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twenty-two hours in the mojave

3/10/2014

The desert landscape is vast - seeming to go on forever, and so I apologize in advance for the majority of the pictures in this feature being landscape shots.

This last week, I spent two days in the Mojave National Preserve. I entered the North end of the park on a Sunday afternoon with four things on my agenda. I exited the South end of the park on Monday afternoon having accomplished all the things I wanted to do.

The first thing on my list was to visit the Lava Tube near the Cinder Cone National Monument. Entering from Baker, Ca., take Kelbaker Rd. for about 20 miles, then you will turn down a dirt and sand road, driving for about 5 miles. This will take you to the Cinder Cone - an extinct volcano. Another mile another mile through deeper sand will take you to the Lava Tube. There is a trail leading up to the top of the Cinder Cone, and there is a ladder leading down into the Lava Tube. Be sure to bring a flashlight or headlamp with you for the Lava Tube though, otherwise you will be crawling through the dark for about 20 yards for the first stretch of the tunnel. Both of these things are worth visiting if you are passing through Mojave National Preserve.

The second thing on the list was to reach the top of the highest peak in the Kelso Sand Dunes. There are 45 sq.mi. of sand in the Kelso Dunes, with the highest dune reaching almost 700 feet off the valley floor. After a three mile drive down another dirt and sand road and a 1 mile hike that was honestly quite difficult given the how soft and steep the sand was, we (my dog and I) were sitting on top of the dune field, which seemed endless, stretching out for miles across the valley below us.

The third thing that I wanted to do was to find an off-road campsite in the foothills of the Granite Mountains. The most difficult part of this was finding a trailhead that led to my desired destination. After about 20 minutes of searching, however, I came across a perfect spot.

Waking up in the morning, I explored the area around my campsite. It was beautiful. Huge boulders looked like they had been stacked by a giant. After the sun rose, I enjoyed an hour of drinking tea and burning the last of my firewood, shaded by the large overhanging boulder under which I had set up my tent the night before.

Finally, I wanted to see the Hole-in-the-Wall loop trail, on the other side of the park. I drove through quite a few more dirt roads, crossing an enormous Joshua Tree forest in the process. (The Mojave National Preserve actually has a larger Joshua Tree population than Joshua Tree National Park, believe it or not.) When I finally reached the Hole-in-the-Wall area, I drove around for a little while, coming across some sort of cattle ranch, but when a longhorn bull starred down my car, I decided to leave. The Hole-in-the-Wall loop trail is very cool. It requires quite a bit of rock scrambling, but the park service has installed sturdy metal rings to help you get up and down. At the bottom of the loop trail, you are in a large canyon that almost completely surrounds you, with a few of the sweeping desert landscape at its mouth. It was a very cool experience indeed.

There are a few things to remember about the desert. 1) Every plant has spikes and thorns on it, beware. 2) The desert is alive. There are coyotes, snakes, spiders, and birds everywhere. 3) Get a map. They're available for free at all the Ranger/Info Stations and they might just save your butt.

The Mojave National Preserve is a cool place to spend a day or two if you're passing through on your way to Arizona or Nevada. Making the drive out just for the park itself is questionable -- it's just a lot of driving. The preserve is remote, which is very cool, but after your drive out to get there, you still end up driving around everywhere the whole time you're in the park as well. It's a personal call I suppose.

There are definitely a number of positives about the Mojave also. For some reason, there were almost no other visitors when I was there. I couldn't have seen more than 10 cars in two days, which is nice compared to some other parks. In addition, there is absolutely no entrance fee to anything in the Mojave National Preserve. Another pleasant surprise is that off-road and roadside camping are permitted, meaning that you don't need to spend money on a campsite, and you can camp just about anywhere in the park. All in all, it's worth a visit if you feel like being completely alone in what feels like a timeless landscape - just be prepared to drive.

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bear creek - san gabriel river

2/10/2014

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I've spent the last few days passing time in the wilderness of the Angeles National Forest, out on a solo backpacking adventure up the West Fork of the San Gabriel River with my dog, brad.

