Category Archives: trails

Serrano Valley – La Jolla Valley Loop

Boney Mountain and Serrano Valley from the Ray Miller Trail.

The idea was to do an interesting trail run that wasn’t quite as long and strenuous as last week’s Bandit 30K Course Preview. That was the idea. I could have calculated the mileage and elevation gain of our projected route, but sometimes part of the fun of trail running is not knowing the exact route, how long it will take, or how strenuous it might be.

This particular exploration would visit two of the most scenic areas in the Santa Monica Mountains — Serrano Valley and La Jolla Valley. Many variations of this loop are possible. Our base route included the Ray Miller/Backbone Trail, Fireline Trail, Serrano Canyon Trail, Serrano Valley Trail, Old Boney Trail, Wood Canyon Vista Trail, La Jolla Valley Loop Trail, La Jolla Canyon Trail and connecting roads.

In addition to its wonderful scenery, this course is characterized by moderate uphills that are generally very runnable. The side trips to to the old ranch site in Serrano Valley, and to Mugu Peak pushed the route beyond the 30K mark, but were worth every step. Here’s a Google Earth image and Google Earth KMZ file of a GPS trace of the route. Since none of us had done the eastern leg of the La Jolla Valley Loop Trail, this time we did Mugu Peak from the east. The route around the valley to the western side of Mugu Peak is also shown.

Here is a Live Browser View of the run.

Some related posts: Serrano Valley from Wendy Drive; La Jolla Valley & Mugu Peak from Wendy Drive; Laguna Peak, La Jolla Valley, and the Channel Islands

Bandit 30K Course Preview

View on Bandit 30K course in Rocky Peak Park.

Because of a scheduling conflict, two friends weren’t going to be able to enter a challenging new Southern California trail race — the Bandit 30K/14K — so today we previewed the 30K course.

The race starts in Corriganville Park in Simi Valley, and incorporates several of my favorite local trails in Rocky Peak Park. With an elevation gain in excess of 3200 ft., and varied terrain, the race promises to be a memorable test of trail running skill and endurance. A plus is that it is being run in March, when the hills are green; there is water in the creek crossings; and wildflowers along the trails.

So how was the 30K course? In a few words — strenuous, scenic and technical — and more difficult than either the Boney Mountain 21K or Bulldog 22K.

Note: The Bandit Trail Runs are now Rocky Peak Trails.

Related post: Bandit 30K 2009

Blue Skies and Short Sleeves on Strawberry Peak

Mt. Baldy from near the summit of Strawberry Peak, in the San Gabriel Mountains.

My legs were still pretty worked from the Boney Mountain Half Marathon. Instead of backing off of the pace on my weekday workouts, I had continued to experiment with a change in running technique that was resulting in faster paced runs. I was excited about the increase in speed, but logging fast times on oft-run courses after a strenuous race doesn’t equal recovery. Neither does blasting up a peak in the San Gabriel Mountains.

But it was one of those impossible to ignore, blue sky, short-sleeved Southern California Winter weekends. This would be an unprecedented eighth straight January day that the high temperature in Los Angeles exceeded eighty degrees. In the yin yang of weather, the western half of the U.S. has been enjoying unusually warm temps, while the eastern half of the country shivered.

Taking maximum advantage of the good weather, yesterday I had done a little kayaking on the Kern River, this morning some rock climbing at Stoney Point, and now we were huffing and puffing up Strawberry Peak (6164′) — and doing it “for time.”

We had started at Red Box, the shortest and technically most moderate way to climb the peak. By this route it’s about 3.4 miles to the summit, with an elevation gain of roughly 1600 ft. About two-thirds of that distance is well-graded trail, the rest is steep use trail up a broad, brush covered ridge.

About halfway between Lawlor Saddle and the summit of Strawberry it became plainly and painfully evident that my legs had given their all. I complain. Miklos — always sympathetic — asks why I can’t go any faster.

On the final steep push to the summit ridge I try a different tactic to slow the pace, and tell a story about an unbelievably angry and aggressive raccoon I once encountered near here. But like President Jimmy Carter’s rabbit incident, it loses something in the telling. Redlined, we crest the summit ridge and sprint (relatively speaking) toward the summit.

On the summit, there is not a breath of wind. The view is exceptional. To the southwest, sunlight gleams on the waters of the Pacific near Palos Verdes, and to the west snow gleams white on Mt. Baldy. Some 90 miles distant, near Palm Springs, is the asymmetric silhouette of Mt. San Jacinto.

Soon we’re headed down. As I drop below the summit ridge, a snowball whizzes past my ear, crashing on the trail ahead. It has been warm and dry for weeks, but remarkably, there are a few patches of snow. It is a reminder that Winter is not over, and like the snow, is lurking in the shadows.

Boney Mountain North Side Loop

Airy summit on the western ridge on Boney Mountain`s north side.

The posts Boney Mountain – Big Sycamore Canyon Circuit and Boney Mountain Western Ridge & Loop describe two routes that ascend the north side of Boney Mountain — a circuitous eastern ridge route, and a more difficult western ridge.

