Tahquitz Peak Historic Fire Lookout

The intimidating canyon rose steeply above me. Towering rock precipices lined the canyon walls, their summits glistening in the morning sun. I was at an elevation of about 2600' and it was already warm. A little unsteady, and moving slowly at first, I started the ascent. Gaining speed, I passed the first rock face, and after a minute or two, turned to gaze at Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. In what seems like a matter of minutes, yucca and cresote transitioned to mountain mahogany and juniper, and then to pine and fir. Suddenly my pace slows, there is a bump, a jostle, and a pause. The operator announces, "Welcome to the mountain station of the Palm Springs Tram. The elevation is 8516'..."

From a run in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch) on October 12, 2006.

Simi Valley, Conejo Mountain, the Oxnard plain, Santa Barbara Channel, and the Channel Islands from the Chumash Trail.

Conejo Mountain is about 21 miles away, and the nearest point on Santa Cruz Island is about 50 miles distant.

Peculiar pattern in low lying manzanita on the south slopes of Pine Mountain. A friend noted the remarkable similarity of this pattern to that found in gypsum crystals in a desert rose. From the Mt. Baldy North Backbone Trail run/hike.

When I broke through the top of the stratus layer, bright sun glared from the jagged granitic rocks along the ridge. To the west, Josephine Peak (5558') was nearly immersed in an ocean of clouds. The route I was doing was a variation of the Strawberry Peak Circuit described in the posting Spring Growth. Instead of going around the peak on the Colby Trail, this 13 mile loop climbs up and over Strawberry's summit.

This Sierra Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis var. australis) resides on the rocky slopes of Pine Mountain in the Sheep Mountain Wilderness of Southern California. It is an impressive and aged tree. The question is, how old might it be?

Mt. Baldy's North Backbone Trail is not a place to be in a thunderstorm. From start to finish it seems you are either on the crest of a ridge, or on or near the summit of a peak.

The photo above is of a spiral lightning scar on a Jeffrey Pine on the trail at the summit of peaklet marked 8555 on the USGS Mount San Antonio quad. The scar appears to be fresh, and could be from a strike that occurred this Summer. Perhaps the most remarkable thing, given the tree's prominent location, is that it hasn't been struck and scarred before.

The photographs are from Sunday's North Backbone Trail Revisited hike and run. A photograph of another Jeffrey pine that was struck by lightning can be found in the post Three Points - Mt. Waterman Loop.

Technorati Tags: lightning, Jeffrey Pine, lightning tree, North Backbone Trail, Mt. Baldy

 
Wind-swept Jeffrey Pine and Wave Clouds

I was cold -- but not cold enough to do anything about it. I was chugging up the final steep step on Mt. Baldy's exposed northern flank and didn't want to stop. Strong winds were gusting out of the northeast, and the effective temperature had to be in the thirties. Mountain wave clouds paralleled the San Gabriels, stretching in a line from southwest of Mt. Baldy to beyond Mt. Williamson.

Lodgepole Pine and Distorted Mountain Wave Cloud

As I drove under the ski lift on the narrow dirt road, I wondered if I was in the right place. I had turned off of Angeles Crest Highway a few minutes before, and hoped I was still on Blue Ridge Road. My intended destination was an isolated turnout that serves as the trailhead for the North Backbone Trail. This classic trail follows a roller-coastering ridgeline to Mt. Baldy's broad 10,064' summit. Bouncing along the dirt road, I surveyed the sky. The forecast had been for partly cloudy skies, but the morning had dawned overcast and crimson red, and now there was talk of rain. Autumn in the mountains is like that.

Vibrant green with lustrous leaves in the Spring, Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) generally becomes less vivid with age, eventually turning red in the late Summer and Fall. The red color is due to anthocyanin pigments in the plant's sap that become unmasked as the leaf loses chlorophyll.

Brown seed stalks of Curly Dock (Rumex crispus) amid dried grasses and mustard on Laskey Mesa in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).

Curly dock is a non-native invasive weed from Eurasia. The Cal-IPC Invasive Plant Inventory describes its impact as limited.

From a run at Ahmanson on September 13, 2006.

Sylvan Hairstreak (Satyrium sylvinus) on California Goldenrod (Solidago californica) at Sage Ranch Park.