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Twin Peaks Trail Run

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Eastern summit of Twin Peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, near Los Angeles

Twin Peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains, near Los Angeles, has always been a favorite. Rugged and isolated, its eastern summit is a popular ascent. Judging from the far less worn path leading to its summit, the western peak is not as frequently visited.

From the Buckhorn parking area it’s about 5 miles to the summit of the east peak and then another 0.9 mile to the west peak. The total elevation gain/loss (round trip) including the west peak is around 3800′. Although there’s some steep up and down, there’s also some long stretches of very good trail running.

With so many hot days and runs this Summer, this run/hike was the perfect welcome to Autumn. The morning was cool, but not so cool as to require sleeves. Over the course of the run some fair weather cumulus popped up here and there, and it was just one of those days that it was wonderful to be in the mountains.

The title photograph is East Twin Peaks (7761′) from near West Twin Peaks (7596′).

Some related posts: Mt. Wilson Area Peaks From Twin Peaks, Three Points to Waterman Mountain the Long Way

photography, photography|landscape, running, running|adventures, trails

Calabasas Peak From Saddle Peak

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Calabasas Peak from Saddle Peak

Either Calabasas Peak or Saddle Peak can be done from the parking area on Stunt Road about a mile east of Mulholland, near the start of Calabasas Peak Motorway fire road and Cold Creek.

The out and back route to Calabasas Peak is about 3.5 miles round trip with an elevation gain/loss of about 900′. Except for the last 0.1 mile it follows the fire road (Calabasas Peak Mtwy) that can be seen diagonaling across the peak in the photograph above. Start at the gate across the highway from the parking area.

The out and back to Saddle Peak is a little over 8 miles round trip with an elevation gain/loss of about 1900′. It’s nearly all single track trail and the route-finding is not as straightforward as the ascent of Calabasas Peak. The route follows the Stunt High Trail to the Backbone Trail and then a short spur trail/road to the summit(s) of Saddle Peak. Here’s an interactive Cesium browser View of one of my GPS tracks of the route.

Both peaks are fun to do and have good views.

The title photograph is from Friday’s SpotTheShuttle trail run.

Some related posts: Saddle Peak from the Phantom Trail, Saddle Peak & Malibu Canyon, Tapia Bound

nature, nature|weather, photography, photography|landscape, running, running|adventures, trails, trails|pt mugu state park, weather

Coastline From Mugu Peak

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Coastline south of Pt. Mugu from Mugu Peak. The trail wrapping around the lower peak is the Mugu Peak Trail. It leads to the La Jolla Loop and Canyon trails. There were several runners on the Mugu Peak trail, training for the XTERRA Pt. Mugu Trail Run.

From Sunday’s out and back run from the Wendy Drive to Mugu Peak.

Related post: La Jolla Valley & Mugu Peak from Wendy Drive

nature, nature|weather, photography, photography|landscape, running, running|adventures, trails, trails|smmc open space, weather, weather|el nino, weather|southern california

Las Virgenes – Cheeseboro – Palo Comado Loop

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Las Virgenes Canyon sunrise

The trail was exposed and sweat was dripping from the brim of my cap like a faucet with a worn out washer. Expecting a warm day I had started my run early — before sunrise — but that had not been early enough. It was 8:30 am and the temperature was already over 90°F. It was not only hot, it was humid. Monsoon clouds were scattered across the sky, but somehow the sun was dodging all of them. It was disturbingly familiar.

Even if the weather wasn’t perfect, the run was a good one. I was doing a loop from the Las Virgenes Trailhead of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve. There are two trails here — the main trail which follows Las Virgenes Creek north up the canyon, and a power line service road (about 50 yards south of the first) that climbs out of Las Virgenes Canyon and leads west to the Cheeseboro Ridge Trail.



I had taken the power line service road, and worked west over to the Cheeseboro Canyon trailhead, then up the Modelo Trail and over to Palo Comado Canyon. Now I was a couple of miles up-canyon on an unmaintained, but well-used, single track trail that links the Palo Comado fire road with the Sheep Corral Trail. Once on the Sheep Corral Trail I could follow it east past Shepherds’ Flat all the way back to Las Virgenes Canyon.

There would be some relief from the heat once I reached Las Virgenes Canyon, but this was really a run better done on a cool day. On the calendar Autumn was just days away. Southern California or not, eventually the weather would cool. The development of a weak to moderate El Nino had stalled, but nearly all forecasts indicated further development was imminent. Maybe a little rain wasn’t too many weeks away.

