Not more than a foot or two off the trail.

Here it is February 23rd and the annual grasses have already gone to seed, goldfields are blooming on Lasky Mesa, and I've already had my first rattlesnake encounter of the season.

That happens when there's been less than a tenth of an inch of rain in the last 30 days (Cheeseboro RAWS) and temps climb into the eighties.

A canyon sunflower (Venegasia carpesioides) in a grove of oaks in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon.

From last Sunday's run to Cheeseboro Canyon from the Victory Trailhead of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (Ahmanson Ranch).

Last June I had an unusual encounter with a coyote near the end of a run at Ahmanson Ranch (Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve). For reasons known only to the coyote, the animal behaved like a dog and ran with me a short distance along a dirt road. Not off to the side of the road, or at a distance, but as if on lead and out for a daily jaunt. Today, on the same section of road, I had another odd encounter with a coyote.

This time I rounded a corner to see a coyote calmly trotting down the middle of the dirt road toward me. No big deal, it would do what a coyote normally does -- see me and head for the brush. Except it didn't. This time it continued to trot in my direction. Fifty, thirty, twenty feet -- the gap between us closed. Watching each other intently, we stopped about 12 feet apart.

For a few moments we stared at each other, my expression no doubt showing the same mix of wariness and curiosity as the coyote's. In the practiced motion of something wild, the coyote briefly raised its head, sampling scents of its world on the wind. I edged closer -- not daring to raise my camera, but taking the occasional photo.

A few more seconds passed, then apparently deciding enough was enough, the animal sauntered into the grass.

Coyotes are opportunists and I'm guessing these close encounters are related to an association of people with food -- perhaps discarded food or food intentionally provided. Coyotes also associate people with their pets. Recently I saw a pair of coyotes behaving oddly (also at Ahmanson) and nearby an individual was walking their small dog off lead.

Some related posts: Coyote Tag, Trickster

From yesterday's taper run from the Ahmanson Ranch Victory trailhead to Upper Las Virgenes Canyon and through Cheeseboro Canyon.

As found on this morning's Cheeseboro Canyon loop.

The Boney Mountain - Circle X region of the Santa Monica Mountains is one of the most appealing in the range. The grand vistas and rugged terrain are reminiscent of what you might see in some remote corner of the globe -- not those a mere 20 miles from the San Fernando Valley.

It was one of those days I had a general idea of where I was going to run, but wasn't sure of the details. The details didn't matter -- it was the end of January and the weather was as good as it gets for running. Whether the run turned out to be 10, 15 or 20 miles was beside the point.

The Mishe Mokwa - Sandstone Peak loop would make up part of the run. This six mile loop is one of the most scenic short trail runs in Southern California. In addition to doing this loop I was going to check out a peak at the top of the Chamberlain Trail, and then after doing Sandstone Peak, run down to the Grotto in upper Arroyo Sequit canyon.

Peak 2880 turned out to be a bushwhacking nightmare, but at least I got to run part way down the Chamberlain Trail. The run to the Grotto was excellent, and a nice addition to the loop. After doing Sandstone Peak and running down the Backbone Trail, instead of looping back around to the Mishe Mokwa trailhead, I continued down to the Sandstone Peak trailhead and picked up the Canyon View Trail. This trail more or less parallels Yerba Buena Road, and leads to the Grotto Trail, below the Circle X Ranch campground.

The title photograph is of the Grotto. Here's a National Park Service map (PDF) of the trails in the Circle X Ranch area.

Related posts: Balance Rock, Mountains and Valleys, Looking for Snow in the Santa Monica Mountains

The Cheeseboro RAWS, a couple of miles west of where this photograph was taken, is usually a good indicator of the weather in the Ahmanson Ranch area. The automated weather station recorded a paltry 0.01 inch of rain Tuesday. While this was enough to dampen the trails and create a little mud, it didn't help much with our low water year precipitation totals.

Downtown Los Angeles (USC) also recorded 0.01 inch of rain Tuesday, bringing the water year (July 1 to June 30) total to 5.07 inches, or about 60% of normal. Some areas have had a little more rain and some a lot less. According to NWS data the Santa Barbara water year rainfall total stands at about 69% of normal, while Burbank out in the Valley has recorded only about 44% of the normal amount of rain.

Central California isn't doing any better. Downtown San Francisco has only recorded about 42% of normal rainfall and Sacramento 45% of normal. In the first full Sierra snow survey of the season, basin averages ranged from about 28% to 54% of the normal snowpack, with a statewide weighted average of 35%.

The medium range weather models are forecasting a series of shortwave troughs will move through Southern California over the next 10 days. At the moment the systems aren't forecast to produce much rain in the Los Angeles, but maybe that will change. We'll see!

The photograph is from a run last week. The road leads up to Lasky Mesa in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).