Oak Spring and Fascination Spring Hike: 02 March 2008

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:30 pm

A trip to the western half of the ANF was on the menu for Sunday. We headed up Little Tujunga Cyn and into Gold Creek towards our parking area. The regular Oak Springs parking lot was taken up by a film company so we had to park on the side of the road across from the trailhead. From here our nicely graded trail ascended moderately for 1.5 miles to Oak Spring.

We saw the first rattlesnake of the season, too.

Oak Spring itself was quite a nice surprise in an otherwise semiarid environment.

There was a fair amount of water.

We left Oak Springs and headed south over the ridge. The winds on the ridgetop were clocked at 36 mph!

The upper portion of the Fascination Springs Trail was recently reworked...

...while the lower portion will soon be overgrown:

Our troop ate lunch at the hitching rail and trough. We didn't see any water at Fascination Spring.

On our way out we hit the Doc Larsen Trail which lead us to one of our vehicles parked on Little Tujunga Canyon Road. The total mileage was 6.5 miles which we took in a leisurely 3.5 hours. Overall, this trip was an easy hike and definitely one to be done in the winter or early spring.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:52 pm

Nice pix.

AW~ · Post by **AW~** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:10 am

excellent...Those are the first pictures I have seen of hiking in that area.

Terry Morse · Post by **Terry Morse** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:02 pm

Did you encounter any ticks in the overgrown areas?

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:19 pm

It was nice to go on this hike when the hillsides were green and fragrant. For half the trip we were treated to great views of the Gold Creek watershed:

No one had ticks that I am aware.

KathyW · Post by **KathyW** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 7:50 pm

yes, nice pictures - thanks for sharing.