Running Down the South Fork Trail from Islip Saddle

Just six days before I'd been sitting in my car at Islip Saddle debating whether to run. It had been COLD. The temperature had been about 35°F and the wind a steady 20 mph with higher gusts. It was cloudy and at times foggy, and it looked like rain, sleet or snow might begin at any moment.

Today I was back at Islip Saddle and the temperature was definitely not in the 30s. On a scale of 1 to 10, today's trail running weather was going to be a 9 or 10. At least here in the San Gabriel Mountains the weather was going to be a 9 or 10. Down in the valleys the temps would hit the mid-90s in some locations.

We were doing the Islip Saddle - South Fork Camp - Vincent Gap - Mt. Baden-Powell loop, one of my favorite adventure runs in the San Gabriels. Because this loop starts by running down to the high desert heat is often a factor, and an early start desirable.

Running down the South Fork Trail it felt like it was going to be a great day for the run, and by the time we were chugging up the Manzanita Trail toward Vincent Gap, there was no doubt about it. There was a cool, down-canyon breeze, and even in the sun the temperature was pleasant. The hatch of gnats that usually follows Spring showers wasn't happening and all in all the conditions were as good as I've had on the loop.

Here is a slideshow with a few photos from the run, and here are an interactive Google Earth browser view and an elevation profile of the run.

Some related posts: Heat Wave, San Gabriel Mountains Running Adventure, Bear Cubs on the South Fork Trail, Islip Saddle - Mt. Baden-Powell South Fork Loop

This is an adventurous loop that starts and ends at the Cold Spring trailhead, low on the slopes of the Santa Ynez Mountains in the Santa Barbara Front Country. The route climbs the Cold Spring Trail to Camino Cielo on the crest of the range, and then descends to Forbush Flat and Blue Canyon in the Santa Barbara Back Country.

The Front Country views on the Cold Spring Trail are spectacular, and the Back Country segment from Forbush to Blue Canyon has a classic, isolated character, accentuated by grassy flats, sprawling oaks, gurgling springs and unique geology. Montecito Peak (3214') can be climbed on the way up the Cold Spring Trail and depending on how much time you spend on the summit, adds about 15 minutes.

I was running with Kevin Young, whom I'd met during the Backbone Ultra. Kevin is long-time resident of Santa Barbara and this is just one of the challenging routes in his backyard. As is the case with many trail runs, the mileage of this loop -- about 22 miles -- isn't the best indicator of its difficulty. Many variations of the loop are possible, but one thing they all have in common is lots of elevation gain.

Thanks to the marine layer it was cool along the immediate coast, but inland temps were hot. When we started the run the temperature at the Montecito RAWS was 60°F. A few hours later when we were climbing out of Blue Canyon on the memorably steep Romero Trail the in-the-sun temperature at nearby Los Prietos was around 100°F.

Having done this loop a number of times, Kevin knew it was longer than it looked, and had stashed some goodies at the Romero trailhead. You might think 100 oz. of water would be plenty for 16 miles. On a different day it might be, but today we both ran out of water part way down the Romero Trail. Neither one of us had particularly fresh legs. Kevin was training for a 100 miler later in May and had run 20 miles the day before.

The PB & J sandwich at Romero hit the spot, but after drinking a 16 oz. recovery drink, half of a large bottle of water, and some Gatorade, I wondered if I had overdone the fluids. Nope -- it actually helped a lot and my running attitude improved considerably.

Kevin's route back to the Cold Spring trailhead from Romero initially followed the Nine Trails course on the Edison Catway, but after reaching the Buena Vista Trail continued down to Park Lane. Here we picked up the Old Pueblo Trail, and then worked across to the McMenemy Trail. We followed the McMenemy Trail to the Hot Springs Trail, which we took down to Mountain Drive. From the Hot Springs trailhead it was about a mile on Mountain Drive back to the Cold Spring trailhead. Even though it had a lot of up and down, this part of the run turned out to be surprisingly cool and enjoyable.

For maps of the area see the Multi-use Trails Coalition and Santa Barbara Hikes web sites.

Here's a slideshow with a few photos from the run. We did this run last Sunday, April 28.

View Southwest from Sadie Hawkins past Twin Peaks to Mt. Wilson

The snow was rock hard and covered with lodgepole pine needles and other debris. Having experience climbing snow and ice I can usually deal with a little early season snow, but I could see no way to safely cross this patch. The snow was steep and icy, the runout long and the risk high. My usual tricks for crossing short stretches of snow were not going to work.

Bear Canyon

Doing a moderate run in the San Gabriels and climbing a few peaks was a great way to unwind from the excitement of doing the 68 mile Backbone Ultra last weekend.

I felt good. I'd run more or less normally in the week following the event -- depleted, but without any physical issues. In part that can be attributed to how Coyote Cohorts runs their events. It was basically a long training run in the company of a great bunch of runners and the help of incredible volunteers. Amazing! The long hours of training also really helped, particularly the back-to-back runs following 50Ks and the back-to-back night/day training runs. My shoes -- Hoka Mafate 2s -- also helped, reducing the impact of all the miles.

