The wind had been blowing in fitful gusts, but calmed as I approached the precipice. Despite its foundation of granite, I felt exposed out on the narrow promontory of snow. Just beyond the tips of my skiis, the north face of San Jacinto Peak dropped 8500 dizzying feet to the desert floor.

The summit of San Jacinto (10,834') is always spectacular, but with the addition of snow it is transformed into a peak with a high mountain character -- a wild and wintry landscape shaped by wind and weather.

Our route to the summit was only four miles long, but with 8 lbs. of ski, boot and binding latched to each foot, the 2400 ft. ascent from the Long Valley ranger station had been strenuous. Rather than following the trail southwest toward Round Valley, we chose to ascend the east-west trending drainage that leads to Tamarack Valley. The steep maze of snow pillows, rocks and trees is a more direct alternative to the well-used Round Valley trail.

Once out of the maze, we continued west past Tamarack Valley, eventually working up onto the slopes below Miller Peak. From here we switchbacked up the bowl to the saddle between Miller and San Jacinto. From the saddle it was a scenic half mile up the broad east ridge to the summit. Here's a Google Earth image, a Google Earth KMZ file, and a Live Browser View (Chrome, IE7, IE6 & Firefox) of a GPS trace of our route.

Like any real world mountain, the snow conditions on San Jacinto are not always the best. However, today the snow was pretty good -- maybe a 7 or 8 out of 10. It had snowed a few days before, and temps were just starting to warm up. The top 4-5 inches of the pack were dense, and the surface was soft. The sun was muted my a thin veil of high clouds, so the snow did not vary much in and out of the trees.

As we removed our climbing skins and prepared to ski down, Charles and I reminisced about skinny ski descents of San Jacinto, and other peaks. Like sticky rubber on rock climbing shoes, shaped skiis had changed the sport. Easier to manage and turn, shaped skiis handle crud so much better than long, narrow skiis with little side cut.

My initial turns off the summit were a bit tentative, but improved as we skied down through the Lodgepole pines on the east ridge. By the time we dropped into the big bowl southeast of the summit, I was getting my ski legs back, swinging turns, and feeling like it had been 3-4 weeks, rather than 3-4 years, since I had skied here.

Related posts: Room with a View; Rock on Rock, Snow on Snow

Mountain bikers working up the 2.6 mile Chumash Trail. Simi Hills and Simi Valley are in the distance. This section of the trail was burned in the Sesnon Fire in October 2008.

Here is a Live Browser View of a GPS trace of the Chumash Trail using the Google Earth browser plug-in (Chrome, IE7, IE6, Firefox).

Related post: Chumash Trail Training, Chumash Trail - Sesnon & Simi Fires

Not the green of shamrocks or jade, or an emerald sea,
but of new growth along a trail, softly seen.

From a run of the Trailer Canyon - Trippet Ranch loop, described in Garapito Trail Runs.

Here is a Live Browser View of the run using the Google Earth browser plug-in (Chrome, IE7, IE6, Firefox).

Related post: Ferns Along the Garapito Trail

As we've seen this Winter, it is the norm for Southern California's weather to be abnormal. Cool, wet weather in December was followed by weeks of warm, dry weather in January. It is hard to predict when it will be wet and when it will be dry. Especially if you are a plant.

This photograph of a shooting star (Dodecatheon clevelandii ssp. patulum) is from early February, when the weather was dry. Droplets of moisture can be seen clinging to the interior walls of the seed capsules. These climate moderated capsules helps ensure that the plant will produce viable seeds, even if an extended period of dry weather should occur after the plant blooms.

Saddle Peak and Malibu Canyon from the Backbone Trail, in the Santa Monica Mountains, near Los Angeles.

According to geologist Thomas Dibblee, Jr., Malibu Creek may be an ancestral stream that predated the uplift of the Santa Monica Mountains. Another possibility, suggested in this technical paper, is that a coastal stream eroded inland, and captured an inland drainage. Such a process may be occurring in Big Sycamore Canyon, which appears to be eroding headward along the Sycamore Canyon Fault, and may eventually capture a drainage in the Potrero Valley.

From Sunday's run in Malibu Creek State Park.

My trail running shoes had not been wet or muddy since sometime in December. During the entire month of January, Downtown Los Angeles (USC) recorded about one-third of an inch of rain. Not only had it been dry, it had been warm. On a dozen of those January days, the high temperature topped eighty degrees, setting a new record!

But Winter had returned. The past three days, Los Angeles had received about 1.5 inches of rain, valley and foothill locations 2-4 inches, and some mountain stations as much as 5-7 inches. And more Winter weather was on the way. Excited about the change in the weather, today's run was one with good muck and mire potential -- the Bulldog Loop in Malibu Creek State Park.

We were not disappointed. Near Century Lake, mud the consistency of peanut butter pulled at our shoes and slowed the climb up Crags Rd, Further west, near the  M.A.S.H. site, calf-deep water on the trail washed the gunk off.

The trail conditions on the remainder of the loop were more straightforward. From time to time, shafts of sun would pierce the clouds, resulting in a patchwork of shadow and sun that emphasized the rugged terrain. Along the crest, the ocean views were superb! Before descending to Tapia Park we ran out to Mesa Peak, and then followed the ridgeline to an overlook of the coast. (Marked peak 1800 on the topo.)

Including the side trip to the overlook, this variation of the Bulldog loop worked out to an exhilarating 16.5 miles, with an elevation gain/loss of about 2700 ft.

