From a run this week on the Secret Trail in Calabasas, California.
Category Archives: nature
Spring on the Secret Trail
This Spring it has been especially easy to choose a good trail run in Southern California — run anywhere there’s a trail and some open space!
It’s been warm and dry in recent weeks, but rainfall in the Los Angeles area in October, December, January and February was above normal. The hills are green, small streams are flowing, and the chaparral is blooming. Don’t miss out! Pick a local trail and go for a run, hike or ride!
The photograph of bush sunflowers and Saddle Peak is from today’s run on the Secret Trail in Calabasas.
Fiesta Flower
Fiesta flower (Pholistoma auritum) near Big Cone Camp in Santa Paula Canyon.
Castle Peak from the West
Castle Peak from a trail near the northern boundary of Ahmanson Ranch, west of El Scorpion Park.
From today’s 8.5 mile circuit around Ahmanson Ranch.
Sweet Smell of… Poison Oak
This time of year if you’re running in Southern California’s canyons and notice a subtle, pleasantly pungent, and slightly sweet fragrance wafting about the area, look around, poison oak is probably near.
The small, greenish, five-petaled blossoms generally hide under the “leaves of three” and are easy to miss.
From today’s run in the Simi Hills.
Related post: Poison Oak
Gravity Illustrated
No doubt about it, waterfalls have a special attraction. Angel Falls, Niagara Falls, Victoria Falls, Yosemite Falls — people travel the world and spend thousands to see them.
They are the five star hikes in guidebooks, and THE iconic image of the outdoors. They are so compelling that I have been running on a trail along a dry creek, on a 100 degree summer day, when it hasn’t rained for months, and been asked, “How far is it to the waterfall?”
To be an attraction they need not be big, spectacular, or even flowing. One of the most popular hikes in the Santa Monica Mountains is the mile-plus hike from Temescal Gateway Park to the ephemeral 10 ft. cascades of Temescal Canyon Falls.
Waterfalls must tweak our aesthetic being in such a way we just can’t resist. If you spend much time in the outdoors, or even if you don’t, you’ve probably done at least one hike to see a waterfall.
Here’s a California State Park Press Release from 2006 listing some waterfalls in, or near, California’s State Parks.