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Mt. Wilson Rim Trail – Kenyon Devore Trail Loop

first published & last updated
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Big cone Douglas-fir on the Rim Trail near Mt. Wilson

Brett was down for Father’s Day weekend and one of the things we wanted to do was get in a couple of good trail runs. He’s heard me talk (a lot) about the Mt. Disappointment 50K and how it ends. Basically you run 27 hilly miles with over 3600′ of elevation gain, THEN finish the race by doing a 5 mile, 2650′ climb from West Fork up the Gabrielino & Kenyon Devore Trails to the top of Mt. Wilson.

This final climb tells the 50K tale. If you’ve trained well and run a good race a middle-of-the-pack runner might gain 15-20 minutes on this leg. If not, you could easily lose an hour or more. In any case you put everything you have left into this climb. An elevation profile and some stats for Kenyon Devore are included in the post Hitting the (Big) Hills of Southern California.

There are several ways to incorporate Kenyon Devore into a loop, but I could only think of two that didn’t involve running on Mt. Wilson Road. One option was a 22 mile/5000’gain loop from Shortcut Saddle to Mt. Wilson and back. That wasn’t going to happen because just five days before I’d run the Holcomb Valley 33 Mile race. Instead we opted to start on top of Mt. Wilson and use the Rim Trail, Gabrielino Trail and Rincon – Red Box Road to get to West Fork. This would pare down the loop to a manageable 12 miles and 3000′ of gain.



Other than a “few” gnats, a lot of poison oak and some Turricula (Poodle-dog bush), the Rim Trail was in good shape and the running excellent. Once away from the observatory complex the trail has an adventurous, backcounty feel. The trail was in good enough condition that Brett enjoyed running it in the KomodoSport LS.

The day was going to be a scorcher and I was glad that much of the Rim Trail was on the shaded, north side of the crest. The Gabrielino Trail and Rincon – Red Box Road were also relatively cool and in the shade. With no race clock ticking away, we stopped at West Fork and ate some blueberries and PB&J. So far the route had been down, down, down; but in a few minutes it was going to go up, up, up.



One of the surprises of the day was how much the Turricula (Poodle-dog bush) had grown along the Gabrielino and lower Kenyon Devore Trails since I had been here in early March. A rain gauge near here (Opids Camp) recorded nearly seven inches of precipitation from March 25 to April 26. This appears to have promoted the growth of the Turricula. In a very dry rain season the rain and snow had been much needed. It rejuvenated the streams and vegetation, and the area looked much as it would if the seasonal rainfall had been normal.

The Turricula could not be avoided in some places, but that will be remedied in a couple of weeks when Gary Hilliard’s Mt. Disappointment Endurance Run volunteer trailwork group works on this section of the Gabrielino Trail and the Kenyon Devore Trail.

Update June 21, 2012. Although my contact with Turricula on this run was very limited, I did have a mild reaction, mainly on my arms. There was very slight inflammation and the “prickly” itching that is characteristic of Turricula. The itching became noticeable about a day after exposure and persisted for 4-5 days. Although mild, the reaction was stronger than occurred following several similar encounters last year. One difference was the exposure to poison oak on the Rim Trail earlier in the run. It’s possible that there was a cross reaction. This was observed in animal testing, but not in (limited) human tests. However, my reaction following this latest encounter was much, much milder than my first bout of Turricula, which resulted from wading through large patches of the young Poodle-dog plants on miles of overgrown trail. That first very strong response may have also involved a cross reaction with poison oak.



With the Summer Solstice approaching and the Sun so high, the temperature difference between sunny and shaded sections of trail was remarkable. About the time we were on Kenyon Devore the Clear Creek RAWS recorded a fuel temperature — the temperature of a wood dowel in direct sun — at a scorching 104°F. Brett did well on the climb and could have zoomed ahead. I had not recovered from Holcomb and struggled a bit on the exposed and steep sections of trail. Higher on the trail there was a breeze and more shade and that helped. It also helped pouring water over my head at the creek crossing!

It was great to show Brett Kenyon Devore, and what better way to sharpen the appetite for one of his superbly prepared dinners!