One of the reasons for doing today's run was to check how Poodle-dog Bush and some other plants are faring in this low rainfall water year. Since July 1 Downtown Los Angeles has recorded only 5.14 inches of rain. Unless we can manage to wring about a half-inch of rain from the heavens before June 30, this water year will go down as the fourth driest since record-keeping began in 1877. The driest water year on record was in 2005-2006 (3.21 inches). Assuming we don't get that 0.48 inch of rain, three of the four driest water years have occurred since 2000.

Something I noticed on the Backbone run and recent training runs in the Santa Monica Mountains is that plant growth and flowering has been surprisingly robust given the amount of rainfall. This was also the case today on today's run -- the manzanita on the San Gabriel Peak Trail was covered in blossoms and bees, and the nightshade and paintbrush along the trail also seemed to be doing well.

What about the Poodle-dog bush, aka Turricula? It looked about the same as last year at this time -- just starting to come out of Winter dormancy. Last year we had above average rainfall in April and it really seemed to spur the growth of Poodle-dog bush. This year maybe we'll see what an extended period of dry weather does to it. Last year some of the Poodle-dog died before the rain in April.

Here's a short slideshow of a few photos from today's run in the San Gabriel Mountains, as well as some photos of plants and flowers on recent runs in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Joey "Threw it on the Ground" Morrison, who whole-heartily embraced the spirit of the Backbone games, was momentarily transformed into the iconic coyote runner while on the top of Eagle Rock.

The Coyote Backbone Trail Ultra was a phenomenal experience and a fantastic running event. The work required to pull it off is beyond comprehension. Many thanks to Chris Scott, Howard Cohen, Mike Epler, Gretchen Garrnet, Manley Klassen and everyone that helped make it happen -- especially Lynette Brody (California State Parks) and Catharine Beverly Bishop (NPS). Also a BIG thanks to the aid station personnel, the safety crews, the EMTs, the communications staff, the trail sweeps and the huge number of volunteers that contributed to the event. The runners that I met along the way were exceptional people as well as superb athletes. I feel fortunate to have participated.

Here's a link to a slideshow -- mostly from the first half of the run. The slideshow is best viewed on desktop/laptop that supports Flash, but can also be viewed on an iPhone/iPad.

After Kanan I had to focus on getting from one aid station to the next, and finishing the run!

Here's a Google Earth flyover of the Backbone Trail run from my GPS track. It will play on most desktop/laptop browsers using the Google Earth plugin. If the placemark labels don't display or disappear, pause the flyover and then press play to resume the flyover. You can start/stop the flyover at any point and use the Google Earth controls to zoom, pan and tilt the view. The time of day is displayed on the upper left.

Did a night training run this evening in the Simi Hills, west of the San Fernando Valley, and combined it with photographing Comet PanSTARRS and the crescent moon with my normal running camera -- a Panasonic Lumix LX7.

Since the comet is low on the western horizon and not very bright, it is a difficult object to photograph, and even more difficult to see with the naked eye.

I found a convenient pipe to use as a monopod and took some image sequences using the self-timer. This particular photo is from a single RAW format image shot at f/2.3 for 1 sec at ISO800 at the 35mm equivalent of 90mm.

Here's a larger version of the image. The soft light on the face of the Moon above the crescent is earthsine -- diffuse sunlight reflected from Earth.

The run was also fun. Saw and heard more poorwills and also encountered a mule deer. Didn't see any coyotes, but certainly heard them.

Related post: Comet Holmes 17/P

What time was it? 1:00 AM? And I was going to get up at what time? 6:00 AM? And do what? Run to Mugu Peak?

It made sense a few days ago. Do a long night training run, sleep for a few hours, then get up and do another long run.

I couldn't believe it when I woke at 6:15. OK... OK... I'll give it a shot. Bleary-eyed, I drove to Wendy Drive.

The forecast was for another day of record-breaking highs. By Southern California standards most of the Winter had been cool and sometimes even cold. I was sure that a temperature of 80-something was going to feel more like 90-something.

Most of the first few miles of Sycamore Canyon were downhill, shaded and cool. As I passed the Danielson Multi-Use Area it was weird to think that last night we had turned around just a couple of miles up the Backbone Trail from here. Danielson will be around mile 59 of the ultra. Running in the dark and after many miles of technical single track trail, Sycamore Canyon road will hopefully provide at least a bit of mental relief. One foot in front of the other...

This morning I continued to follow the Backbone Trail down Sycamore Canyon and then up the Wood Canyon Vista Trail to the Overlook fire road. Here the Backbone Trail continues left (south) to the Ray Miller Trail. Today I turned right and at the 4-way intersection a little down the road turned left and headed into La Jolla Valley -- one of the "must visit" places in the Santa Monica Mountains. Mugu Peak is on the south side of La Jolla Valley, and stands above the coast at Pt. Mugu.

