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Out and About
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Out and About
Mid January Trail Run from Islip Saddle to Mt. Baden-Powell
It’s been warm in Southern California. Thursday Bob Hope Airport reached a high of 90 degrees and it seems every couple of days another high temperature record is broken or one SoCal city or another is the hottest spot in the nation.
Not only has it been really warm, it’s been really dry. Downtown Los Angeles recorded only 0.2 inch of rain in December and not a measurable drop of rain has fallen so far this January. We already set the record for the driest calendar year, and at the moment we’re vying for the driest water year on record.
The PCT just west of Mt. Hawkins. January 18, 2014.
The unusually warm and dry weather made me wonder what the conditions were like in the Angeles high country. Might the PCT be runnable between Islip Saddle (6650′) and Mt. Baden-Powell (9399′)? As warm and as dry as its been, how much snow could there be?
At Islip Saddle there was very little snow. Here and there tiny remnants hid under the snowbush, but for the most part the north slopes of Mt. Islip looked more like July than January.
I encountered the first larger patches of snow and ice in the deeply shaded corners of trail before Little Jimmy Campground and Spring. It was easily traversed, but reminded me of November runs on San Jacinto Peak and San Gorgonio Mountain, when early season snow had melted and refrozen, turning sections of trail into a skating rink.
The thing is, it doesn’t take a lot of snow to transform a straightforward trail run into a slip and slide adventure, especially when the snow is icy. As warm as it was in the sun, several sections of the PCT between Islip and Baden-Powell never see the sun in Winter and were surprisingly cold. Even if it was 80-something degrees in the lowlands.
In this case if you wanted to bypass most of the snow patches you could do that by following the crest. On the way to Baden-Powell I tried to stay on the trail to see what sections were clear. On the way back I climbed Mt. Burnham, Throop Peak, Mt. Hawkins and a couple other peaklets, so stayed on the crest.
Here’s a very short video (under 2 minutes) that will give you an idea what the conditions were like.
New Year’s Eve Spectacular
With some long runs looming in the not too distant future it seems many of my runs are ending after dark — even on New Year’s Eve.
There’s an extra measure of involvement when the sun is setting and it’s an hour back to the trailhead. Yes, it’s easy to carry a headlamp, but it’s more fun to try and get along without it. Without the headlamp you become part of your surroundings, with it you’re just a visitor.
Sunset and Moonrise Miles are Free
Long colors spread across the sky, flamboyant and vivid, fading with time.
Gravity is suspended and the world glides effortlessly by.
In growing darkness warm hillsides cling to the day and cold canyons foretell the night.
Running is more by feel than by sight.
A full December moon rises, eerie in the clouds. Coyotes yip, yip, yip on a nearby hill.
An owl waits, and then fills the silence with a hoot, hoot, hooo…
I switch on my headlamp and it all disappears.
Still One of the Driest Calendar Years on Record in Los Angeles
It’s been great to get a little rain the last couple of weeks. Since November 20th Downtown Los Angeles (USC) has recorded 0.62 inch of rain, bringing the calendar year total through November 30th to 3.40 inches.
During our showery rainstorm on Friday the few extra raindrops that made it into the rain bucket at USC moved 2013 from 4th driest to 5th, behind 1947 (2.51), 1971 (2.69), 1894 (2.89) and 1984 (3.37).
Rainfall totals can change dramatically in December, which is normally about twice as wet as November. Of the dry years listed above only 1947 continued to be unusually dry and finish the year as one of the nine driest on record.
Rainfall amounts were compiled from NWS and NCDC data. In a couple of instances differences were noted in daily and monthly data. Monthly data was used in rankings.
The title photo is from a run at Sage Ranch on November 21.
Sunset Cirrus
From a run last week at Ahmanson Ranch.