From this evening’s run at Ahmanson Ranch.
Category Archives: trails|smmc open space
Circle X Crags and the Channel Islands
The view above is of crags in the Circle X area and the Channel Islands from the Etz Meloy section of the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.
From today’s out and back run on the Backbone Trail from Kanan Road to a viewpoint on Etz Meloy Mtwy fire road. The fire road continues west about a mile and links to the Yerba Buena segment of the Backbone Trail.
The segment between Kanan Road and Yerba Buena Road includes the two remaining gaps in the Backbone Trail — the 0.1 mile Etz Meloy gap and the 0.4 mile Upper Trancas gap.
Here are a few additional photographs from the run:
 Etz Meloy Motorway |
 Chaparral Currant |
 Oak Grove |
Rocks & Clouds Along Edison Road
In this case the Edison Road is in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve.
From this morning’s run of the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon – Cheeseboro Ridge Loop. This Park Service PDF includes a map of the area, and this interactive Cesium browser View shows the route.
Boney Mountain Views
This morning did the Boney Mountain north side loop with Tom and Elisa, who were visiting from Idaho.
Thanks to a moderate offshore flow, visibility from the high point at the top of the ridge (2900’+) was spectacular.
Anacapa and Santa Cruz Island loomed nearby, their eastern shores only 25 to 30 miles away. To the left of Exchange Peak and about 50 miles distant, the low silhouette of Catalina seemed to hover above the shimmering ocean. A little more to the east and about 40 miles away, Palos Verdes Peninsula jutted from behind Sandstone Peak and into the Pacific.
To the north and northeast Hines Peak (27 miles) and Cobblestone Mountain (33 miles) were prominent. A little further to the east and across I-5 Liebre Mountain and Burnt Peak (44 miles) could be seen.
Many of the peaks of the San Gabriel Mountains were easily seen, including Mt. Baldy about 75 miles to the east.
The distance winner was Mt. San Jacinto, a hard to see smudge in the haze on the eastern horizon, about 130 miles away.
Feather Along the Secret Trail
This intricate feather was caught on a bristly stalk along the Secret Trail (Calabasas – Cold Creek Trail). The slightest breath of wind would jostle its branches and branchlets. I found I was holding my breath, waiting for the still moments when I could take a photograph. The feather is smaller than the photograph suggests, perhaps 1.50″-1.75″ in length.
There are several types of bird feathers, the most familiar of which is probably the contour feather. The Feather on the Modelo Trail is a contour feather. In a sense contour feathers form the outer shell of a bird, defining its form and coloration. Wing and tail feathers are contour feathers. The fluffy feather with a familiar name — the down feather — provides insulation.
The feather found along the Secret Trail is a semiplume feather. A semiplume feather looks like it is a blend of a contour feather and a down feather, and has some of the characteristics of both. Like a contour feather it has a supportive shaft, but like a down feather it has filamentary branches (barbs) and branchlets (barbules). This combination helps to fill out the bird’s shape, and also provides additional insulation.
The barbules of contour feathers have hooks (barbicels) which join adjacent barbs to form the blade-like vanes of the feather. The barbules of semiplume and down feathers do not have hooks. This allows the barbs of the feather to spread in three dimensions and more easily fill a space. Here’s a closer view of the barbs and barbules of the Secret Trail feather.
To see how the Secret Trail feather compares to other semiplume feathers, I asked long-time climbing, kayaking, and running partner Gary Gunder — now living the good life on the North Shore — if he could take some photos of feathers from some of the birds at Tin Roof Ranch. Courtesy of Gary, here are photos of semiplume feathers from a chicken, turkey, and goose.
For more about feathers and birds see Feather Structure on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds web site.
P.S. I asked Gary how his running is going, and he replied, “I run every day… across the Kamehameha highway to go surfing!”
Oaks Along the Secret Trail
From this morning’s run on the Secret Trail (Calabasas – Cold Creek Trail).