I did not know quite what to expect, having never visited the area before. Honestly, expectations were low... after all, how could there be a forest anywhere near Los Angeles?

Saturday afternoon, we set out along the San Gabriel before getting to the Bear Creek tributary. Heading upstream, the dog and I hiked until it was nearly dark, before choosing a spot to set up camp. The first night was spent in a sandy area along the bank of the river. After setting up camp and being treated to a nice sunset, it was time to rest.

Morning came soon, and I wished I had put gloves in my pack. It would be bright out for about two hours before the sun actually came down into the canyon, so the light would wake us up early, but it would stay cold. I had heard that there were supposed to be native trout in the waters around the San Gabriel River. However, some of the reports I read stated that the native fish population had dropped 80-90% since the 1940's, mainly due to overfishing and a lack of catch-and-release fishing practices. In addition, this year has seen below average rainfall, so expectations were low. Nevertheless, I packed some light tackle, on the off chance there was a fishable stretch of river.

Sunday morning, we packed up camp and began hiking further upstream, stopping to fish at some larger pools along the way. I was very pleasantly surprised not only by how much water there was, but also by how clean and clear it was. I let brad drink from it, to see if he would get sick, but he never did. I ended up hooking up with a small trout that day, but halfway through reeling him in he spat out my barbless hook. Thinking about it later, I was glad he got away. He was small, no more than 6 inches, but every little fish counts in situations like these. Though I would have released him immediately, I was happy not to have put any extra stress on one the few remaining fish here.

Towards the middle of the day, I came to a proper campsite in the woods. It was only a short walk from the river and had an established fire pit, so the decision was made to drop the pack. We set up camp, and then I continued fishing. I didn't catch any other fish, but I did manage to fall into the river. I was trying to un-snag a stray cast that landed in some trees when I lost my footing and ended up waist deep, soaking my only long sleeve shirt and only jacket. I returned to camp and put my shoes over a fire to dry them out.

That second night was the first time I was really worried about bears. There were signs saying "now entering bear country" on the road leading up to the trail. I was glad to have bear mace and a food storage container, but I was still uneasy. I couldn't settle down, with brad's head turning every direction, ears perked up, starring off into the darkness, searching the area around our camp. He really is a great guard dog.

I extinguished the fire and called it a night. Monday morning, while waiting for my shoes to dry out more over a fresh fire, I made two good bowls of oatmeal using my camp stove. Leaving just as the sun was coming over a far ridge, we set off to explore further up the canyon. We went upstream for about two hours, seeing a few more small fish but not catching any. We came back down and made lunch before packing up and heading out.

I thoroughly enjoyed this little adventure. For such a short trip I feel like I experienced a lot. I loved the freedom (and cost) of backpacking vs. established campsites, and I hope to take more little trips like this whenever I get three or four days to do so. The area really surprised me with how relatively raw it turned out to be. I am - no pun intended - a very happy camper.

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el escorpoin

2/4/2014

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Last week, I visited a park near Calabasas in the West Hills of Los Angeles called El Escorpoin. I was lured in by the promise of some large caves, and decided to make a day out of it.

The trailhead is easy to find, and the trails were clearly marked at the beginning of the hike. When you enter El Escorpoin, you walk along a dry creek bed lined with oak trees, and there is a large hill / small mountain on your right. I followed this creek bed until I reached a fence where the El Escorpoin Park ends and the Santa Monica Mountains begin. From here, I turned right, towards a large mass of rocks in the hillside, where I knew I would find the caves I was seeking.

As you ascend towards the mouth of the first and largest cavern, you walk up a hillside of lose dirt, riddled with broken glass. I almost always hike in sandals, and regretted doing so on this outing. Closed toed shoes and higher-than-ankle socks will be best.

The entrance to the cave is steep, so be prepared to use both hands and feet to get up and inside.

