Mt. Wilson via Echo Mt. 5-15-09

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Fri May 15, 2009 11:00 pm

Eric made it through a year of college and is back at home and eager to hike. We headed up to Echo Mountain and Mt. Lowe before deciding to walk all the way to Mt. Wilson on a whim, The hike ended up being 20.5 miles and kept us busy from 10 AM until nearly 4:30 on a warm (80s) day.

Pix

The gazebo on Mt. Wilson is getting renovated -- evidently, there will be a snack bar up there again.

We also got some new pictures of the debris blocking Muller Tunnel.

Also, a couple of snakes, although the rattler is pretty well hidden under a bush.

Post by **Hikin_Jim** » Sat May 16, 2009 12:43 pm

I guess it didn't seem too dangerous to cross the slide?

That photo of the snake climbing the tree is very cool.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Sat May 16, 2009 1:11 pm

The slide was easily passable.

The snake in the tree provided a humorous moment. I was leaning on the tree and stepped away for a minute. When I put my arm out to lean on it again, I put my hand right on the middle of the snake. He just froze, as if posing for the picture.

Fortunately, our earlier encounter with a rattlesnake did not involve any touching. He did block the trail for a bit though, more effectively than the Muller tunnel slide.

Ze Hiker · Post by **Ze Hiker** » Sat May 16, 2009 5:39 pm

nice long trek. i had someone ask me if i 'heard of a way from echo to mt wilson', and I said 'yeah, but who would want to go that long way?'.

oh you long mile lovers, you!

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sat May 16, 2009 9:23 pm

AlanK wrote:The snake in the tree provided a humorous moment. I was leaning on the tree and stepped away for a minute. When I put my arm out to lean on it again, I put my hand right on the middle of the snake. He just froze, as if posing for the picture.

Alan, your snake on the tree was a very nice Western Patch-nosed Snake. Good picture.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Sun May 17, 2009 4:47 pm

I was cleaning out my hiking stuff in my garage today when I found this guy. I think it's a gopher snake. I don't think we picked him up on our hike the other day.

Mike P · Post by **Mike P** » Sun May 17, 2009 8:55 pm

Yup , a good-looking gopher snake.

AlanK · Post by **AlanK** » Sun May 17, 2009 9:02 pm

Mike P wrote:Yup , a good-looking gopher snake.

Well fed, probably off of the mice in our garage.