Silver Moccasin Trail

The Silver Moccasin Trail runs 53 miles through the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles and from what I understand it's a rite of passage for many Boy Scouts. I have to admit it's never occurred to me to actually hike the whole thing, a trip that would probably last about four days or less depending on how motivated you are to get back to the city which is only a few miles away. My wife, Gloria, and I took on a few miles of it for a day hike and near the trailhead, I turned around to see this beautiful, late morning light filtering through the trees as she descended the trail. As is often the case, the original RAW file was pretty lackluster so I processed it to match what I saw and the feeling of soft sunlight. So, in Lightroom, I added a little contrast and black, but mainly attacked the image with the radial filter, isolating the splash of light behind Gloria. I softened it by going into minus territory with the clarity slider and added a smidge of white as well. I then added another radial filter, selecting just Gloria and some of the trail in front of her. I lightened this to lead the eye down the trail from the blast of light which grabs your attention first. Finally, in Photoshop, I added a bit of darkening around the corners and brightened her face and legs.

Nerfherder Canyon

Okay, I feel a little silly saying I descended Nerfherder Canyon with my friends. The term sounded familiar to me but I didn't recall that it came from Star Wars and an epithet Princess Leia had hurtled at Luke Skywalker and Han Solo for some perceived stupidity on their part. In any event, Nerfherder Canyon (in the San Gabriel Mountains) was only first descended last January and it indeed felt as if we had entered a place few had explored. Lots of bushwhacking and placing anchors on rappels with none.

I've always worried in an academic sort of way about the possibility that one of us would get injured on a canyon trip and what we would have to do to handle that. Well, it happened. Alan, a newbie to canyoneering (I'm not saying this had anything to do with it), had slid on a wet rock while trying to avoid a deep pool and instead went down in the nasty water up to his waist, which is saying something given Alan is a tall dude. The impact was enough to sprain his left ankle and he decided to bail before we got to the first rappel. Kevin volunteered to escort him back to the top, a trip which was apparently painful and challenging to their route-finding skills.

In the meantime, four of us continued down-canyon crashing through the poison oak-infested undergrowth and fallen logs. Somewhere in there, Annette declared she wasn't returning to this canyon. Once we exited the canyon, we hiked down an abandoned trail to a use trail that took a more or less direct, steep route up a mountainside to our shuttle car sitting along Highway 2. I have to admit that I'm not entirely tempted to do the canyon again, but even for all that, I still say a day in a so-so canyon beats a day binge-watching Netflix.

Annette maneuvering around a burned tree from the Station Fire as we begin the descent off Highway 2 to the canyon.

Mild bushwhacking on the approach. It got a lot worse.

Jerri trying to avoid dunking her shoes into a pool while swinging around a branch.

Annette reacting to her ankles getting wet after she slipped into a pool.

Rich gallantly assisting Annette over a pool.

Kevin stemming over a pool of questionable water.

Alan slipping off the rock an into a deep pool. (It helps to have a camera that shoots 12 frames a second.)

Alan grimacing from the cold water or having twisted his ankle, or both.

Rich makes his way past a pool while Alan tries to decide if he should continue down the canyon.

Jerri on one of the first rappels.

The Smooth Operator device we employed where there weren't any anchors. The last person disengages the caribiners and at the bottom yanks on pull rope to pop loose the knot. Everything just slides down the rappel so we can recover the rope. Leaving no anchors behind is called ghosting a canyon.

Rich finishing up a bushwhacky rappel.

Hauling in the rope is a group effort.

Rich tossing his rope bag past a down-climb.

Annette splashing through a pool.

Jerri on a short rappel.

Jerri leaping over a pool.

Working our way down a series of pools.

Rich backs up an anchor while Jerri tackles a long rappel.

Hiking back to the shuttle car.

Revisiting An Old (Canyon) Friend

My friends and I revisited Rubio Canyon on Saturday, our first canyon (and you never forget your first one). We ran the entire length from above Leontine Falls (130' rappel), down to Thalehaha Falls, which was the first rappel we ever did back in 2010 and at that time it was a real gusher (90' rappel) and on through to the end. An excellent day with wonderful memories of the past. And we got to introduce a newbie named Alan to canyoneering at the same time.

I chose black and white just because I was a little bored with the color versions of the shots. Something about the light in the canyon that day that was truly unspectacular. I'm not sure if the conversion to black and white completely solved that issue but it seemed to help.

Rich rappeling above Leontine Falls.

Alan rappelling down Leontine Falls.

Alan on the wall, Leontine Falls.

Rich shouting up instructions to Kevin who didn't know the pull rope hadn't gone down all the way.

Kevin descending Leontine Falls.

Jerri working her way over a chock stone.

Jerri belaying Kevin.

It took three guys to help Jerri over a downclimb. . . And another to photograph it.

Jerri slipping on the gooey moss on Thalehaha Falls, the most slippery rappel in all of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Yours truly leaping down a rappel. Thanks to Rich for taking a great picture.

In Praise of Smaller Canyons

Sometimes, canyoneers just want to have fun. You know, plop down into a convenient, little canyon with a few rappels on a pleasantly warm winter day. Some gurgling water for atmosphere. A little breeze to remind you it's January. The undergrowth is a bit dormant and stamped down by previous rain and cold temperatures, so no bushwhacking to speak of.

This would describe Fall Canyon, a minor jewel in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles. The hike in is maybe two miles on an abandoned fire road that descends into Big Tujunga Canyon, crosses shallow Big Tujunga Creek and ascends a short distance where one can drop into Fall Canyon. Lickety-split, easy-peasy, you're at the first rappel of a mere four altogether. There's a log wedged across the rock above the rappel to remind you that this gentle canyon can get rough on occasion; after all, that log probably washed down in a flood. (There's another one below at the second rappel.)

There are reasonably solid bolted anchors at each rappel, so there's not much to do here but rig up a rope and head down the rugged rock face for 40 feet. Conveniently, the anchor was placed to avoid the water spilling down into a tiny pool.

The next two rappels are 45 and 25 feet. The morning sun is warm on the rock and you can't believe there's an El Nino threatening somewhere out there. The last rappel is 90 feet and mostly down through a waterfall. I swung from side-to-side to avoid splashing too much in the main stream, but I came out wet anyway. No big. By the time we got back to cars, I was dry. Just a pleasant day in a pleasant canyon. We'll grind out a big trip some other day.

Jerri crossing Big Tujunga Creek.

Winter trees, Big Tujunga Canyon.

Jerri taking the escalator down into the canyon while Rich uses the stairs.

Preparing the rope for the first rappel.

Rich rigging the rope for the first rappel.

A log that washed down the canyon.

Rich tossing the rope for the first rappel.

We make it a habit of watching each other set up on rappels just make sure no one goofs up, like forgetting to lock the carabiner.

Kevin starting down the first rappel.

Rich tossing the pull rope over the second rappel.

Jerri, the queen of canyons, on her throne.

Rich descending the second rappel.

Rich starting down the third rappel.

Jerri untangling her rope from some branches.

Rich headed down the last rappel.

Jerri swinging out to avoid the water on the last rappel. It didn't really work.

Kevin descending the last rappel.

Kevin on his toes.