New Projects: 1) Circumnavigate the Tahoe Rim Trail 2) Climb Shastina

Last year I finished running across California. As part of~ that project, I completed the northern ~quarter of the Tahoe Rim Trail. Of course I can't just leave that alone. So yesterday I started the rest of it, just going from Tunnel Creek Cafe up to Rose Summit on this segment. I will definitely not finish it before the arrival of snow and baby

This run at altitude was part of my effort to get back into mountain climbing shape for my attempt on Shastina, the subsidiary cone of Shasta. At about 12,000', on its own it would be the third biggest Cascade, but it's mostly a walk-up, with optional glacier travel. Years ago I climbed the main summit and was always curious about Shastina and the lakes visible in the crater. I'm aiming for September, and at this time of year it's going to be a nasty scree slog. It looks like most people start at Bunny Flat, go up to Horse Camp, then turn leftish and head over the bottom end of Casaval Ridge, crossing through Hidden Valley and then heading up the saddle. I've read good things about Diller Canyon just in terms of scenery and I'm trying to find out from the few people online who seem to know it why that isn't a preferred route. Either way it'll be a nasty scree slog this late in the season.

From Rattlesnake Bar to Auburn - It's Autumn

I am always happy to have underestimated the neato-ness of a trail. I initially thought "Ih, dry oak scrub at the start of the foothills, whatever..." I was running it to connect the American River Trail to Western States in my little projecty. And boy was I wrong. Turkeys everywhere, a beautiful little pond, a rushing mountain stream, wild grapes, deer and elk everywhere, an old flume alongside the trail, and this critter, out for his autumnal walk. Other pictures follow below.

Forgive me the video's shakiness, my priority was first not having a tarantula on me, and second entertaining you, dear blog reader.



These pictures are along the North Fork of the American River, just upstream of where it runs into Lake Folsom. The first two pictures below are wild grapes near Mormon Ravine. They do in fact taste like grapes.

L.A.'s Griffith Park Is Neat-o

View of Mt. Lee from Mt. Hollywood in Griffith Park. From Planetrambler.com.

I have to admit I always thought of LA city parks as probably kind of gross and trashy and pretty small anyway. Wrong-o buster. Today I ran around a bunch of trails in Griffith Park, which is where the Hollywood sign is. The problem with the smaller or less isolated LA parks and canyons for us Diegueños is that they're not really worth a special trip, but if you're on your way somewhere, your stuff (often including your computer) is vulnerable in your car, and if you've been broken into before you understand why I'm nervous about that. So if I go to LA, it's for the Natl Forests up there, and I end up looking at places like Griffith Park and hoping I'll eventually get to explore them. And today I did.

Some nice green areas on the east side and some fun little climbs in there too to get up to Mt. Hollywood. Start on the east side by the merry-go-round to find these; Nobody Hikes in LA has the info, although hell if I was going to try to follow all the instructions in that post. (Signage in the park is pretty much absent.) The snow on the San Gabriels was pretty clear once you started getting up on the hill.

Critter sightings: some birds whose calls I didn't recognize, and a woodpecker that was damn determined to mmake progress on a telephone pole. I saw a very young horse getting trained to be comfortable walking along the ridges, plus there was a drum circle down in the east side parking lot and best of all, two brazen coyotes wandering around. (Picture below, sorry about the fuzziness, but then again it's an iPhone.)

Also, a big thank you for dlockeretz at Nobody Hikes in LA for that awesome website. I've been using it before but what I really like are the categories (region, or distance, or quality). Awesome. Much appreciated!