The cave itself is magnificent. If it had been left to nature, this would be a wonderful retreat. It was much larger than I expected, and there are holes in the roof 20-30 feet up that allow sunlight to come pouring in. All sounds echo off the huge rock walls.

However, the cave has been trashed by the nearby community. Just as with the trail leading up the hillside, the floor of the cave is littered with broken glass. There is also an array of other trash -- chip bags, old clothes, and cans of various shapes and sizes. Additionally, there is crude graffiti all over the inner walls of the cave. It's a real shame, given the potential beauty of this natural masterpiece.

Coming out of the top of the caves, you climb steeply through another hillside of lose dirt, before reaching the rocky top of the small mountain. It's a leg-burner, but the view from the top is worth the effort. From here, you can continue along the ridge of the mountain, which is a challenge. Be prepared to do quite a bit of rock hopping and a small amount of climbing. Once you reach the far side of the ridge, it is a relatively easy descent back down towards the dry creek bed and out of the park.

This is a good hike, challenging for the short distance it covers and good for an introduction to minor cave exploration. Walking along the entire loop described above should take no more than two hours total, even at a leisurely pace. The down side is that the beauty is compromised by the way the community has treated this place. It is, however, still a nice way to spend an afternoon.

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hiking los angeles to ventura county

12/28/2013

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Fortunately, within the last month, the North Pacific has decided to produce a storm or two, sending rideable swell to the California coast. This has come to take up most of my free time within the last few weeks, and thus my terrestrial adventures (hiking and camping) have taken a spot on the back burner.

Last week however, I decided to take a little walk. The waves were alright, but I decided to pass up the holiday paddle-battle at the point for in search of a little alone time in the dust. It had been a while since my feet had known the dirt, so I planned out a longer-than-usual hike. My day would start at the Victory trail head in West Hills, near Calabasas, and end in the Lang Ranch Open Space, in Thousand Oaks. This hike would essentially bring me from the Los Angeles area back into the city of Thousand Oaks.

I marked out the series of trails I would be taking, and wrote them on a piece of paper. I parked my car at the end point and got a ride to the Victory trailhead, beginning my hike around 11:00am.

The hike itself was very enjoyable. Starting on the L.A. side gives you a negative elevation change, which means that most of the hiking is over flat ground. However, there are a few steep sections along the way, and it should be noted that the elevation gain between the lowest and highest points on the hike is just over 1000 feet. The trails I chose to use went through grassy, oak peppered fields, before dipping down to follow a creek along a wetter, cooler area. Then the trees' shade gave way to a hot, baked landscape in the upper areas, along the crest of the range the hike followed. At the end, we dip back down into and oak woodland before finishing the hike along another creek leading out of the Lang Ranch open space.

If you choose to take on this challenge, make sure to know exactly where you are going. I wish that I had invested in a GPS when I got lost and ended up at a dead end after turning down the wrong trail 3.5 miles prior. (I didn't turn around, but chose to let my dog lead the way along a coyote trail. We trekked through the brush for another 2 miles until we reached the other side of a small ridge, and made it back to the trail we were supposed to be on. For my adventurous spirit, I was awarded one deer antler by mother nature.)

If you take the most direct set of trails, expect this hike to be slightly over 12 miles long. For a reference, I left around 11:00am and finished just before 5:00pm, right after the sun had set. (I'm glad I took the coyote trail instead of backtracking to get around, it would've been dark long before I finished, and I hadn't thought to bring a head-lamp or flashlight.)

If you live in the Los Angeles or Ventura County, and you are a strong hiker with a day to kill. I strongly suggest this hike. There are more than a few places along this hike where the only sign of humans is the trail you are walking on. The entire range this hike traverses is surrounded by cities on all sides, but when there are no planes passing overhead, you can't hear any of it -- no traffic or freeway, no construction, none of society's noise. It really is refreshing and grounding to stop and think about how the world originally looked and sounded.