The title photo was taken from the trail on the east side of Mugu Peak. The eastern part of La Jolla Valley is on the left (above the cactus) and La Jolla Canyon is on the right. Boney Mountain is in the distance. The Chamberlain segment of the Backbone Trail descends from near the high point on the right side of the skyline.

There are several ways to return to Wendy Drive from Mugu Peak and my favorite route is nearly all single track trail. Not today. Today wherever there was a choice I took the one that would have the most shade and water faucets. That meant descending Hell Hill instead of Wood Canyon Vista Trail, and running back up Sycamore Road instead of using the single track trails on the west side of the canyon.

It took a while, but eventually I made it back to the car.

Some related posts: Back to Mugu Peak; Laguna Peak, La Jolla Valley, and the Channel Islands

On my list of things to do to prepare for the Backbone Ultra was a night training run on a segment of the Backbone Trail we would be running in the dark.

Tonight was a good night for that training run for a couple of reasons. One was that the weather was going to be phenomenal. Today several record high temps for the date had been broken, including nearby Camarillo at 89 and Oxnard at 84. It would be warmer on tonight's run than on many of the runs I'd done this Winter. Another was that adjusting for Daylight Savings Time, the moon would rise at about the same time and be in about the same phase as on the day of the event.

The plan was to do two out and back runs from the Mishe Mokwa trailhead. The Backbone Ultra starts at Will Rogers State Park in Pacific Palisades and ends at Ray Miller Campground, near Pt. Mugu. The Mishe Mokwa trailhead is at about mile 52 of the course. The first run tonight would be on the easier terrain of the Backbone Trail east of Mishe Mokwa; and the second would be a more difficult run past Sandstone Peak and down the Chamberlain Trail.

Coyotes are curious creatures. You can be nearly certain if one crosses your path, it will continue for a short distance, stop, turn, and watch you.

Recently I had another interesting coyote encounter. I was running along East Las Virgenes Canyon fire road in growing darkness, hoping to make it back to the Victory trailhead before it was completely dark.

I don't know if I heard something, but for some reason I stopped running and listened. There was a small gully full of brush to my right that intersected the dirt road. In a moment or two I heard a growing rustling coming up the gully. I was transfixed. It sounded as if some huge animal was coming toward me.

The rustling grew louder and louder and the brush began to shake, showing the progress of the creature. It all happened before I had time to react, and even if I could have reacted I don't know what I would have done!

All of a sudden one coyote and then another exploded from the brush. The first crossed direcly in from of me in a full gallop and the second took flight, making an impossible flying bound across the road and up the roadcut on the opposite side.

As quickly as they had appeared, they were gone, and the canyon was quiet again.

Some related posts: Coyote Tag, Coyote Tag II

Bandit 50K Runners Descending the Chumash Trail

If my training goal was to be running on spent legs, I had achieved that goal. I was at mile 22 of the Bandit 50K and trying to run up Las Llajas Canyon. On paper (or LCD display) Las Llajas is a gradual climb, gaining a modest 600 feet in a little more than 3 miles. But on dirt and in reality it is an onerous climb that numbs the mind and makes you mumble to yourself, "Why can't I run up this thing any faster?"

Temps were on the chilly side as we gathered at the Kanan Road trailhead for Backbone Ultra Training Run #2. I think someone said 28 degrees. It must have been that cold. Not only were the trailhead sign coated with ice and garbage can lids frozen shut, among the 20+ runners there wasn't a bare arm in sight.

After taking a group photo run organizers Howard Cohen and Mike Epler sent us on our way with promises of hot soup and other delights at Encinal Cyn Road and Mishe Mokwa. (Delivered as promised!)

At first there was so much frost it was hard to distinguish between the frost and the pandemic bloom of bigpod Ceanothus covering the hills. Even so it didn't take long to get warmed up and enjoy some excellent running on one of the more scenic sections of the Backbone Trail.

The title photo is a view northwest along Etz Meloy Mtwy at about mile 47 of the Backbone Trail. The highest peak on the skyline, right of center, is Sandstone Peak. Sandstone Peak marks the high point of the Backbone Trail and the start of an approximately 7 mile long, 2700' descent into Sycamore Canyon.

Here's a view southeast from the same vantage point along Etz Meloy. The runners are about 9 miles from the Kanan Road trailhead and have just done a moderately graded climb from Trancas Canyon, gaining about 1200' over about 4.5 miles.

For more photos and info see the Coyote Backbone Trail Ultra web site and Facebook page.

A luminous stream of headlamps wound up the switchback above the rocky streambed, the lights defining the movement of a huge and sinuous creature making its way up La Jolla Canyon.

In the darkness a great horned owl greets runners with a questioned, "who-whoo, who-whoo." Excited runners answer back with cupped hands, "who-whoooo, who-whoooo." Above, a thick veil of high clouds shrouds the last quarter moon. The clouds will also temper the sun, resulting in nearly ideal race-day weather. The trails are in great shape and there should be some fast times.