Venus and the waning crescent Moon before dawn on Simi Peak with the San Gabriel Mountains.

13 OCTOBER 2020 W6/CT-207

Once again my friend Brian (WA6JFK) and I were scheming about doing tandem activations early Tuesday morning to beat the heat that was forecast to be near triple digits. I picked Simi Peak and Brian decided to try Kagel Mountain over in the San Gabriels. I started hiking about 5:30 AM from the top of King James Place in Oak Park. The trail follows an old fire road that is deeply eroded. Waking in the ambient light is usually no problem, but the uneven footing made a flashlight necessary. Along the trail I saw dozens of Kangaroo Mice scurrying around feeding in the cool, pre-dawn air. The winter stars glittered overhead, Orion, Canis Major, Taurus. In the west, Mars shone brightly as it is at opposition to Earth and very close. In the east Venus and the waning crescent Moon dominated the sunrise. As I made the ridge, I even spotted Canopus – the second brightest star in the sky. Canopus is normally a Southern Hemisphere star. It can only be seen in these northern latitudes for a few hours a night in the fall and winter very low in the southern sky.

The hike is 5 miles round trip with 1,250′ of elevation gain. There is 250′ of gain on the return. The trail is heavily traveled most days and while I saw no one going up or on the summit at dawn, there were quite a few people starting out as I descended:

Unlike the part of the Santa Monica Mountains just to the south, Simi Peak is all sedimentary rock. The trail takes the hiker through China Flat – a lovely live oak grove set in meadows behind the steep south scarp. This is where Little House on the Prairie was filmed.

I made 9 contacts on 2m. Brian made it up to Kagel Mountain about 7AM and we got our summit-to-summit in. We also made contact with our friend Steve (WA6FGW) who was on his way to work in Santa Monica. I first heard him as he came out of the MacClure Tunnel over the crest of the Santa Monica Mountain. By the time he got to Cloverfield he was 59. I also heard from faithful chasers Derek (KM6UHU) in Altadena, Steve (WB2WIK) in Winnetka, Ira (KI6TPX) in Glendale among others.

9 OCTOBER 2020 W6/CT-218

The first time I hiked up Temescal Peak I was about 12 years old. My buddy Allan Gardner and I had seen the enticingly-named Eagle Springs on the topographical quad and it beckoned. Having no idea how long it would take, we left the quiet streets of Pacific Palisades at 2:30 AM. Our canvas Yucca Packs were ridiculously heavy — packed with all kinds of outlandish gear found in our suburban garages.

It was a long, strange odyssey. Using Al’s dad’s humongous SCUBA diving light, we saw a weasel raiding a large bird’s aerie for eggs in Temescal Canyon. As we made our way up to Temescal ridge in the dark, we kept hearing something strange whistling through the air over our heads. Much later we heard the report of a rifle and then the whistling sound, so we started yelling our heads off. A guy appeared over the edge of the firebreak above us on horseback brandishing a rifle. He told us “Don’t worry about it.” Yeah, right.

A little while later we came around a corner and in front of us was a large pack of wild dogs. They were mostly pretty scraggly looking, but the leader was a large shepherd mix. Al grabbed a machete out of his Yucca Pack and I picked up a huge stick with a large burl on the end. We stared the dogs down and they eventually ran off down into upper Santa Ynez Canyon.

When we arrived on 2,126′ (it wasn’t called Temescal Peak back then) I stuck the “dog bonker” stick in the pole that still graces the summit. For years after that you could see that stick for miles around. We called the summit Dog Bonker Peak for years.

In our pre-teen minds we were like Lewis and Clark in the wild west.

There are a lot of ways to hike up to Temescal Peak. I’ve done most of them. But for old time’s sake I left Trippet Ranch in Topanga State Park well before dawn. It was a nostalgic hike for me. The marine layer was in at about 2,500′ blocking out the waning moonlight, but the light LA and the San Fernando Valley provided enough illumination on the underside of the stratus to see well enough, once my eyes adapted to the dark.

The hike from Trippet Ranch is 3.7 miles, one way, with 1200 feet of elevation gain on well-graded fireroads. The turn-off is where the Backbone Trail leaves the Temescal Fireroad. You can see it in the photo above. The trail contours around the south side of the peak and you make your way to the summit via a small use trail on the east side.

My first contact was with Brian (WA6JFK) over on Cerro Negro Benchmark (CT-226) for a nice summit-to-summit contact. Unlike last week, Brian heard me loud and clear. He was 59 armchair copy. I made 19 contacts – 17 on 2 meters and 2 on 70cm. Cassie (KG6MZR) called me from home.

The hike from Topanga State Park takes you by Eagle Springs and right under the strangly sculpted Eagle Rock.