Mt. Baldy fron the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell

Yesterday, Woodland Hills topped the 90° mark for the first time this year. But somebody forgot to tell the local mountains about the warmup. This morning, I was about a mile into an out and back trail run from Islip Saddle to Mt. Baden-Powell, and with the wind chill, it felt like the temp was in the 40's.

Eagle Rock From Eagle Springs Fire Road

Is it May or March? With all the blustery weather systems that have been moving through Southern California, it's been hard to tell.

Today I had planned to head back to the high country of the San Gabriels, but instead decided to take advantage of the spectacular weather and do a rambling 24 mile run in the Santa Monica Mountains.

It was a good choice. Early in the run growing mountains of silver-lined cumulus towered above the Hub, and a brisk wind tempted me to pull the sleeves from the pack. Wildflowers lined the trails, and the chaparral teemed with color, sound and scent. It was a long run kind of day.

Note: Later in the day I talked to a runner who had been at Lake Arrowhead early in the morning. He said it had been snowing down to 3000 ft! According to the NWS, record low temperatures for today were set at Lancaster (41°), San Luis Obispo (38°), and Sandberg (28°).

We've had some great running weather in Southern California this Spring, with more than our usual share of cool days and postcard skies. Remarkably, the highest temperature recorded at Downtown Los Angeles so far this year was in the final few days of Winter, when the temperature hit 88 on March 16.

The title photograph is from a recent run in the Simi Hills.

The great view confirmed it -- we had run uphill. The new section of the Backbone Trail was so well-graded that the 850 feet of elevation gain from the trailhead at Encinal Canyon Rd. seemed almost effortless. For the next 14 miles, we would run through one of the most scenic areas of the Santa Monica Mountains; a rough and rugged highland with a character that might put it halfway around the world, rather than 35 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

On this May Day morning, the canyons were cool, the sun warm, and the skies clear. From the craggy heights views extended from Catalina to the Channel Islands; and from Topa Topa to the San Gabriel Mountains. Winter rains had produced a profusion of wildflowers, accenting the trails with the whites, blues, yellows and reds of Spring.

It was an extraordinary day in which mile after mile of trail would pass underfoot with surprising ease. It was the best kind of training -- a run in which the training was an afterthought, and the focus was on the experience, rather than the logbook.

Here's an interactive Google Earth view of the 23 mile route from Encinal Canyon Rd. to PCH at Sycamore Canyon. The elevation gain on the run was about 2500 ft., and elevation loss about 3800 ft. Continuing to the Ray Miller trailhead by way of the Wood Vista, Overlook and Ray Miller trails would add about 3 miles and another 1000 ft. of gain. Another option would be to run through Serrano Valley to Sycamore Canyon. The Fireline Trail is a short distance down canyon from the Serrano Valley Trail, and could also be used to link to the Overlook and Ray Miller trails.

And here's a photo of the Yerba Buena segment of the Backbone Trail when it was under construction in 2003.

Related post: Boney Mountain Crags

From a run this week on the Secret Trail in Calabasas, California.

Wow -- what a great ride! That was my impression the first time I used the Salomon XT Wings trail running shoe, and seven pairs and a couple thousand miles later, the XT Wings is still my shoe of choice for longer trail runs. Now the shoe has been upgraded to the XT Wings 2, and the good news is Salomon listened to the feedback from runners, and made a very good shoe even better.

One of the most obvious changes in the XT Wings 2 is the change from an asymmetric speed-lacing system that would sometimes fray, to a symmetric speed-lacing system with lower friction eyelets. None of my Salomon trail shoes with symmetric lacing have had lace-fraying issues, and these new laces look bombproof!

Update 07/05/10. I now have about 190 miles on each of three pairs of Salomons with the the new eyelets (XT Wings, XT Wings 2 & XT Hawk 2), and I've had no problems with the laces fraying.

Not so obvious until you run in the shoe is the redesign of the toe cap to increase flexibility. I thought the gait transition was smooth in the original XT Wings, and it is even better now. I was also happy to find that my new pair of XT Wings 2 (US Size 9.0) weigh 26 oz., which is a bit less than my first pair of XT Wings.

The shoes felt great on Sunday's Trippet Ranch loop; they had that familiar XT Wings' combination of comfort, smooth ride, cushioning, traction and support.

Related posts: Salomon XT Hawk 2, Salomon XT Wings

This Spring it has been especially easy to choose a good trail run in Southern California -- run anywhere there's a trail and some open space!

