Taco found some "rock" at the Bichota canyon mouth, and tried to climb it.
The canyon has a bit less water in it than the last time, and has acquired some fall colors:
We walked up canyon. There's an intermittent trail at the start. The brush dominates more and more as you travel up. Around the Schvaterfall canyon mouth, it becomes pretty dense. A bit past that, we climbed the wall to the left to the ridge between Schvaterfall and the next canyon. The climb is steep, but relatively short and not-too-brushy. At the ridge top is a nice use trail, and good views of Schvaterfall canyon, and its big drop:
We then walked the ridge to get views into the next canyon over. The topos said this canyon had a massive drop too, and we could eventually see it from above:
I broke my loppers cutting the brush to get to the lip, so Taco did all the hands-on bushwhacking from here on
From next to the lip
We poked around for a bit, and decided to exit by climbing this ridge up to the "Pidgeon" water tank, and the road. Then we wouldn't need to deal with Bichota canyon again. Up to this point the ridge had a nice use path around the brush.
Views from above. Bichota canyon:
The road we're trying to meet and Smith Mountain
We could also see down into the next canyon:
It's full of plants! Any treasure is well-hidden, and will need to wait until the next fire to be discovered.
The ridge is an old firebreak. Much of the lower section is easy, but the use trails disappear, resulting in some heavy bushwhacking. Eventually we crested to the road. View towards the San Gabriel reservoir, the Puente hills and PV and Catalina Island and (I'm pretty sure) San Clemente Island.
We then walked the road and the other road back to the car. It's in fine shape for walking or biking. We didn't have bikes, so we finished completing the loop after dark.
