Crazy encounter with 3 mountain lions with “Pitownpi”. Check out his photos and captions here.

I had checked out John Robinson’s The San Gabriels, and decided to snap some shots of the photos in the book to share. Probably copyright infringement, but I thought it would be cool to preserve some of these digitally (albeit roughly). You should definitely check out the book if you are interested in San Gabriel mountain history.

He also has other historical books, especially in relation to the various mountain ranges nearby. He has a book entitled The San Gabriels going over the history of the range, especially around the turn of the last century during the ‘Great Hiking Era’.

It’s a great read. I’d like to put up some excerpts. There are so many that its hard to pick any one paragraph, but I’ll try.

In discussion of mines in the San Gabriel Canyon:

Perched precariously on the cliffs above the East Fork Narrows was the Stanley-Miller, discovered by Gordon Stanley and Ben Miller in 1915, worked until 1939. Heavy cast-iron parts for a ball mill were somehow laboriously dragged up the precipitous mountainside and fastened by steel cables to the cliff outside the mine. The airy Wetwater Trail, terror of pack mules with its dripping water, was hacked out of the cliffs above the Narrows to gain access. The Stanley-Miller met a fierce “Gotterdammerung” in 1953, when a forest conflagration burned away the mill supports and heavy equipment came crashing down the mountainside to the bottom of the Narrows, made more dramatic by the loud din of bursting blasting caps.

not exactly a wilderness citing, but cool nonetheless

I got to thinking about how I must have looked when I started hiking. And I must say, I looked average…ok, I looked like a newb. But just like the people trying it out for the first time, I had no idea what to buy. After all, this can become an expensive hobby. Plus, you end up buying gear as you need it. And what I grabbed from the closet was rugged enough at the time.

Anyhow, I dug into the archives and pulled up a photo from my third hike. It was taken 7/28/07 atop Echo Mtn. I had started from Millard Canyon and took the Sunset trail to the road to Sam Merrill. It was pretty warm that day. High 80′s I believe.

Alright, click on the photo to make everything readable.

Did I miss anything? I’m pretty sure that I did. If I did, that’s what the comments section is for.

Lastly, here’s a pic I’ve always wanted to post, but never could. Until I realized, “hey, I could just censor it.” If Girls Gone Wild could get away with it on TV, why can’t I?

For some background info. This was on the ridge heading up from Brand Park. This was also my first Meetup hike and the first time that I “met” Ze. “Met” because he simply said “hey” as he passed me at the very beginning when I was starting to burn out. By the time I took this photo, the first unit was probably almost at the road at the top of this ridge. This was the only shade I could find. And it was barely enough. In the end, I finished the hike with the much cooler and better Lee Zeebold and the 2nd unit. Take that Ze!

Useless trivia #1: This was also the day that all the National forests were closed due to fire EVERYWHERE. My lungs weren’t quite right for the next couple of days.

Useless trivia #2: First time I met Eric too. He had to cut his day short because he threw up during the first half of the ascent.

What can this 747 do? Well, it can drop about 20,000 gallons of retardant or water.

Check out the video below to see it in action. If you want to see the good parts and not have to listen to the Fox11 anchors talking their normal nonsense, then just skip to 3:30 and 10:00.

Also, here’s an article to debate over from the LA Times, “Air tanker drops in wildfires often just for show.” What do you think?

Kids in the neighborhood playing.AVI