EISPIRATEN

Very cool! I'm slightly claustrophobic, so it's an extra kick. I didn't know about these, may now visit. The other really good ones I've been to are Lava Beds NM in Modoc (other corner of the state), and Lava River Cave in Oregon. In the latter, you were (~1980) issued Coleman kerosene lanterns for ...

Most water I've see up there! WOW! The shot of the 'succulent'-like plant...I don't know what kind of plant that is, but have seen it before. There is a roadside rock along Mt Wilson Rd that faces the road, nearly vertical, nearly rectangular. It's split into 4 quadrants, not equal but symmetric. Th...

Lowelifes were out working the Kenyon Devore/Gabrielino junction area yesterday, as well as some of the remaining 'big problems' on Kenyon Devore. The sutter wall at the Blackberry Falls crossing (KD) is being replaced, and the re-re-re-growth of Strudel-Daag is being cut again. The improvements on...

Ah! Great stuff!!! Happy B-day! The south side is my backyard, frequently ride/hike there. The road up Browns Canyon is now open, was closed to public decades ago. There are frequent movie-making activities on a parking flat a few km above the Nike base, and I have been stopped by movie folk from ri...

Nice stuff! https://youtu.be/yOVNE0BJTcc?feature=shared - Huell Howser visits in spring, fulla water! :) I also have never seen this in person, but I've only visited the Valley proper in winter months...like any sensible human. EDIT: My desert winter is Nov-Jan, personal preference only. RE: lights ...

Great pics, thanks! Question re: Pacoima Cyn...did you happen to see any sign of the Dagger Flat Trail when passing? It was under re-construction from the top a few years back, but hat only been brushed and graded for 1km, then nothing. I did a trip to see if I could continue cutting, but realized t...

@HikeUp: That is amazing! I think I have a guide book by Cuthbertson...the name sounds familiar. The illustration looks like work of Sergio Aragones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Aragon%C3%A9s . @Taco: Thanks, good info re: tubeless. I may have need to build a pizza cutter in near future. Se...

RE: tubeless, is it worse on road/gravel bikes? I've only used it for MTB, and just don't have flats anymore (years going). Yearly tire change, I always find a forest of whtethorn and goat heads in there, so the stuff is obviously working. :) I carry a latex spare 'cause 1/2 the weight and size. I u...

Thanks much for the extra info! I'm sure I read those way back when, but re-read them because...because reading. "I'm interested in doing the loop David hiked." I think about half the route is very interesting, and the other half just road. As a backpack, it'd be very nice but it's a lopsi...

Ah, thanks for detail. They did Chilao too. It turned the air to pudding over here in the 818.

EDIT: False alarm, looks like prescribed burn at Crystal Lake. The Mt Wilson HPWREN East cam is showing a fire in Iron Fork (west of Baden-Powell). Looks like it just started. That's an odd place for a fire to start, no lightning and good rain recently. http://hpwren.ucsd.edu/cameras/S/SD/wilson.html

@Sean re: distance, about 10mi/17km each way via my route: https://www.trailforks.com/ridelog/view/63442522/ . To Cienega CG is mellow grade, then moderately steep. @David R re: Castaic info, thanks! Will complete the loop soon and post a report. I did see traces of an old trail cut when I got close...

RE: continue to Lk Hughes Rd, yes. It's a shorter segment, and probably boring, haven't been that way yet. More FS road continues east from Lk Hughes Rd also, connecting to San Francisquito Cyn near Jupiter Mtn. The trailhead on that side is at the Warm Springs Rehab Camp. What I'm trying to researc...

Two weeks back (14-JAN-2024), I did another "Lived here all my life, and never been to..." adventure. I'm hoping the trend picks up steam. Here's a short report with some pics. This was a bike journey, roads only, excepting that the route is 'going feral' and turning to singletrack in plac...

Nice shots, thanks. Looks like a super-mellow day. Is that a 'gate-crashing' eucalyptus in the middle shot?

It's possible by the next date I will have a suitable bike. Thanks!

Wow! I've seen some of your fellows posting on TrailForks the past couple years...crikey! Dig the format, almost a geocaching thing.

I've never been to Josh in the snow, but used to go every winter for family camp-out. Looks positively magical in the snow, even in the dark. Thanks! I suppose you could show the videos to someone and tell them you snuck into Area 51 to look for bigfoot's UFO. :) Long ago I attempted Olancha Peak, p...

re: "Make some vodka?"

Use those potatoes to make one glass of vodka, or plant them, and have enough for a lifetime supply?

Teach a man to be a fish...I think that's how it goes.

Whenever I pass a certain mile marker on the Mt Wilson Rd, I always think of math jokes, and who got that one, who instigated?

Ah, thanks. Will try next.

RE: the flick, true story, guy forges land grant deed, he and wife leverage to take over nearly all of Arizona territory. One of the best Vincent Price flicks, and a great non-stock western.

This looks like the kind of stuff that is incredibly important, and should have multiple copies archived somewhere, but...dang if I know what to do with it.

Did you ever see that old Vincent Price flick "The Baron of Arizona"?

The upper part of Pacoima Canyon, right below Lightning Point, was quite a magical area before the fire. There was a grove of huge incense cedars, nearly sequoia-sized, along the Pacoima Canyon Trail before it climbed south to Mendenhall Road near Indian Ben Saddle. Anyone who can smile like that wh...

Fall color is sslloowwllyy turning in the upper West Fork area. It's quite nice, though!

I made it up there today, but thought it unwise to burn anything. Jeepers, that's a long drive! I'm 818-based, so used Big Tujunga -> Angeles Forest Hwy -> Upper Big T -> CA-2 to Islip. The road has been resurfaced from (at least) Upper Big Tujunga junction to the easternmost of the Sally Saddles. C...

Congrats! Your super power is no sleep, eh? Hmm...

Half a mile from Tucson, by the mornin' light
One man gone and another to go
My, ol' buddy, you're movin'
Much too slooo-oooow

There's a guy who camps in one of the upper loops that looooooves his Styx. A few times I've been up there after dark, I could clearly hear some cosmic soft rock wafting through the oaks. "Come sail away... Come sail away! Come sail away with me, lads!" On the lower Islip Ridge Tr, there w...

You mean take into consideration elevation as contributing to how the mass is distributed throughout the mt range? I thought about that, but I'm not sure how one would go about the calculation...the elevations (as we all well know) are wildly variable throughout the mountains....hence them being mo...

If you manufactured several Centroid Detection Templates from different materials with a range of density and mass distribution, perhaps a better center point could be determined. You could thereby increase the chance of access, and decrease the chance of excess tiredness. Sounds like you're doing t...

I hope someone finds this hilarious. I was descending Kenyon Devore Trail, almost to Gab junction, and there is a freshly unearthed boulder in the trail. I stop to move the boulder. Fifty angry bees emerge from a hole in the ground...where the boulder had been recently...until some bastard bear pull...