The first rays of sunlight illuminate the ridgetops, fog and clouds in the Santa Monica Mountains, following an overnight rainstorm.
From Saturday’s run to Temescal Peak and through a very wet Garapito Canyon.
Category Archives: nature|clouds
Boney Mountain Skyline
The Boney Mountain skyline from the Old Boney Trail in Pt. Mugu State Park.
From this morning’s run to the Danielson Multi-Use Area in Sycamore Canyon to do trailwork with the Santa Monica Mountains Trails Council and a group of Coyote Backbone Trail Ultra runners.
East Las Virgenes Canyon
This is a view of East Las Virgenes Canyon from the power line service road that connects the Las Virgenes Canyon Trailhead to Cheeseboro Ridge. East Las Virgenes Canyon is part of the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (formerly Ahmanson Ranch).
From this afternoon’s keyhole loop run from the Victory Trailhead to Cheeseboro Ridge.
Glimpses of Sun
View of upper Santa Ynez Canyon and the Eagle Rock area of Topanga State Park from East Topanga Fire Road. From today’s run from the Top of Reseda to the Los Liones Trailhead and back.
Caballero Canyon Sunrise
At the start of my run from the Top of Reseda (Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park) the visibility above the fog-filled San Fernando Valley was at least a hazy 25 miles.
Ahead of another rainstorm, offshore pressure gradients had weakened and the onshore flow was rapidly increasing, pushing marine layer clouds into the coastal canyons of the Santa Monica Mountains and spilling over the low points of the crest.
My first stop was going to be Temescal Peak. This little peak is about 3.5 miles from the trailhead, near the junction of Temescal Ridge fire road and the Backbone Trail. It’s a nice way to start a run, and on a clear day it can have surprisingly extensive views.
Fog flowed over Fire Road #30 between Rustic Canyon and Garapito Canyon, but once through this ethereal river, it was clear all the way up to the Hub. I wondered if I was going to be able to see Mt. San Jacinto from the top of Temescal.
The answer to that question turned out to be no. In fact I could barely see my nose from Temescal Peak. In the 12 minutes it had taken me to get to the peak from the Hub the entire area, including the summit of Temescal Peak (about 2100′), had become enveloped in fog.
Hillside and Clouds
From yesterday’s run on the Cheeseboro Ridge Trail. The old mustard stalks are probably from Spring 2012, when there was prolific growth of mustard in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve.