We didn’t know if they would get on, but they had a great time together, no issues at all, though I didn’t let Suki off the leash. Went to “bed” at about 10pm after watching the city lights and the night stars – Orion’s belt, Betelguese and my dear friend Philip’s star = Love is the Answer. She is in 2nd grade, and was a delightful companion. I made anew friend – Keanna, the daughter of a hiking buddy. At about 8pm we walked down to the ranger area where there is a museum, and watched an old video of the building of the old hotel at Echo Mountain and the tavern at Mt Lowe, where I’ve hiked before. We got back to camp by about 4:15, and had an early dinner. It was very shaded and even had lots of green grass, which in this drought year is quite rare. On a fireroad you can see what’s coming for quite a long way, whereas this trail provided a new view every couple of minutes. I loved this little hike, it felt like real hiking, much preferable to fire road hiking, and with much more interesting views. We started out at 3pm and turned around at about 3:45, just short of Idelhour. The trail goes up the fireroad for about 15 minutes, then turns off to become a delightful single track trail, winding up a valley, over a ridge, then down down down into the canyon beyond. It was too early for me though, so I went on another little hike with one other lady, up the Mt Wilson toll road towards Idelhour camp. Once we got there, we had lunch and most of the group kicked back. There’s cell phone reception too, so it isn’t exactly wilderness. From inside my tent with the door up, I could look out over the glittering LA lights all night, and the full moon made it almost like daylight. We camped in the middle area, and had the “front” area, overlooking the basin. But once at the flats, the camping spots are awesome. The hike up there isn’t too bad but very hot since it is a south facing slope. There’s three very large camping areas, with metal fireboxes and wooden tables and benches. Starts in Pasadena and goes up a fire road for about 2.5 miles and 1,800 feet to a gorgeous camping spot at Henninger Flats, beneath Mt Wilson and overlooking the LA basin. This was a one night backpacking trip with a local Meetup group – LA Backpackers Club. There’s a huge storm coming – I wonder what this area will be like after that – maybe even impassable in places. On the north side of the crest, the vegetation appeared to be much slower coming back, and that area is still closed to hikers. This was a burn area but a lot of new growth was springing up. The skies were clear and the views of the surrounding Angeles forest and up to Mt Wilson were lovely. Then the climb out of the canyon, which I thought would be tough, but we only stopped a couple of times and did great. The hike along the river seemed much quicker and was very pretty. The next day we were up by 7am and on the trail by 8:30. I think we finally retired at about 10pm. We kept warm with extra layers and stood by the fire. Once the sun went down, it was very dark – the site is surrounded by tall tress in a river canyon, and the moon was only a quarter full. There was a fire going, roasting meat for burritos, and all kinds of food that you don’t usually see on a backpacking trip. This was a party group – the guy who organized it was the birthday boy. Alix and I set up our tents in the upper section. The campsite has loads of spots for tents, and several tables and firepits. Just when I was wondering if we’d missed the campsite, we came around a corner, and there it was, right where another stream joined the one we had been following. The trail had steep dropoffs in places, and a few downed trees that involved climbing over or crawling under. It was only a few inches deep, most of the time. Eventually we reached the canyon bottom (1,500 feet down) and followed a stream, crossing back and forth numerous times, on rocks, treetruncks, or just jumping across. It switchbacked down a steep and hot canyon and I took my time. The first part of the trail was a steep section down to a fireroad, then a short section of fireroad, then finally the main trail. We thought there might be bushes of it crowding the trail but fortunately not. At the beginning of the trail there were signs warning of poodle dog bush, and a huge bush of it right there, smelling like skunk. Alix came too, which was lovely.We drove up Highway 2, the Angeles Crest Highway, to the trailhead, passing lots of bicyclists – crazy. This was a camp spot that I’ve stayed at before, but this time we went via a new route – the Silver Moccasin trail.
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