Mendenhall Peak ridge hike 7/10/2010

More pics from the same...

Pacoima Canyon to Mendenhall Peak 7/10/10

This was an interesting hike from the Little Tujunga area. One starts at the saddle to a fire road. One can either go down into the canyon or continue east to northeast on a couple of sets of fire roads. One will wind up in Mt. Gleason; the other to trail canyon trail and Condor Peak. Excellent views today and a rare rainstorm came through. Humid and temp to the upper 80s/low 90s. The Station Fire zapped a lot here. As usual, plants roaring right back however. Noted two or three garter snakes up here. Mendenhall Peak about 6 miles up and looks down at Gold Canyon and Yerba Buena ridge. Some smog today as the photos will show. A few parts still unaffected by the fire...douglas fir, monkey flower, trumpet flower, canyon oak, bay tree, sage, manzanita, lupine and some others. Magic Mountain rises immediately to the north at about 4000 feet. Mendenhall Peak to about 4700 feet. Condor Peak another 10 miles or so beyond Mendenhall Peak. There was Dutch Louie campground and a couple of other stay overs toward Lightning Ridge. Great day except my partner almost ran outta gas!

San Gorgonio Peak from San Jacinto Peak

Some pics from the peak...my camera settings not that great but here's what it looked like.

San Jacinto Peak from tramway 82210

This one of the best hikes in all America. This is the easy way. One takes the tram to 8500 feet and hikes 5 miles 2300 elevation gain to the rocky summit. Excellent views for 100s of miles in all directions. Today was more hazy than normal. Views looking 10000 feet down in a brief 4 miles to the San Andreas fault. Also great views of the Santa Rosa mountains to the southwest. There's much fir, cedar, ponderosa pine, sugar pine, lodgepole pine and some chaparral up here. Trail in good condition. Great weather...only got down to 58 F at the campsite. Takes to 72 hours to adjust to the low oxygen. As Muir called it, "truly a view from the altar of the gods!" Worth doing over and over again in other routes. The tram is interesting in itself (Palm Springs aerial tramway).