications.
Weather.com predicts more rain in the next 24 hours, so my hope is that I'll be able to repeat the experience tomorrow!