What is that, a railway? And, what's with the asterisks?

All will be explained!

I came back for more of the Upper Cabin trail but this time I took a rougher route up.

On Feb 1, 2025, parts of the Angeles National Forest reopened after the devastating Eaton Fire.

This is more of a road walk than an hike, but it is to the highest point in the Santa Susana Mountains along the north edge of the San Fernando Valley.

No, the title isn't a law firm: it's five peaks near Mt Wilson that I biked and hiked.

These are pictures and a video from the "Satwiwa Loop and Upper Cabin Trail" (link) on the western edg

I failed the first time, but this time I got the sheep.

These were taken near Mt Chapel on a Griffith Park bike ride. The Air Quality Index today was 'Unhealthy', with haze and pollution trapped in the Los Angeles basin.

Pacifico Mountain (7124') is in the back range of the San Gabriels so, generally speaking, it's more of a pristine environment than the front range peaks.

I biked Hostetter (from the 210 and La Tuna Canyon) to Verdugo Peak. All the way up, my bike was bugging me to do a fashion shoot and I obliged it.

The Tarzana area of Los Angeles hosts a geological feature known as the Vanalden "Cave". I'd heard about it but never bothered to visit until now. Getting to it was OK, even if the "cave" wasn't.

If you want to amuse and amaze your future ex-friends, let them know that it snows each year in the City of Los Angeles. Yes, that's right, it snows here each year!

I did the "3-2-1 Challenge" in the Frazier Park part of Kern County, not far from Gorman/Lebec. The challenge involves 3 peaks, 2 county highpoints (Kern and Ventura), and 1 hike.

The original Del Taco location is located in Yermo, not far from Barstow in the Mojave desert. Unfortunately it was closed the day that I was driving by.

This is the highest point in Arizona. I had tried it several years ago in May. The snow made finding the trail difficult and because of that I had to turn around at the ridge.

After getting to 12,633' on Humphreys Peak, I descended about 20' below the Earth's surface in the nearby Lava River Cave.

This was my second Colorado 14er and, unfortunately, I did it on a Saturday.

My first Colorado 14er was, aside from the altitude, fairly moderate.

Mt Oberlin is an 8,184' peak in Glacier National Park that's near the Logan Pass visitor center. While AllTrails says to "proceed cautiously", SummitPost calls it "friendly".

On my way to Glacier National Park I had the not-so-bright idea of visiting our hat, aka Canada.

Normally I'm all over things volcanic, but this national monument didn't live up to expectations.

I kicked off my Great Summer Road Trip 2024 Extravaganza by hiking the River Trail to Thousand Island Lake in the Sierra Nevadas.

After the Sheep Hole Mountains failure, I needed to get as far away from Joshua Tree as possible.

The Sheep Hole Mountains are a small range not far from Twentynine Palms in the Mojave desert.

Mt. Baldy - highest point in L.A. County at 10,064' - is currently closed due to the Bridge Fire which, as you'll see in a later post, I saw happen from the summit of Baldy.

The Vital Link is a fun, short-but-steep trail in the Verdugo Mountains. It's 3.8 miles & 1700' of gain round trip so it's fairly steep.

"What?" You're no doubt asking, because you know the two titular destinations are well over an hour apart.

While I later biked to the highest point in the City of Los Angeles, this time I just hiked it.

Rising high above Burbank and Glendale are the perpetually snow-capped Verdugo Mountains...

I'd hiked Josephine Peak in the Angeles National Forest a few times, but this was the first time I'd biked it. It was very windy at times.