With an elevation gain of only 1800′ over 14 miles this route includes long stretches of faster-paced trail — both single track and dirt road — but there are some good hills as well. Many variations are possible. This Park Service PDF shows the trails in the area.

Some related posts: Upper Las Virgenes Canyon – Cheeseboro Ridge Loop, Owl Feather on the Modelo Trail, Las Virgenes Creek Near the Sheep Corral Trail

photography, photography|landscape, running, running|adventures, running|gear, trails, trails|san gabriels

What’s the Elevation Gain?

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Originally posted July 31, 2009.

“What’s the elevation gain?” is a common question when talking about a trail run, because it makes such a huge difference in the difficulty of the run. A long-standing rule of thumb, Naismith’s Rule, says that the additional time required to gain 1000 ft. of elevation on a run/hike, will be the same as the time to run/hike 8000 ft. (1.5 miles) on the flat. An analysis of fell running records supports this 1 to 8 ratio.

This is not news to anyone who runs or hikes hilly trails. The first thing I check when evaluating a new race or run is the elevation gain. All the technology we have for recording and analyzing trail runs is remarkable, but it can sometimes result in wildly inaccurate claims about the elevation gain of a course.

The table to the left lists the elevation gain calculated by various software and services for the the same course using GPS tracks from a Garmin Forerunner 205 and Forerunner 405. The course is the Islip Saddle – SF Campground – Mt. Baden-Powell loop in the San Gabriel Mountains.  SportTracks elevations were corrected using pkan’s Elevation Correction Plugin and SRTM elevations data in 2009 and NED 1/3 arc second DEMs in 2012. SportTracks elevation data smoothing was set to 55.

Calculations of elevation gain have improved since 2009. One reason is newer GPS chips generally produce higher quality tracks. Another is the methods used to calculate elevation gain/loss have improved and more accurate elevation datasets have become readily available and integrated into software such as SportTracks and services such as Garmin Connect.

So which of these elevation gains is the closest to reality? Fortunately, it’s fairly easy to do a low tech sanity check of these high tech results. All that is required is to get out an USGS topo map — either electronically or on paper — and do a little arithmetic.

Let’s see. From South Fork Campground (4560′) to the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell (9399′) is about 4839′. But there are a couple of small descents on the way up so we add another 240′ giving a total to the top of Mt. Baden-Powell of 5079′. It’s mostly downhill from Baden-Powell to Islip Saddle, but there are a couple of hills. The main one is a 370′ climb on the PCT up and over the shoulder of Throop Peak. There’s also another 100′ climb near Mt. Burnham, and if you stop at Little Jimmy Spring another 60′ climb. This gives a total of 5609′. Adding in a fudge factor of 100′ for very small climbs that were not included in the total and the result is a reality-checked elevation gain of about 5700′. Comparing this total to the computed elevation gains in the table, the actual gain might be as much as 6000′, but it’s not likely to be 7500′. And there’s just no way the gain is 9975′!

The title photograph is from the Momyer Trail on San Gorgonio Mountain.

Related post: Hitting the (Big) Hills of Southern California

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Mt. Disappointment 50K 2012 Notes

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Mt. Markham

Mt. Markham From Near Mueller Tunnel

Note: The Mt. Disappointment Endurance Run is now the Angeles National Forest Trail Race.

The water felt surprisingly chilly, and for a moment I hesitated before completely immersing myself in the cool, clear water. More a creek than a river this time of year, this crossing of the West Fork San Gabriel River was at mile 17 of the 2012 Mt. Disappointment 50K. At 2760′, it’s the lowest point on the course and marks the beginning of the tough 5.4 mile climb up Edison Road to Shortcut Saddle (4790′).



Edison Road (FS Road 2N23) zigzags up an exposed, south-facing chaparral slope. The climb is warm on the coolest of days — today it was going to be torrid. Southern California was locked in the grasp of a record-setting, multi-day heat wave. During the week I’d taken a thermometer on a run and measured a temperature of 107.6°F on a breezy day at Ahmanson Ranch. All week I’d been checking the computer weather models and watching the temps in the San Gabriel Mountains, hoping for a break in the weather. Nada. The day before the race the “in the sun” temps at the Clear Creek RAWS, near the race course, reached a blistering 120°F.