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day trippin' the santa monica mountains

11/30/2013

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Since swell has been in uncharacteristically short supply this Fall, I have had to find things besides surfing with which I can fill my free time. Today, I chose to explore the West end of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is here that you will find Sandstone Peak; at 3,111 feet, it is the tallest point in the Santa Monica range.

Being the closest national recreation area to the city of angeles, these mountains draw in throngs of people looking for a weekend getaway. However, be forewarned, you will not have cell service while exploring this area. (You would be surprised how many people want "a day in nature", only to be frustrated when their phone doesn't work.)

Standing tall just above Los Angeles, the Santa Monicas inhabit a rather arid climate. This dry atmosphere gives them the shrub-covered landscape and protruding boulders we've all come to love. There are, however, still plenty of streams to cross and pools to discover, if you know where to look. This water, unfortunately, is not safe to drink, so be sure to bring plenty with you. Native Coastal Live Oak trees still inhabit these lower lying areas of the mountains, near creeks and rivers. Although, if you are keen to enjoying the sound of running water, you may want to wait until Spring to visit, when Winter rains have swollen streams.

Hiking in this area often involves ups-and-downs... in elevation. Expect to gain between 300 and 1,000+ feet on any given hike. It may sound a bit tiring but remember, the cool blue Pacific is only minutes away, keeping temperatures reasonable.

This is neither an enormous nor remote area. Depending on your personal endurance, it is fairly easy to experience three or four hikes in one day before spending the afternoon at a beach along Malibu's lesser known stretch of coastline. There are trail heads around almost every corner of every road that passes through this small mountain range, leaving endless options for visitors seeking an adventurous hike through the wilderness.

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death valley + lake isabella

11/25/2013

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Spending the last three days visiting Death Valley proved to be one the most exciting journeys I've ever embarked on. I had planned out everything I wanted to do beforehand, since DVNP is an enormous area to cover. My adventure, however, started before I even made it into the park boundaries.

There was a rather serious storm happening on the day I left for the park. As a result, the highway I was supposed to take into the park out turned out to be closed starting about 50 miles away from the campground I planned on staying at. It had been washed out due to flash flooding. It's possible that I should have turned around, seeing the road barricaded ahead of me, but going around to get in to the park from the other direction would have required over 180 miles of backtracking and re-routing.

I had been planning this trip for a while. All of the things that I wanted to do, starting on the morning of my arrival, were planned out on a piece of paper. This meant that wasting 3 - 4 hours going around the road closure was definitely out of the question. I decided that this was part of the adventure, and drove off the road, around the barricade.

The highway was fine! ...for about 10 miles... then it started getting messy. At first, there was just sand washed across the road. Then rocks. Then the shoulder crumbling away, until eventually the whole road was collapsed beneath me. My only option was to drive off the side of the road, through the desert, and back to the nearest highway.

There were a few sketchy moments when I felt my tires start to spin in the sand. Luckily, however, the rain had packed the sand hard, and I eventually made it back to the highway. It looked like it would be all smooth sailing after that, but the storm had covered the mountain pass into the park with fresh snow. I had never driven in snow before. The sign said "Chains Required".

I kept going. I had to. I had come this far and I wasn't going to turn back now -- especially after having made it through the desert already. There were only a few miles left to the destination. The road was icy. I slipped around a few times, never letting myself go faster than 30 mph, and made it to the other side just as they were closing the road to people exiting the valley. Only later did I realize that if I had turned back at the first road closure, I would have never made it over the pass in time.

So after the drive in, my stay at Death Valley National Park was very enjoyable, even though it rained for two of the three days I was there. It stayed relatively warm during the day -- low 60's -- and only dropped to around 40 at night. I stayed the first night at the Furnace Creek Campground and the second at the Texas Springs Campground. I spent my time hiking, trekking/exploring, off-roading, and seeing some of the major attractions like Mosaic Canyon, The Natural Bridge, The Devil's Golf Course, and Zabriskie Point. On the last morning I woke up to clear skies and a brisk East wind blowing through the canyons, which made my walk through the Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes all the more satisfying.

