With some long runs looming in the not too distant future it seems many of my runs are ending after dark — even on New Year’s Eve.
There’s an extra measure of involvement when the sun is setting and it’s an hour back to the trailhead. Yes, it’s easy to carry a headlamp, but it’s more fun to try and get along without it. Without the headlamp you become part of your surroundings, with it you’re just a visitor.
2013 will go on record as the driest calendar year in Los Angeles since recordkeeping began in July 1877.
Downtown Los Angeles (USC) has recorded only 3.60 inches of rain since January 1, breaking the record of 4.08 inches set in 1953 and 1947. Downtown Los Angeles averages about 15 inches of rain in a calendar year.
For more info see my post on Southern California Weather Notes.
The tinge of frost on the rusty M*A*S*H ambulance wasn’t so much of a surprise, but that there was not even a breath of wind at the M*A*S*H site was astonishing.
Overnight unrelenting winds had rushed and roared through the palm trees above the house and I’d steeled myself for what would surely be a difficult run.
But when I arrived at the Cistern trailhead on Mulholland Drive there was almost no wind. A layer of cold air trapped against the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Malibu Creek drainage was shielding the area from the wind. At least for a while.
When I’d left the house in the West Valley the temperature had been a balmy 64 degrees. As I turned onto Mulholland Highway from Malibu Canyon Road my car’s thermometer had read 32 degrees and at the trailhead it had been 46 degrees. Along Malibu Creek at the M*A*S*H site I’d guess the temperature was in the mid-thirties.
Incredibly, the climb up Bulldog Motorway was one of the most pleasant I’ve done. Near freezing temperatures gave way to warming Winter sunshine, and as I worked up the grade I wondered how long the respite from the wind would last. To the northeast I could see the telltale dusty haze from strong offshore winds in the San Fernando Valley. At some point those winds would scour out the protective layer of cold air or I would climb above it.
It wasn’t until about halfway up the Bulldog climb that the wind started to pick up. But it was still far less windy than I had expected. Several sections of Castro Peak and Mesa Peak fire roads were in the lee of the crest, and the running was excellent. The variegated patterns of sun, stratus and wind on the Pacific was spectacular.
Once I was off the crest the wind diminished to little more than a zephyr. In many areas — such as at Tapia Park and along Crags Road there was no wind at all.
But it was still windy in the West Valley. When I got home from the run I checked the Cheeseboro RAWS, which is about 6 miles NNE of Malibu Creek State Park. Between 9:30 and 10:30, when it had been dead still on Crags Road, the Cheeseboro RAWS had recorded steady winds of 30 mph, gusting to as high as 50 mph!
The title photo is of windblown stratus on Santa Monica Bay with Palos Verdes Peninsula in the distance.
Some related posts: Malibu Creek State Park Scenic Loop, Vertical Relief
From a run last week above Bell Canyon.
Update 8/21/18. Nearly 13 years after the closure of Williamson Rock and a key segment of the Pacific Crest Trail, the Forest Service has released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Williamson Rock Project. The public comment period is from July 27 to September 10, 2018. For additional information see the Forest Service Williamson Rock Project page and the Access Fund page REOPEN WILLIAMSON ROCK TO CLIMBING!
Update 12/22/13. New Williamson Rock/PCT scoping letter, dated 12/18/13, from Angeles National Forest to “consider resuming recreation opportunities in the currently closed area, in and around Williamson Rock.”
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The following was posted 10/5/12.
It’s been nearly seven years since the Forest Service “temporarily” closed approximately 1,000 acres in the upper Little Rock Creek drainage in the San Gabriel Mountains in order to protect critical habitat of the mountain yellow-legged frog (MYLF). The closed area includes Williamson Rock, a once-popular rock climbing area, and a key 3.5 mile segment of the Pacific Crest Trail between Eagle’s Roost and the Burkhart Trail.
As might be expected when an issue is complex and involves several concerned parties, resolution has been painfully slow. Williamson Rock is a large formation encompassing many smaller climbing sub-areas. The majority of these areas are outside of MYLF habitat. The Recreational Development Alternative protects MYLF habitat while allowing recreational access to other areas of the formation. (See the Access Fund Williamson Rock page for more information.)
Last year United States District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel (Northern District of California) ordered Angeles National Forest to “halt all construction and close access to the Williamson Rock Area of the Angeles National Forest until the Amended Biological Opinion and accompanying ITS is filed and the matter is reviewed by the parties and the court.” It is unclear how much time will be required to complete these filings and subsequent reviews.
In the meantime, a recent article in the Los Angeles Times suggests there might be some reason for optimism concerning the fate of the MYLF, with “the fist-sized amphibians breeding in numbers not seen in decades.”
The title photograph is from last Sunday’s Pleasant View Ridge run.
Long colors spread across the sky, flamboyant and vivid, fading with time.
Gravity is suspended and the world glides effortlessly by.
In growing darkness warm hillsides cling to the day and cold canyons foretell the night.
Running is more by feel than by sight.
A full December moon rises, eerie in the clouds. Coyotes yip, yip, yip on a nearby hill.
An owl waits, and then fills the silence with a hoot, hoot, hooo…
I switch on my headlamp and it all disappears.