Fire Break on West Ridge of Topatopa Bluff

Looking down Sisar Road I could see a couple of riders on horseback, accompanied by a hiker. As I approached them, I slowed and then walked. They asked me how far I had gone, and I replied, "Topatopa." The hiker responded that she hadn't been to the summit since the Day Fire threatened the area, and asked if it was open. I told her that I thought so.

Fanged and clawed, death waits,
On a highland of lavender, near a saffron spire.

The silhouette of a crab spider on the petal of a back lit Purple nightshade (prob. Solanum xanti). The blossom is about 0.8 inch (~20 mm) wide, which would make the span of the spider's crab-like grasping forelegs about 0.25 inch (~7 mm). From a run at Sage Ranch Park on November 2, 2006.

Note: This is not a photo of Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna).

Technorati Tags: poetry, spider

Autumn color in the leaves of gooseberry (prob. Ribes roezlii) at about 7500 ft. on the Vivian Creek trail. The photograph is from the San Gorgonio High Line hike and run.

Related post: Poison Oak

One of the other climbers commented, "It's almost eerie." And it was. On the 11,499' of San Gorgonio Mountain there was not a breath of wind and the temperature was a comfortable 50-something degrees. Wisps of cirrus accentuated the azure sky, and to the southeast San Gorgonio's ever-present companion, Mt. San Jacinto, stood quietly above Banning Pass. A couple of hours before I had been sitting on the summit of East San Bernardino Peak, debating whether to continue my planned trek to San Gorgonio.

Moon rising over rocks of the Chatsworth Formation at Sage Ranch Park.

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