If current forecasts and outlooks for this month hold true, this won't be our last wet and muddy trail run this February. In a couple of weeks, Los Angeles rainfall totals may climb above normal for the first time this rain season. We'll see!

Some related posts: Fog Along Malibu Creek, Bulldog Loop and the Corral Fire

The idea was to do an interesting trail run that wasn't quite as long and strenuous as last week's Bandit 30K Course Preview. That was the idea. I could have calculated the mileage and elevation gain of our projected route, but sometimes part of the fun of trail running is not knowing the exact route, how long it will take, or how strenuous it might be.

This particular exploration would visit two of the most scenic areas in the Santa Monica Mountains -- Serrano Valley and La Jolla Valley. Many variations of this loop are possible. Our base route included the Ray Miller/Backbone Trail, Fireline Trail, Serrano Canyon Trail, Serrano Valley Trail, Old Boney Trail, Wood Canyon Vista Trail, La Jolla Valley Loop Trail, La Jolla Canyon Trail and connecting roads.

In addition to its wonderful scenery, this course is characterized by moderate uphills that are generally very runnable. The side trips to to the old ranch site in Serrano Valley, and to Mugu Peak pushed the route beyond the 30K mark, but were worth every step. Here's a Google Earth image and Google Earth KMZ file of a GPS trace of the route. Since none of us had done the eastern leg of the La Jolla Valley Loop Trail, this time we did Mugu Peak from the east. The route around the valley to the western side of Mugu Peak is also shown.

Here is a Live Browser View of the run using the Google Earth browser plug-in (Chrome, IE7, IE6, Firefox).

Some related posts: Serrano Valley from Wendy Drive; La Jolla Valley & Mugu Peak from Wendy Drive; Laguna Peak, La Jolla Valley, and the Channel Islands

Hill 2484 is near the top of the oil field service road that connects Las Llajas Canyon to Rocky Peak fire road.

From Sunday's Bandit 30K Course Preview run.

Some related posts: Chumash-Las Llajas Loop, Chumash Trail Rocks & Snow

Because of a scheduling conflict, two friends weren't going to be able to enter a challenging new Southern California trail race -- the Bandit 30K/14K -- so today we previewed the 30K course.

The race starts in Corriganville Park in Simi Valley, and incorporates several of my favorite local trails in Rocky Peak Park. With an elevation gain in excess of 3200 ft., and varied terrain, the race promises to be a memorable test of trail running skill and endurance. A plus is that it is being run in March, when the hills are green; there is water in the creek crossings; and wildflowers along the trails.

So how was the 30K course? In a few words -- strenuous, scenic and technical -- and more difficult than either the Boney Mountain 21K or Bulldog 22K. Get all the details at BanditTrailRun.com.

Update 12/09/10. The date of the 2011 Bandit 15K/30K is Sunday, February 20th. A 50K distance has been added! Here's a Google Earth flyover of the Bandit 30K course, created from a GPS trace of the 2010 race.

Related post: Bandit 30K 2009

My legs were still pretty worked from the Boney Mountain Half Marathon. Instead of backing off of the pace on my weekday workouts, I had continued to experiment with a change in running technique that was resulting in faster paced runs. I was excited about the increase in speed, but logging fast times on oft-run courses after a strenuous race doesn't equal recovery. Neither does blasting up a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Green beneath Summer's bleached stalks, the growth of this grass at Sage Ranch reflects the near normal rain season we've had to date in the Los Angeles area, and over much of Southern California. Since the start of the water year on July 1, Downtown Los Angeles (USC) has recorded 4.66 inches of rain. When this photograph was taken, January 11th, 4.66 inches was almost exactly normal rainfall for the date.

However, as is so often the case in Southern California, this apparent normality is the sum of offsetting wet and dry periods. December's precipitation was generally well above normal, but January has been dry, dry, dry. Today, the Los Angeles rainfall total is about 0.5 inch below normal, and every day it doesn't rain, our deficit increases by about 0.10 inch.

So when might it rain? A very strong 200 kt Pacific jet stream has pushed up a high pressure ridge over the West Coast, blocking storms and warming temperatures. Big upper level ridges such as this are consistent with La Nina, and have been a recurring theme this Fall and Winter. Much of our rainfall and cold weather this season has occurred when an extended Pacific jet collapses or contracts, and a blocking ridge shifts west, opening the door to cold storms plunging down the backside of the ridge from the north.

Over the next 1-2 weeks, this is expected to happen again, but this time there is a wildcard in the mix. One of the reasons the Pacific jet is so strong is the active phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is present in the Western Pacific. As described in this Climate Prediction Center document, this scenario sometimes leads to a heavy West Coast precipitation event.

It's too far out for the medium range models to be of much help in assessing the likelihood of such an event developing. At the moment, about the only thing that can be said with some certainty is that a pattern change is in the works, and by the end of January there is a chance of some rain in California and the West. We'll see!

Related post: Southern California 2008-2009 Winter Precipitation Outlook, Snow on Oat Mountain

Deep in shade on a north-facing chaparral slope, this California fuchsia (Epilobium canum ssp. canum) has not savored direct sunshine for weeks. Overnight temperatures in the Santa Monica Mountains have dropped to freezing several times this Winter, and frosts have been common. But this hardy plant continues to bloom.

According to the Jepson Manual this subspecies ranges up to about 5000 ft. in elevation, and the parent species up to about 10,000 ft. As a genus, Epilobium is well represented by species that grow at higher latitudes and elevations, and must have developed adaptations that help it flourish in cooler climes.

From a run on the Old Boney Trail on December 27, 2008.