View from San Gabriel peak

Post by **dima** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:23 pm

This isn't so much a trip report, as an excuse to post some photos. Today I went up to San Gabriel Peak and Mt Lowe via Muir Peak and the Lone Tree trail (thanks, Sean!). The trip itself wasn't particularly noteworthy; trails are all decent. What WAS noteworthy was the visibility. I have NEVER seen it like this.

Here're some photos from Muir and San Gabriel. Not only is Catalina clearly visible, you can clearly see Santa Barbara island too. You can also see the container ships in the Santa Barbara channel and by the LA/LB port. Swinging around, the snow-capped San Gorgonio is clear, as is San Jacinto. Looking around with polarized sunglasses made the ocean yet more clear, by a lot. I'm really kicking myself for never buying a polarizer for my camera. This has now been rectified for the future.

Sorry for the large images, but that's sorta the point here. The originals are even better. Remove the "?variant=..." piece from the addresses to get those.

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 8:56 am

Nice pics dima. It's not everyday that you can see Santa Barbara Island even from the Santa Monicas.

RichardK · Post by **RichardK** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:47 am

Santa Barbara Island is a rare sight. I once glimpsed it from the Santa Anas on an equally clear day. Can you imagine what the views were like 200 years ago before the people and pollution?

robnokshus · Post by **robnokshus** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 10:36 am

I was up on Disappointment last weekend and enjoyed a similar view, Wildly expansive! Thank you for the pics. My android couldn't do it justice.

mrnizegy · Post by **mrnizegy** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:29 pm

This was an amazingly clear day. Thanks for sharing a look from the other side of my view from Long Beach.

brian2014 · Post by **brian2014** » Tue Jan 13, 2015 9:34 pm

I recall hearing that the views are best in winter than rest of the year because the angle of the sun and that it's not reflecting off the ocean by the time of day one reaches SG peak.

Another cool hike to see the other islands off Santa Barbara coastliine is Sandstone Peak 3,111' at Circle X Ranch in Santa Monice Mountains. You can reach out and touch them...it seems.

Post by **dima** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 12:32 am

brian2014 wrote: ↑I recall hearing that the views are best in winter than rest of the year because the angle of the sun and that it's not reflecting off the ocean by the time of day one reaches SG peak.

Yeah, the angle of the sun is definitely significant. The first photo I linked is from Muir peak, and the 2nd is from San Gabriel peak maybe 1-1.5 hours later. You can see that a different side of Catalina is lit up because of that 1.5 hour difference. I want the chance to do this again with a polarizing filter on the camera; maybe this will reduce the difference somewhat.