May Gray provides perfect days for hiking the treeless trails that fry us in the summer. This week Barbara and I drove up to Santa Clarita, a classic "boom burg" (rapidly growing not-a-city-city but big) 30 miles NW of DTLA. Incorporated in 1987, Santa Clarita has the same respect for nature the original Chumash practiced on this land as far back as 3000BCE and carried on by the Tataviams from 450AD until European settlement. Today's Santa Claritans made open space preservation a priority by creating an Open Space Preservation District to preserve natural land from development, create more community parks, protect the flora, fauna, and geology. Hunting is not permitted, and the trails are clear. The space may look meh in the photo, but that's the magic of learning about land in person and on the ground. Along the flat middle of the trail we walked along the edge of a dry, rocky riverbed. The closer to the dirt we got the wider the variety of wildlife. Yucca in every stage of growth, many topped by crows watching us come and go. Prickly pear cacti provided the only red on the hike (Mother Nature LOVES yellow in the spring). There was purple sage, broom snakeweed, desert broom, and several flowers too tiny to document. The first half of our counterclockwise hike was flat. The second half led us up and down an overgrown trail through surrounding hills for a panoramic view of the area. Santa Clarita is 30 miles NW of DTLA, just slightly N of Magic Mountain, so the Open Space trails are a trek, but if you're in the neighborhood, take a hike in Santa Clarita's Open Space and keep your eyes on the ground. Another great way to cozy up to our amazing cities and state.

Windmills, waterfalls, creeks, bridges, historical ruins, and killer views of Mother Nature's spring art palette in bloom—there were so many reasons for Barbara and me to return to Solstice Canyon for a twist on our hike #141: Charles Fleming's LA Times hike around Solstice Canyon. Fortunately, Solstice Canyon was out of reach of January's Palisades fire. We saw some of the damage on our way in from the SFV along Malibu Canyon Road—an eerie mix of charred and blackened trees and bright green new growth, Solstice Canyon burst with green and hints of purple, yellow, and white flowers and flora. This three trail hike from the TRW Loop Trail (signaled by a windmill) and featuring the TRW Overlook, one of the best nature photo shots: a view of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island tucked in the cleavage between two Santa Monica Mountain mounds. The Rising Sun Trail led us up the side of the mountain counterclockwise, peaking at 758 ft. elevation, accompanied by a lot of lizards, a few bunnies, a chorus of birdsong, and a few hikers coming and going, some with very happy dogs on leash. About a mile or so in, we started the descent into the canyon. The dirt trail is tough, but someone way back when took amazing care in constructing a staircase of 10"+ boulders to mark the trail and support hikers. Also on the way down we spotted the remains of one of the chimneys on the Roberts Ranch, the 1952 "Tropical Terrace House." But first...the trail took us off route to a stream to log and rock hop for fun. From there, we found the log fences and stairs that framed a narrow trail up to the small waterfall literally at the side of the Roberts Ranch property. Imagine a house where your water source was the waterfall in your backyard. Just a small one, not very loud. When we finally walked around the ruins, we played the "what room was that" game, trying to identify what fireplace (at least 4-6) served what purpose. Fascinating. The house and garden, completed in 1952, stood until the 1982 Dayton Canyon fire destroyed everything but the brick fireplaces and metal ovens. Somehow, some of the plants in the "Tropical Terrace" garden survived. Today Mother Nature treated us with Birds of Paradise in bloom and a glorious banana plant beginning to fruit. The Tropical Terrace front steps led down to Solstice Canyon Trail, the entire west side of the trail loop. The final oddity of the hike, the Keller Stone House, inherited by Keller in 1887 in the 13,316 acre Spanish Land Grant, Rancho Topanga. In 1903 the original log cabin burnt and was rebuilt as a "fireproof one room cabin," stone with a tin roof. Roberts bought the property in 1950. In 1997 the land became a national park. A magnificent hike—it's no wonder that Solstice Canyon Loop is the most popular hike in the canyon. If you go now, you'll catch Spring in bloom!

   

   

   

   

   

   

Our original choice for today's trail closed down (again), but serendipity sent Barbara and me on this truly unusual and beautiful trek through Oak Canyon near the Santa Susana Pass in Simi Valley. Originally home of the pre-colonial Ventureño Chumash and Fernandeno Tataviani, Simi is derived from the Chumash word Shimiyi which refers to the familiar stringy, thread-like clouds like the ones that lingered above the mountains this morning. It appears that the miles of hiking trails circling above and around the apparent special district below are part of the recreation for a planned community of identical home plans and condos below in the basin. The mountains were always here—but the trails we hiked this morning looked meticulously cared for and, except for a few trail sections damaged by recent rains, made for a moderately easy hike with enough ups and downs to keep the heart rate high, but not slamming. The hike is a lasso that starts with a single trail going in that splits into a counterclockwise loop with a brief detour into Oak Canyon Community Park before returning to the wilds. AllTrails warned of possible crowds on this popular trail for hikers, bikers, paws, and hooves but because we opted to hike in the mist we had all to ourselves this beautiful slice of nature getting dressed for spring. Thoroughly enjoyable hike in a part of LA County we're pretty sure you haven't explored yet. Do it!

   

  

  

  

  

Barbara and I hiked part of this trail on a side trip from our Oak Grove Loop hike in May of last year, but we didn't really grasp the importance of the Hahamongna Park, the watershed, and the surrounding habitat restoration area. Water is a major issue in L.A. So here's the deal: this watershed lies in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains and channels mountain rainfall and snowmelt to outlets like the L.A. River and the Pacific Ocean. Looking at the map of our hike, the small lakes that form the spine-like visual from above play an important role in maintaining water quality and contribute to the overall health of the ecosystem by acting as natural water storage systems while regulating water quality by removing excess nutrients, sediment, and other polluted contaminants from the flow of mountain water (like a mountain water laundromat). So much for the science behind the map...well, except for the expanse of buildings housing NASA'S  Jet Propulsion Laboratory bordering the watershed to the east, set up here because they couldn’t test rocket motors at Caltech due to risk of fires or explosions. On our drive in, looking down at the watershed from above, the layout and flora looked disheartening. Lots of buildings next to lots of dry dirt and rocks. Yet the hike turned out to be a unique trip around a truly pretty, well kept trail along lakes in portions of the watershed's 168 acres. A fellow hiker on the trail told us that just a month ago the rains had filled the lakes and the dry expanse of dirt and rocks with rushing water. Today the water in the series of small lakes we passed was clear to the bottom, the wide watershed rocks and dirt base was dry, and the birds and bunnies were in full romp. Barbara and I followed the circular  trail counterclockwise from south to north and around. The only tricky spot—the hidden path in the wildlife preserve that had us climbing up a hill on our knees to get back to the trail. The whole hike was a fun adventure and a truly interesting learning experience! P.S.: Note multiple spellings of Hahamonga—non-native immigrants and historians named the area, not the Tongva peoples from tribes who inhabited the area for centuries.