The performance hit from running in the heat is similar to running at higher elevation. Acclimatization helps, but hot weather reduces performance. The following is from Daniels’ Running Formula:

“You can’t perform as well in a distance race in the heat as you can in a cooler environment… As soon as the body starts to heat up, blood is diverted to the skin, where cooling (through evaporation of sweat from the skin’s surface) takes place. A greater portion of the body’s blood volume is at the body’s surface to facilitate cooling, leaving less blood available for carrying oxygen to the exercising muscles. In effect, to prevent overheating, the body reduces the amount of blood available to enhance performance.”



Submerged up to my neck in sublime coolness, I dunked my head. To this point the heat hadn’t been too bad. Much of the first 17 miles had been shaded and tolerable, and I’d been doing everything I could to stay cool. The “not too bad” part was about to end. Most of the next 9 miles would be brutally exposed and facing directly into the sun.

The dip in the pool only took a couple of minutes, but was worth every single second. Even if my shoes were wet and my jelly beans and salt tabs melted gobs of sugar and salt it was worth it!



Incredibly, the cooling soak made the Edison climb almost enjoyable. Almost — it still took about 50 minutes to get to the Edison Road aid station and another 50 to get up to Shortcut. At Shortcut the fantastic aid station volunteers filled my Camelbak with Heed and ice, and I ate a couple of big chunks of watermelon (really good watermelon) and drank a little cola. I felt good, but should have been thinking ahead and taken a couple of minutes to really cool down here. The ice water sponges were just sitting there waiting to be used and I passed them by. A little too soon I was on my way, and in a few minutes was jogging down the Silver Moccasin Trail.

In the extra-strength rays of the noontime sun, the rocky canyon was a solar blast furnace. Temps were well beyond what I had experienced on afternoon runs earlier in the week.  At any instant I thought I might spontaneously combust. I kept watching the runner ahead of me, expecting him to disappear in puff of smoke.  And there wasn’t much relief lower in the canyon. Most of the trees along the creek had been burned in the Station Fire. There was almost no shade, and in the recovering vegetation the humidity (and heat index) was elevated.

After an interminable time I finally reached West Fork. The pooled water in the W.F. San Gabriel wasn’t as cool as at the lower crossing, but was still refreshing. (The hose from the water tank that Gabor sets up at the aid station was probably cooler and cleaner.) I refilled my Camelbak, and with a cup of cola and ice in hand, headed up the Gabrielino Trail toward Kenyon Devore.



The climb up the Kenyon Devore Trail was — and always is — grueling. Edison Road is tough because some of it is steep and most of it is exposed and hot. KD is tough because most of it is steep, parts of it are hot, and you’ve already done 26+ miles. I took it easy on the Gabrielino Trail, which has some runnable sections, with the hope of being able to maintain a steady pace on KD.

It was warm on the upper part of Kenyon Devore, but at least there was some shade. Last year’s race was unusually hot, but this year’s race was even hotter. This year the temperature (in the shade) on Mt. Wilson hit 86°F a little past 8:00 am and climbed to 96°F by the midafternoon. The temperature (in the shade) at nearby Clear Creek was over 90°F for most of the race, and “in the sun” temps topped out at 116°F!

This was my eighth Mt. Disappointment 50K and by far the hottest and most difficult. How difficult? This year’s middle-of-the-pack time — the median time for all the finishers — was 8 hours 30 minutes. This was nearly 45 minutes longer than the median time in 2011, and 90 minutes longer than in 2006.

One of the main challenges of the Mt. Disappointment 50K is that it starts and ends on Mt. Wilson — the high point of the course. The original course was run from 2005 to 2008, but because of the Station Fire and Mueller Tunnel closure variations of the original course have been done since 2009. This year Mueller Tunnel reopened and we were able to do the part of the original Mt. Disappointment course that goes from Eaton Saddle up the San Gabriel Peak Trail to the shoulder of Mt. Disappointment and down to Red Box.

In this interactive Cesium browser View of the 2005-2011 courses the 2012 course followed the 2005-2008 (green) course to Red Box and then the 2010 (red) course for the remainder of the race. Checking a few GPS track files with SportTracks and using DEM corrected elevations, it looks like the 2012 course distance and elevation gain/loss were about the same as 2011.

Many thanks to Gary & Pam Hilliard, Fausto & Cindy Rowlan, and all of the Mt. Disappointment 50K Staff, volunteers, HAM radio operators, Sierra Madre SAR personnel, runners, and sponsors that helped to make this event happen! Check out the results and photos on the Mt. Disappointment web site!

Related post: Mt. Disappointment 50K 2011 Notes