From there, I drove back through the snowy pass and out to Lake Isabella. It was a much nicer drive on the way out, compared to the near white-out conditions three days prior.

Lake Isabella was warm and inviting. I fished there for a little over two hours without any luck. Before heading out, I walked around on the banks of the lake with my dog, brad. The natural beauty of the tail end of the Sierra Nevada Mountains which surround the lake are truly amazing in the way they reflect off the water.

I finished this trip along the Kern River, which feeds into and runs out of Lake Isabella. I stopped and fished a fly at a couple different spots along the river, which was beautiful and breathtaking in the evening light.

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jalama beach + lake cachuma

11/19/2013

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Here are some photos from the last few weeks. These first couple trips were the catalyst for the new-found sense of adventure I now have. These pictures come from a few different sources. Some have been scanned from 35mm prints, while others were taken from my phone. From now on, in order to make this process as easy as possible, I will document my trips with two digital cameras.

It all began with a trip to Jalama Beach, about an hour north of Santa Barbara. I had been wanting to go since summer, but the right conditions of wind and waves were yet to coincide. Then, in early November, a proper north swell with some south mixed in was set to arrive. What was even better was the wind forecast: NE in the morning, dead in the afternoon. For three days I enjoyed fun waves with a few of my friends from Malibu.

Eventually waves died down and the wind came up. No big deal, it happens. No day without night, balance in the universe, everything is inherently impermanent, right? I wasn't in any way bothered by the lack of surf... still being stoked on a successful mission to a fairly fickle spot. Although, I still wanted to go somewhere.

That led me to plan a little adventure to Cachuma Lake and the Los Padres National Forest. I went up there on a whim, not knowing what to expect, since I hadn't ever been there before. My dog, brad, and I, spent two days up at the lake. In the afternoon, after setting up camp, I decided to go fishing. The moon was full and illuminated the lake like a brilliant flashlight. I fished into the night, landing a small catfish around 8:00pm.

The next morning, I woke up around 5:30. It was a cold night and I was ready to start moving around. I observed a raccoon in the tree above my tent for about 30 minutes while I warmed up some tea.

As soon as it was light enough out, I tied my lines and went back down to the shore to fish. I cast out and stood my rod up with some rocks, so that I wouldn't have to hold it. I walked around and played with brad while waiting for something to bite. After about two hours, I decided to reel in and change locations. The line was slack, but as soon as I started reeling in, a fish began running on my line! I carefully fought it. It jumped twice while I was reeling it in. I landed it though... a 16 inch rainbow trout. The biggest I had ever caught. My trip was validated.

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a brief introduction

11/19/2013

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Hello. My name is Brendan. I deeply enjoy photography; I see it as a way to show people exactly what you were seeing at any given moment, better allowing you to share your experiences with others. I've been shooting both 120 and 35mm film for about 5 years now. A lot of my life experiences are stored in private photo albums, only to be shared with close friends.

About three years ago now, I began to travel. After spending time in Europe, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific Islands, (not to mention two ill-fated trips to Central America), I knew that a lot of my free time would now be spent planning my next adventure. However, with the way our current economic system is set up, money is always an issue for almost everyone. Globetrotting is expensive, but getting away doesn't have to be.

I recently began traveling much more frequently around my home here in California. Re-exploring this beautiful land has shown me that you don't need a plane ticket to escape. What began with a minor surf trip has jump started an itching drive inside of me to get away to somewhere new every chance I get. These trips are usually short -- two or three days -- but I can explore a place I've never been to about once a month.

I am here to share my photos from these adventures with whoever would like to see them. Here are some pictures from abroad that I've taken in the past, just to get things started. Enjoy.

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Welcome

This is a blog about traveling in California. Spurred by a realization that escape doesn't require a plane ticket, it has been my recent goal to get away near home as much as possible. There are short stories of these little trips accompanying a series of photographs from each location. The goal is simple: pack a good adventure into a short time slot, and provide an account that might help other people looking to do the same.

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