These two routes can be combined into an adventurous loop that starts and ends at the junction of Danielson Road and the Old Boney Trail. The loop, with no side trips, works out to about 4 miles. Add in the 2.5 mile approach from the Wendy Drive trailhead, and the total distance for the course is about 9 miles, with an elevation gain of a bit over 2000 ft.

I did the loop counterclockwise — up the western ridge and then down the eastern. The New Year’s weather could not have been better. Dense fog clung to the coast, but a brisk offshore breeze kept inland views crystal-clear. On the way up the western ridge I couldn’t resist doing a short detour to climb one of the crag’s appealing summits.

At the top of the western ridge, I briefly debated doing Tri-Peaks and Big Dome, but was hoping to make it home by noon, so skipped those side trips.

With gravity on my side, the run down the eastern ridge was not nearly as gnarly as I thought it might be. I was running in Inov-8 Roclite 305s — nimble shoes with a fell running heritage. Mine weigh only 21.1 oz./pair (US 9.0) and were particularly well-suited to the rough terrain.

This climb and adventure run was a great way to start the New Year — and I did make it home in time for lunch with my wife!

Here’s a Google Earth image of a GPS trace of my route.

Boney Mountain Western Ridge & Loop

Part way up the western ridge route on Boney Mountain's north side.

Two routes are commonly used to climb the rugged north side of Boney Mountain. One route ascends a ridge to the east of the Danielson cabin site, and the other a rocky ridge to the west of the site. Today, I was planning to do the western ridge, and then continue up and over Tri-Peaks to the Chamberlain segment of the Backbone Trail.

The day was chilly. In the deep shadows along Danielson Road, puddles of water were frozen, and frosty soil crunched underfoot. Shadow turned to sun at the turnoff to the cabin site, and I paused for a moment to enjoy the warm sunshine and gaze at the rocks towering above Danielson’s canyon. This impressive formation straddles the western ridge and I wondered just how spectacular the crags would be.


Crags on the western ridge route of Boney Mountain.
Spurred by a small surge of adrenalin, I turned and continued up the Old Boney Trail. From its highpoint I followed a use trail to the top of benchmarked “Hill 1918.” The first big outcrops loom above this point, and they mark the start of the more challenging part of the western ridge.

Although some sections were a bit overgrown, the route was fairly well defined. Despite appearances, there was no significant bushwacking, and only a little scrambling up, or across, short sections of low angle rock. By usual mountaineering standards the climbing was not difficult — class 2 to marginal class 3 — but some skilled route finding is required. It was fun finding my way through the imposing outcrops of angular and pocketed Conejo volcanic rock.


Pt. Mugu State Park, the Channel Islands, Oxnard Plain, and the mountains of Ventura and Santa Barbara
Higher on the ridge the route played tag with the edge of the precipitous cliffs of the Boney Mountain escarpment. At various points there are craggy views of Pt. Mugu State Park, the Channel Islands, Oxnard Plain, and the mountains of Ventura and Santa Barbara. Eventually, the route emerges from a steep thicket of red shanks at a small saddle north of Tri-Peaks.

From here, I continued to Tri-Peaks and was soon enjoying the superlative downhill of the Chamberlain Trail. This time, instead taking one of several routes down to Big Sycamore Canyon, I looped back on the Old Boney Trail to the start of the climb. From here I retraced my route on the Danielson Road back to Satwiwa and the Wendy Drive trailhead.

The course worked out to about 16 miles with an elevation gain of over 4000 ft.

Some related posts: Boney Mountain – Big Sycamore Canyon Circuit – Coyote Trail Variation, Clearing Clouds on Boney Mountain

Twenty-Two Miles and Two Classic Climbs

The West Fork San Gabriel River at the Rincon-Edison road crossing.

We stopped for a few moments at the river crossing, where water stood in pools waiting for Winter rain. Instead, cold air flowed down its course, cool and refreshing. From this point there would be little shade. Rarely cold, the climb out from the West Fork San Gabriel River to Shortcut Saddle is often warm, and sometimes debilitating.

Miklos, Krisztina and I were doing the Shortcut Saddle – Mt. Wilson loop — an approximately 22 mile loop that includes two memorable climbs from the Mt. Disappointment 50K and 50M runs. The loop also incorporates the Rim Trail, an adventurous trail that is rough, steep, and washed out at points, but also includes long stretches of excellent trail running. The route starts with almost four miles of downhill on the the Silver Moccasin Trail — a good warmup and a great way to start a trail running day.

Thankfully, today the weather was cool and the Fall shadows long. This translated to more running and a faster pace up Rincon-Edison road. Even so, we were happy to reach the point where the Silver Moccasin Trail shortcuts the last long switchback of the road, and followed this more direct route up to the trailhead.

Our variation of the climb from the W.F. San Gabriel River to Shortcut Saddle on the Rincon-Edison Road was about 5.6 miles long, with an elevation gain of about 1925 ft.  The climb from the W.F. San Gabriel River at West Fork campground up the Gabrielino and Kenyon DeVore trails to the Mt. Wilson parking lot worked out to about a 2550′ elevation gain in 5.2 miles. The total elevation gain for the loop is about 4500′.

Related posts: Angeles High Country, Mt. Disappointment 50K 2008 Notes