Humboldt Lily

Turricula (Poodle-dog Bush)

California Sister
nature, nature|trees, nature|wildfire, photography, photography|landscape, weather, weather|la nina

Angeles National Forest Reforestation, the Natural Way

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Area near Mt. Islip burned in the 2002 Curve Fire

The photograph above is of an area on the Pacific Crest Trail near Mt. Islip that was burned ten years ago in the 2002 Curve Fire. Here’s another photograph of an area along the PCT near Throop Peak that was also burned in the Curve Fire. These are from last weekend’s trail run.

The forest conditions are quite a bit different in each case. The Mt. Islip trees are on a cooler northeast-facing slope that was densely forested, and the Throop Peak trees are on a warmer, more open, south-facing slope. But in both cases you can see numerous pines, from small seedlings to young trees two to three feet tall.



Reforestation doesn’t happen overnight, but nature is remarkably resilient, and as long as an area is not burned too frequently, many forests are able to recover from fire with minimal intervention.

However, the process of recovery is multi-faceted and complex. It may involve varying degrees of regrowth and succession. In some cases, such as in the blast zone of Mt. St. Helens, the ecosystem has to be effectively bootstrapped, and seemingly restored from scratch.

Ultimately the mature forest that results from these processes will be comprised of an ecosystem — and vegetation — suitable for the array of climatic and other factors present at the time.

Attempts to shortcut this process are not often successful — such as the recent attempt to plant nearly one million seedlings in the Station Fire burn area. An Angeles National Forest official is quoted in an April 7, 2012 Los Angeles Times story as saying, “When we planted seedlings, conditions were ideal in terms of soil composition and temperature, rainfall and weather trends.” Beyond the criticisms outlined in the story did anyone in the Forest Service consider that La Nina conditions were present, and there was a good chance La Nina conditions would be present during the 2011-2012 rain season — along with a likelihood of below normal precipitation?

nature, nature|trees, nature|wildfire, photography, photography|landscape

Tree 75

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Valley oak at Ahmanson Ranch killed by 2005 Topanga Fire

The collapsed tree above is number 75 of 80 dead oaks counted on a 7.5 mile loop encompassing much of Ahmanson Ranch. The trees were burned in the 2005 Topanga Fire. Most of the trees were valley oaks, but some coast live oaks were also burned.

Most of the oaks in the Ahmanson Ranch area survived the fire, but perhaps as many as one in 20 trees were killed or severely injured. Of those that were severely burned, a small number, such as the valley oak above, attempted to replace its foliage through the process of epicormic sprouting.

Oaks that lost all of their foliage generally survived in proportion to the number of epicormic sprouts they were able to produce. Those that produced only a few epicormic sprouts generally succumbed after 3-4 years. Oaks with numerous epicormic sprouts generally survived.

Although Tree 75 didn’t make it, most of the surrounding trees survived the fire. And if you look next to Tree 75 you’ll see that its progeny, a young valley oak, appears to be doing well.

nature, nature|trees, nature|weather, photography, running, weather, weather|la nina, weather|southern california

The Color of Rain III

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Rain brings out the richness of the chaparral, enlivening its inhabitants, enhancing its colors, and enriching its fragrances. But in recent weeks rain storms have been few and rainfall far below normal.

The 2011-2012 rain season started out well enough. Thanksgiving Day the water year rainfall total for Downtown Los Angeles (USC) was about an inch above normal. But between Thanksgiving and Christmas the drier weather often associated with La Nina conditions became predominant, and water year totals dropped to about normal.

Northern and Central California were actually much drier than would be expected during a La Nina. Mammoth Mountain recorded no new snow between December 5 and January 19 — about a month and a half! Our dry spell was nearly as long. Downtown Los Angeles recorded no measurable rain between December 17 and January 21.

The storms Saturday and Monday added about 1.3 inches of rain, boosting the water year rainfall total to 5.06 inches. As of yesterday this was 1.87 inches below normal and about 73% of the normal total.

The problem is this time of year we fall behind another 0.12 to 0.15 inch every day that it doesn’t rain. The deficit adds up quickly and if — as the medium range models currently project — we don’t get any rain for the next 10 days we’ll down another inch and at about 64% of normal. We’ll see!

The photograph of the Ceanothus trunk is from last Sunday’s Will Rogers – Temescal loop trail run.

Related posts: The Color of Rain II, The Color of Rain