EISPIRATEN

Hello. Once you're at the top of the switchbacks, you're level with the mine, as you say. From there it was a short, easy, level trail. But the fire might have changed it a lot, and I haven't been seen what it looks like now. You were really close. Did it feel too risky to continue?

Here's an aerial photo of the area from 1938 from the UCSB historial aerials archive

axj-1938_66-20.jpg

Shoemaker rd isn't there, obviously. The PL&P trail alread looks shit where I just went. And below Devil's Gulch, where the LIDAR maps can't see it today either. There's a trail from roughly ...

Did more of the PL&P trail today. Biked up the Shoemaker Canyon rd to just before the second tunnel to continue where I left off the last time .

I stashed the bike in the drainage tunnel of Shoemaker Canyon and climbed the slope straight up to pick up the PL&P trail. The view looking back towards ...

Welcome! This is a good town for trail running and bike packing and whatnot. Mikeywally: I like your running loops.

Neat! This is a different road from the one I walked when I was over there. Are you going to be checking out more of these? Should they be mapped?

Oh hey, look at that. We talked about this in an earlier post

Are the USGS topos correct in identifying the private land plots?


I looked into this for the Loomis Ranch specifically at some point, and this actually is a surprisingly-deep rabbithole. The topos are inconsistent with each other and inconsistent with the assessor's maps and with what's ...

I thought the Bridge Fire burned both the Acorn Trail and Bear Canyon trail from Baldy Village. Those are fairly close to Baldy's summit. Was the Bridge Fire the one where people were up in arms because Icehouse Canyon was closed?


Hello! I don't know about Icehouse Canyon. The Bear canyon ...

The closure at Eaton Saddle is being routinely violated, as you say. I've gone over there a few times as well. Can't speak to the others, but I can tell you what I'm thinking.

I don't love the idea of violating the closure. And I'll respect it if I can at the very least understand the rationale ...

The route on OSM is and the USGS topo map is close to correct. Stay in the river, and then climb up where those routes on the map say: at the small clearing near the big metal debris piece in the photos in the trip reports. The switchbacks leading up away from the river were a bit indistinct, but ...

margaritox wrote: Mon Oct 20, 2025 6:43 am why does everyone talk about repelling when talking about the route from the gulch?

There are some falls that canyoneers like to descend. The trail goes around.

I walked up the gulch last year, and the route was very doable. But that was before the Bridge fire, and the conditions are probably very different now. Report back on conditions if you try to get there!

Continuing the "walk-the-PL&P" project, we picked up near where I left off the last time , and walked the next section. I learned my lesson, and fast-forwarded a bit to bypass the small remaining section of the route outside of the burn area. We walked up Shoemaker canyon rd a bit, and climbed a ...

It's not bike friendly YET! Like Nate said, I wasn't all that far from the burn area. I think I'll stay on Shoemaker rd a bit more, and climb the ridge to pick up the trail at the start of the burn area, and then see how it is. There should be little brush but some terrain challenges. Will be a ...

Wow. That report is excellent ! You always seem to know about these. Everything around Rattlesnake peak and Bichota canyon is indeed a pain in the butt. The Williams canyon trail they're talking about does sound like what I was on, but if it was "very faint, overgrown, and completely eroded in some ...

Thanks for the photos. It's interesting how these slopes look similar to the post-fire debrushed slopes of the San Gabriels.

The last time I walked the PL&P trail it looked in good-enough shape to explore, especially since the Bridge fire got rid of all the brush.

I used the magic LIDAR-based maps to see the trailbed (it's still there almost through for the whole run of the trail). I traced that, added it to OSM (marked ...

I poked at the old newspapers just now. This PL&P business is old :

LA Times 1911/08/15 page 29:
The_Los_Angeles_Times_1911_08_15_29.jpg

LA Times: 1913/02/22 page 26:
The_Los_Angeles_Times_1913_02_22_26.jpg

This was Henry Huntington's project, being built in 1911 and 1913. I guess the trail ...

The $25 boots have a too-narrow-for-me toe box, so maybe they're what you want. They're a "Denali" something.

After experimenting some, taking into consideration fit, support, durability, comfort, and cost, what do you find the better approach? Buying 6 pairs of cheap Big 5 boots at $25, or buying one "brand name" pair at $150?


Oh, and to answer the question. I don't have much experience at the $25 ...

I don't mind paying $$$ for durable boots, I just haven't found any that last longer than the fancy-pants $70 big5 boots. Also the big5 is open late and I can walk there, so I've made last-minute purchases there multiple times. Just went to rei, and bought a $200-something pair that maybe will be ...

Not today. The tram wasn't running, so there was no temptation.

Wesweswes and I just did the C2T2C: Palm Springs to the Leatherneck ridge to the tram, skyline down. I've hiked Leatherneck ridge before . As the last time, this route is excellent. Super pretty. Fun scrambling, but nothing hard or dangerous. Feels out there.

My boots were still dead, and I made a ...

test

Matthew wrote: Tue Sep 09, 2025 7:59 pm Caltopo allows unlimited visits. Dima might know of other options tho

I don't know what your goal is. Caltopo allows unlimited visits today. In the future caltopo might not allow anything and it might not even exist anymore. Probably you want to control your own destiny

Yeah, I've been using it, and it works much better now. This isn't turned on by default because it requires extra work from the person running the server, but it really is a superior situation

Cool adventure! Looks like a really pretty area to hang by the river. How big were these fish? Trout? Maybe time to bring out the tenkara rod, but I never tried in the Angeles forest.


I saw one big fish and many smaller ones. If you go there with the intent of catching some, you might be ...

AW~ wrote: Mon Sep 08, 2025 11:09 am There was a "flash" flood between the 2 trip reports...

How are those even on your radar??? I hope nobody was hurt

I just went to Iron Fork. MtGoatMan wrote an earlier report where he was saddened by all the damage. I guess I had lower expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. The slopes above the East Fork and the tributaries were torched, but the canyon bottoms are mostly more-or-less as they ...

Most of the sites don't have publically-known locations, so I think they're mostly pulling from the ntsb reports, or something; those aren't anywhere close usually. This random one is over half a mile off. There are lots like this one . It says the longitude is 118.150000°W. That low precision tells ...