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Mt Wilson Toll Rd

Ancient Dirtoglyphs

In the hills near Pasadena the ancient ones rise early and following in the footsteps of their ancestors scratch their art onto the trails. I was lucky enough to find and photograph this perfect example early one morning last week. What does it mean? Does the water bottle have any significance? Are they violating any ordinances? Is it pornography? And most importantly: Are grants available to study this phenomenon? We will continue to research and photograph the dirtoglyphs as they appear.

Mt Wilson Toll Road Update November 2007

In October I received a few email answers to my inquiries about progress on repairing the trail. It seems that the city is waiting for the county and the federal government. Roumiana at the Pasadena Department of Water and Power sent me this email on October 11, 2007: “The repair of Mount Wilson Toll Road is postponed until FEMA approves the construction plan and City of Pasadena (City) and Los Angeles County (County) sign the repair contract. As a primary user of the Toll Road,… Read More »Mt Wilson Toll Road Update November 2007

Another Mount Wilson Toll Road Slide Update

This picture of the slide on the lower part of the Eaton Canyon Toll Road was taken on September 25th, 2007. As you can see no work has started to re-open the road. People are however traversing the slide as you can see from the faint line across the photo connecting the two areas where the slide crosses the remains of the road. In the bottom of the photo you can see the new barbed wire installed by the City of Pasadena to keep people… Read More »Another Mount Wilson Toll Road Slide Update

Mount Wilson

Master of the Universe Yes that is a picture of me at the top of Mt Wilson. On Friday the 31st of August I climbed to the top of Mount Wilson and back. It was about 19 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 4750 feet. The weather was perfect for hiking. I started out at 6am with my usual supplies for a walk to Henninger plus an extra 4 liters of water and some snacks. Dawn on the trail I had hiked about… Read More »Mount Wilson

Toll Road Update

On Sunday 8/26 during my hike I spent a few minutes on the upper slide area widening and lowering the pitch of the emergency trail. It is apparent that I am not the only one doing it and the trail across the slide is slowly getting more passable. The County is trying to get all of the approvals it needs to actually reopen the toll road in the upper area but who know when that will be. While talking to a trail companion about the… Read More »Toll Road Update

Training Hike Sunday August 26, 2007

I went on my longest hike of the summer yesterday. And I did pretty well. I left Eaton Canyon at 6am Sunrise and hiked up to Henniger Flats with a very nice young lady named, I think, Sheila (I didn’t write it down). On the way up we talked about the slide area and what we could do about it. She inspired me to do more than just work a little bit on the worst spots on the trail. See later entries. At Henniger Flats… Read More »Training Hike Sunday August 26, 2007

Old Joke

Question: What is brown and sticky? Answer: A brown stick. This one is particularly nice. I found it lying by the trail above Henniger Flats on my way to Mt Wilson on Sunday.  I took its photo but I left the stick.

Trail News

In January of 2006 and again in March 2007 I sent an email to Mike Antonovich asking him to repair the Mt Wilson Toll Road. I received a reply in a few weeks from Shari A. in the County Supervisors office. The reply referred me to Gary T at the City of Pasadena. This week I found that email again and followed up with Gary. This is his answer: Mr. Burrow: We are working with the Los Angeles County Fire Department on the repairs to… Read More »Trail News

Poison Oak 2

I took a few more pictures of the poison oak on the trail up to Henniger Flats. The pictures I took just a few weeks ago were of the bushes in flower. Now they are covered in green berries: Some of the leaves are starting to turn the characteristic red color: But most of them still look deceptively green and lovely. I warned a painter lady out of a patch of poison oak last week. Be careful out there.

Dog Poop Bags

Before there were cars people rode horses and they pooped in the street.  Cities employed armies of people to clean up the streets.  As horses were replaced the street sweepers faded away and as an unintended consequence dog poop became ubiquitous in urban areas.  Campaigns to “curb your dog” and laws to make it happen became common.  Finally in the 1970’s in most cities it became statute that the owner of a dog pick up the dogs poop.  As a libertarian I support this idea,… Read More »Dog Poop Bags