EISPIRATEN

I hiked Mount McKinley recently and was eying the large massif guarding the entrance to Big Tujunga Canyon and realized it should be a nice place to hit up for a view and would also be the high point of the Yerba Buena Ridge. A little research showed that others have noted the same thing and had been there.

I haven't hiked that much of Little TJ Canyon and felt this would also give me an opportunity to hit some areas that I haven't been to. I decided to hike the Oak Spring Trail off of Gold Creek Road. I got to the nice parking lot and picnic table area and didn't realize that the trail actually started off Gold Creek Road across the creek. A couple of false starts and I found the trail.

The trail starts off with a no nonsense climb out of Gold Creek Canyon giving you great views of what looks like an awesome meth lab below you old vehicles, RVs, and barking dogs. The compound above the meth lab, I checked later, looks like a Korean church property with the English word Hallelujah on the sign.

I reached the ridge separating Little TJ and Gold Creek a little too quickly. This area really felt like the Santa Monica Mtns both in vegetation and hiking. The section prior to Oak Spring did not burn in the fire so you can see the difference as you are hiking and remember what 6 foot high chaparral in the San Gabes really feel like. At this point there are some peaklets off to the right. The first is Pt 2749 but looked boring with a grassy summit, the one right before Oak Spring looked more prominent and steep of a climb so I hopped up there. The view was of Little TJ and the sound of war was in the air as the most active shooting range in the San Gabes was in full action. I don't know what those guys have but it sounds like the military at play.

Oak Springs was blech just some oak trees and some black seepage water. There were also gnats everywhere on the trail in massive swarms, I got my protein for the day as I was forced to breath. The trail was in great shape and had just been reworked as I headed towards the fire road up a more moderate slope. Finally the road was reached and I slipped back down 50 yards to look at the shape of the Fascination Spring trail which looked decent but I had little interest in actually seeing it so onwards up the fire road.

As you head up the dirt road the two high points visible to the SE are just before the actual high point. A long mile gets you to a three way intersection. The high point is to the left and has a small duck on top with no register. The better view is to head down to the right and hit that high point which gives you a fine view of Big TJ and an interesting vantage point of Lukens. Unfortunately the high point is only 3,900 feet high so you can't see well over the Verdugos and it was hazy as well. I messed around here for a bit climbing a couple of other high points for the fun of it.

Finally it was time to head down the same way I came up. As long as I was on the ridge the sound of the shooting could be heard even at the high point, it was amazing how far the noise pollution went. I got back to the car in a little over three hours from when I started with about 8-9 miles under my belt and about 2,300 feet elevation gain.

I was still raring to go and had noticed what appeared to be a steep firebreak going up Limerock Peak as I was descending. I decided this was next for the day and parked at the wash on Little TJ at the 16.66 mile marker. The easiest way to get on the ridge is to immediately cross the wash and ascend. I instead went into the wash, found a small gully climbed out of it, saw what appeared to be a route up to the ridge. Thrashed through some brush and climbed up that route, followed some game trails, ascended to another fire break and finally ascended to the ridge. After the boring hike earlier this one was much more promising.

The climb up Limerock is steep at just over a mile of hiking with 1,400 feet elevation gain. The route up looks innocuous enough with a grassy slope. Unfortunately this fire break is about as nasty as it comes being very eroded, with a mix of very loose sand and rock. Going up you're trying to keep your balance as the ground below you gives way, good luck to the person hiking behind you. Fortunately the really nasty section is relatively short and then the fire break while steep widens and becomes more of a dirt climb. You finally get to the top where a collapsed picnic table greets you and you can see the much easier route from Kagel Divide. This is front seat viewing of the gun range and you can play the game identify the gun that is currently shooting. The view is a bit better then the Yerba Buena ridge as there is less mountains around to block your view.

The fun part really begins as you try to climb down this mess and as it is so narrow you can't scree ski it down and there are plenty of rocks lodged along the route. Bonus points if you can make it down without dislodging a decent rockslide. I descended the exact way I came up except I stayed above the wash as I went through the brush. Fortunately for whatever reason the way down had an absence of shooting which actually made for a semi peaceful descent. I really enjoyed this little clamber and it kind of made the day worthwhile, I'll be back at least one more time to this area as I do have some more minor peaks that I want to knock out.

