The Chronicles of Manny and Java

Hi.

You may have been wondering, "What have Manny and Java
been up to, are they still hiking?  You Betcha!

Like the weekend before, this past weekend we went on
two separate hikes.  On Saturday we visited beautiful
Zuma Canyon, a local, yet distant vestige of what the
Santa Monica Mountains were like before urban sprawl
and the the intrusion of modern society reshaped the
face of previously wild lands.  Although the trails we
took have well established names, we assigned them our
own:  BB&BBBB.  Short for Birds, Bees & Beatles by the
Babbling Brook. 

Spring has not yet faded in the canyon, in fact its
flourishing; Purple, yellow, lavender, pink, and white
wildflowers as well as a carpet of mustard were
blooming in abundance.  Also the calls and songs of
birds in the canyon surpassed that of any place I can
recall - Their chatter accompanied constantly from the
trailhead to our turnaround, and back. it was very
nice.

Our hike took us up the canyon along side the Zuma
Creek.  We intended to work our way up the entire
length of the canyon, and return via the ridge top,
but it wasn't meant to be.  The scrambling and bolder
hopping we enjoyed finally became impossible to safely
continue with Java.  So we took several long minutes
under the shade of a nearby tree and enjoyed the sound
of an adjacent waterfall gently feeding a tranquil
pool at our feet.

Part of the way back we took a different trail and
were rewarded with a hazy view of the Malibu, the
Pacific, and Santa Catalina Island in the distance.
Our total distance traveled was relatively short, 6
miles or so, and I wish we had been able to continue -
I guess that'll have to wait for another day.

On Sunday we set out to explore the northern most
Santa Monica Mountains, specifically the hills above
Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks.  As a whole the hike
was as a bit disappointing as the background din of
civilization never fully faded from consciousness,
however having worked our way up to Angeles Vista
peak, and the views it afforded were ultimately
rewarding - As is usually the case for me, seeing the
Channel Islands in the distance was the highlight of
the hike.  Total distance hiked was a meandering 7
miles.

Take care, and expect to hear about our adventures
again in the very near future.  I guess there is no
need for me to say it, but I will anyways:  Life is
Good.  Enjoy It!


-Manny (& Java too!)

Mount San Gorgonio Climb

In the message I sent out last week about my San
Jacinto Peak climb I included a picture with Mount San
Gorgonio in the distance, saying that it was my next
destination.  Well - Been There, Done That!  I
summited San Gorgonio Peak, in the Mount San Gorgonio
Wilderness Area, inside the San Bernardino National
Forest this past weekend, 3/19 & 3/20.

The best way to summarize my trip, is that it was the
best most miserable experience I can ever recall
having.  It never got warmer than 36 deg F.  Above
8500 ft the winds never died below 15 mph, but after
thawing out on the ride home yesterday it is an
experience I will always reflect on.


What I intended to be a solo journey ended up being a
group event.  Members of an internet based climbing
club had gathered from throughout all Southern
California to do a two day summit attempt.  They were
taking the same route I was:  South Fork - Dry Lake
Trail.

Day 1 was somewhat hilarious. The group consisted of
13 people.  Four guys had GPS units, only one had a
compass, and no one had a map!  Well I was trailing
the group (See picture), and eventually they got lost.
I went to the lead, located our position on my map,
and led every one to camp - Seems trivial but it
wasn't.  It was late, 4:30pm, we had walked 6 miles
in, 3,800 ft up; we were completely enveloped in a
cloud bank at 30 deg F, with winds blowing at least 25
mph.  We eventually made camp in what looked like an
avalanche survivable, mostly tree protected area,
inside a bowl between San Jospeh and San Gorgonio
Peaks.  As a side note, the best part of day 1 was
boiling water for dinner in 24 degree weather with
wind howling at 40 mph gusts, in the dark!


Day two started at 6:00am, the climb at 7:30am, and I
didn't stop moving until 6:00pm when I was sitting in
my "Nomad".

Since we were an adventurous group we decided not to
take the established trail up, and instead we made our
own route by scaling the North face of Mount San
Gorgonio.  For this choice we had the pleasure of
enduring a 1.5 mile ascent, with a 1650 ft elevation
gain, on a ridge with constant 35-50  mph winds.  See
pictures.

Java and I passed everyone up to the top.  I
established the route and he and I had a good 5
minutes of time alone at the peak.  I spent a few more
minutes with the next climber up and we took each
other pictures.  We estimated there were constant 80
mph winds screaming past us, and because we were
literally freezing, we spent less than 15 minutes
total at the peak, after which we started our descent.
See Pictures.  Do you recognize the mountain behind
me and Java?  That's Mount San Jacinto, were I was
there last weekend  :-)


Once everyone made back it back to camp; exhausted
weary, wearing thin smiles of satisfaction we all
agreed:  It was like a movie.  The second person up
Will, has traveled the world climbing mountains and he
said that our climb was one of the more grueling,
intensive final ascents he's ever done  - Pretty Cool!

Trip Summary:  2 Days.  16 Mile total trek.  5902 ft
elevation gain.  ~7500 ft total ascent.  13 out of 14
people, plus one dog, summited.  Once person went back
down from base camp due to altitude sickness.


OK so this message is much longer than I intended, but
it's not hard to get wordy about an awesome experience
that is so fresh in your mind.

Life is Good.  Enjoy it!

Mount San Jacinto Climb

My overnighter to the Mount San Jacinto Wilderness
area this weekend has to be the highlight of my recent
hikes.  Although this one wasn't even a hike at all,
it was a Trek - What's the difference?  Well, when you
go on a hike you follow an established trial; when you
are on a trek, your of off-trail using your navigation
skills to find your way from point A to point B. It's
not until you are on a trek that you realize your map
and compass are your very best friends.

Below are some pix that I took on my trek.  The first
order of business was to set up camp.

On Saturday I went up Cornell Peak, 9,750 ft.  I did
some rock climbing to very top point - It was pretty
trippy looking down a sheer cliff to the valley floor
on the other side.

On Sunday, I made it to the summit of San Jacinto
Peak, 10,834 ft, the second highest point in So Cal.

View from up top: See that snow covered mountain in
the distance?  That's my next destination, it's the
highest point in So. Cal., Mount San Gorgonio @ 11,502
ft.  Interested?

The last pix is from the valey floor near the mounth
of the Coachella valley looking up at the Mount San
Jacinto.

Oh yeah, Michael & Julio don't send out the rescue
party - I made it back OK  :-)