It's been warm and dry in recent weeks, but rainfall in the Los Angeles area in October, December, January and February was above normal. The hills are green, small streams are flowing, and the chaparral is blooming. Don't miss out! Pick a local trail and go for a run, hike or ride!

The photograph of bush sunflowers and Saddle Peak is from today's run on the Secret Trail in Calabasas.

Castle Peak from a trail near the northern boundary of Ahmanson Ranch, west of El Scorpion Park.

From today's 8.5 mile circuit around Ahmanson Ranch.

Even if the calendar is a little slow, Spring is here. The oaks are leafing out, goldfields blooming, chorus frogs  singing, and I just had my first rattlesnake encounter of the year.

The single track trail paralleled the dirt road in upper Las Virgenes Canyon. I weaved and wound my way through the grassland and oaks, eventually returning to the road near the connector to Cheeseboro Canyon.

Usually, the sound of my footfalls would be enough to abruptly silence the sing-song of the frogs at the creek crossing. As I approached the creek, the calls slowed but did not stop. I paused at a small pool and stood quietly.

Over a period of seconds, the chorus of the frogs grew to a surprising intensity, interleaving and reverberating in such a way as to envelop me in sound. In the small pond at my feet, I could not see the frogs, but I could see the waves and ripples of their calls on the water's surface. Immersed in sound, I stood still for a few moments, and then crossed the creek, and continued down the canyon.

I'd been thinking about it earlier in the run. Highs had been in the 80's since Monday. Was three days enough to get the rattlesnakes out and about?

I reacted to the rattle before I heard it, leaping away from the sound. The snake was in the grass at the margin of the trail, about halfway up "the Beast," west of Lasky Mesa. It was nearly invisible in the tall grass, and only an inch or two off the overgrown path. Fortunately, it's reaction had been similar to mine, a defensive recoil, rather than a strike.

The adrenalin of the encounter quickened my pace up the hill. At the top of a hill, a falcon flew from a sentinel oak. I followed its flight until it disappeared in the glare of the setting sun, and sighed...

It's funny the things you think about during a race. Running down the Chumash Trail in the Bandit 30K on Saturday, one of my thoughts was, "Wow, these may be the most comfortable trail shoes I've ever run in."

I purchased my XT Hawk 2's from Zappos a couple of weeks ago. Right out of the box there were several things I liked about the shoes:

• They are light. My pair of US size 9's tipped the scale at a light 22.3 oz. This is about the same as the Salomon SpeedComp. 
• The shoes fit well. No weird seams, pressure points or other problems.
• The updated speed-lacing system is symmetric. It has no offset lace anchor across the toe, and uses a new eyelet design. I've never had Salomon speed-lacing fray on shoes with symmetric lacing, and the new eyelet should make the laces even more bombproof.
• The outsole looks nearly identical to the sole on the XT Wings, which in my experience provides a good balance of traction versus predictability.

Out on the trail, the first thing that stood out was the shoe's cushioning. It feels like the shoe has more cushioning than either the original XT Wings or SpeedComp. The heel is particularly well cushioned, but for mid-foot strikers like me, there is also plenty of forefoot cushioning.
 
What I didn't notice until I was running down the irregular surfaces of the Chumash Trail is how the XT Hawk 2's combination of flexibility, support and cushioning combine to produce a really comfortable ride. Based on the shoe's performance on the Bandit's tough 19.5 mile course, I'm looking forward to trying the shoe on some longer mountain runs or races.

Pushed up and over Boney Mountain's two thousand foot western escarpment, Pacific winds condense into thick cloud along its jagged crest. At times breaking free of the mountain's grasp, patches of cloud drift eastward, creating a patchwork of sun and shadow on the steep slopes, and in the valley below.

In the distance, the Ventura Mountains gleam with a mix of snow and cloud, and below the fields of Satwiwa stand out vibrant and green. At my feet hundreds of purple shooting stars dance in the wind; and nearby yesterday's rain seeps and trickles from moss to lichen on the scraggy volcanic rock.

It is a remarkable morning, and an exceptional one to be doing the Boney Mountain north side loop. Here's a short HD video of some of the views along the way. (If the video doesn't play cleanly the first time through because of bandwidth issues, let it finish and then try playing it a second time.)

Rain-washed skies resulted in some long views from Rocky Peak road this morning. Fifty miles to the west, the Channel Islands were easily seen, and to the east Santiago Peak could be seen above a layer of low clouds, some 75 miles distant.

From today's run from Corriganville to "Fossil Point" on the Bandit 30K course.