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=480346

I was out to Limerock peak back in 2010

Good to know the trails on Yerba Buena are being worked on

I regularly hear the gun fire at the shooting range on Mt Lukens

The only 2 times I hike or mt biked in the region ('73 ,'92) - I was accosted by furious landowners who put us/ me thru a full blown confrontation before relenting.

Bad ju ju

Thanks for the writeup, David. Nice description of a less visited area. As much of a fringe zone as this seems to be, it's got a certain appeal. I have a vivid memory of hiking that trail once through the mists after a rain storm, gaining the meadows at dusk as the clouds parted and then hearing the roars of what sounded like a lion or tiger from the Wildlife Waystation across the valley as I descended the trail in the half-light looking down at the glowing lights and barking dogs of the compound below.

As far as I can tell, most access points to the Yerba Buena Ridge area from the Little-T side before Gold Creek Rd involve crossing private land. There is what I believe to be a legitimate bypass trail that can be accessed from Gold Creek Rd. beyond Oak Springs trailhead but before the road is finally gated off at the last private property. I've outlined the route here:

https://eispiraten.com/P ... t6107.html

(Note that the section of trail shown on the topo running in the bottom of the drainage parallel to the road and before the saddle doesn't seem to be maintained or exist presently. I followed the road up to the saddle, then took the trail down to the right.)

However, I wouldn't be surprised if some individuals in the area are used to considering the public land sequestered in between private parcels as a de facto extension of their ranches. Last time I was up there, I heard shots fired nearby in Boulder Canyon even though I believe it was well beyond the end of hunting season. Just a few shots at a time, with minutes in between. It didn't sound like target practice, so maybe they were trying to get after some coyotes or something?

I've also witnessed some good ol' boys getting an early start on their drinking at about 9:30 am on a Saturday morning in the Oak Springs parking lot, so it does have a bit of a wild west feel back in there. On the other hand, it does feel like a genuinely wild stretch of open country very close to the edge of town. Is there active mining up in there?

walker wrote: ↑As far as I can tell, most access points to the Yerba Buena Ridge area from the Little-T side before Gold Creek Rd involve crossing private land. There is what I believe to be a legitimate bypass trail that can be accessed from Gold Creek Rd.

Here is a map for a hike I took back in 2004

http://caltopo.com/map?id=7T4U

If I recall correctly I parked at waypoint 000, hiked to Big-T, took my Trail90 back.

What is there now?

Crossing the gated private property will get you in trouble with the less than welcoming residents.

I found some information about that Korean Church which used to be Cecil B. DeMille's getaway, you know him The Ten Commandments dude. Kind of interesting, I had no idea that this was his spot. Originally he deeded it to a Children Services non-for-profit organization who then sold it to the church.

http://articles.latimes.com/1997/sep/21/local/me-34726

Here is a map for a hike I took back in 2004

http://caltopo.com/map?id=7T4U

If I recall correctly I parked at waypoint 000, hiked to Big-T, took my Trail90 back.

What is there now?

That's exactly the trail I've been up. There's a wide shoulder/turnout at waypoint 000 for parking. Once you travel down the trail a bit, it seems that it was maintained in the last 6 months or so, in some places the chaparral is cleared very wide, maybe as a horse trail? As you rejoin the fire road after crossing the drainage, the road has not been maintained since the fire but is clear and in generally good shape. You reach the station fire zone a little before the water tank at the ridge line. Beyond that, I'm not sure how the upper portion of the trail into Gold Canyon fared. From the ridge, it's easy to spot the trail switchbacks descending into the canyon, but I haven't hiked it. If you continue along the road up towards McKinley it gets a bit brushy with scotch broom and such and the road is a bit more impacted by the fire and minor gravel slides, but it's in generally good shape.

I found some information about that Korean Church which used to be Cecil B. DeMille's getaway, you know him The Ten Commandments dude. Kind of interesting, I had no idea that this was his spot. Originally he deeded it to a Children Services non-for-profit organization who then sold it to the church.

It's wild to think of such illustrious folks up in that area. The article says the property was 310 acres. I wonder how much of the valley that included. Down the road Middle Ranch also claims that it belonged to DeMille.

I was hiking the Oak Spring trail on 12/13 when I ran into a woman who reported she was doing guerrilla trail maintenance from Oak Spring to the Yerba Buena fire road. The condition of the trail from the parking lot to Oak Spring was pretty good, but the trail was very poorly constructed and there was a lot of water damage from the rains a few days before.