Cleghorn Ridge Trail – The entire trail is a fire road with a more challenging trail winding back and forth across the fire road.  It starts at the Cajon Pass, 15 fwy and Cleghorn Rd and runs to highway 138 by Silverwood Lake.  This dirt trail is about 14 miles long each way. The trail starts at about 3,000 feet and peaks out about 5,200 feet and has lots of side trails that criss-cross the main easy road.  The roughly graded route in this trail is suitable for medium clearance 2WD in dry weather. The trail is considered extreme when very wet.  The US Forest Service has designated this trail as 2N47.

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During our drive out there, the rain got worse and worse.  Cleghorn is at the base of the foothills and traverses up the mountains.  It happened to be in the path of the storm.  Before we even got there, we had strong winds, rain and hail.  We got there with a little time to spare so we hit McDonald’s for breakfast before we met up with the club down on Cleghorn Road.

We pulled in under the freeway overpass to air down the tires.  We were the first ones there.  It was pretty cool to see other Hummer owners pull up and to the side to air-down to get ready to go wheeling.  We finally got to meet a few from the club and exchanged names.  Our good friends Laura and Sheldon H. with their kids Jewel and Ethan showed up in their Jeep.  Seth, our group leader, gave a short meeting on rules and what to expect, before long everyone was ready to hit the trail.

We took the trail headed east towards Silverlake.  The trail snaked its way up the side of the mountain crossing pools of water as he kept heading up.  Off our left shoulder was a valley with a small rainbow sitting in it.  Our first optional play area was  Powerline Hill.  Basically it’s just a hill climb to the top where sits a power line tower.  This was the first time stepping out of the vehicle since ascending.  As I placed my foot down, the ground beneath felt like melted chocolate.  I didn’t realize how much mud we were driving through.

ChasH3

It became more apparent as some of the guys were trying to go up the steep incline only to loose traction and slide back down.  After a while of playing there we continued on.

This is where it got interesting.

We headed up a rather steep incline as the rain begin to intensify.  The lead H3, Seth, got to a point where he couldn’t keep his momentum going and began to loose traction.  Before too long Seth could go no further.  We got out and stacked some rocks to help keep the rear passenger tire from dropping into a deep rut and bottoming out.  He was able to reverse out, turn a round, and head back to the main fire-road, upon which we all followed behind.

Later on down the road I took a wrong line and kept getting sucked in to a rut.  The mud made for a huge amount of grief.  I eventually tried to turn the rig around and got high-centered on a berm.  After a quick strap yank we were headed back up the mountain.  The rain and hail made even the easiest parts of the trail challenging.  Going up and around corners in the mud and driving rain was almost like slow speed drifting, with the exception of the mountain cliffs on the side.

Sheldon's Jeep

"BeHummer2" Ben, "Family Jeepster" Sheldon, "Slogger" Adrian.

H3Play on Articulation Hill

We had a great day out on the trails, a new trip is being planned to explore this trail once again in dry weather.  This way we will be able to get a better view from up on top instead of driving through the clouds.  Although the views that were presented to us were quite spectacular, I’m sure on a clear day it will be much more grand, especially when there is not the worry of getting stuck, cold wind and driving rain.

AlanM

JeffH3

H3Ing

Slogger

Until next time.

Feel free to leave comments!

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Cabrillo Beach is a historic beach located in San Pedro, California. Cabrillo has two separate beach areas.  It is also home to a few famous landmarks, namely the 1.75 mile Los Angeles Breakwater which ends at the Angel’s Gate Lighthouse, the recently restored Cabrillo Beach Bathhouse, and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.

We had just visited the tide pools in Laguna Beach a couple weeks earlier and realized he really liked seeing the wildlife in the water.  Laguna Beach had the anemone police out so we couldn’t touch anything but this time Cabrillo Beach was unpatroled…

We made it to the parking lot and parked in front of the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium.  The tide pools are on the ocean side of the breakwater/jetty.  After a short walk about a quarter mile down we arrived at the tide pools.

There were tons of anemones everywhere.  We showed Skyler how you can gently push down on the anemone it would squirt water.

While looking around and exploring Skye found two large spiral shells.  We took a picture of them since we are not allowed to take anything from the beach.

We had a nice time at the tide pools, the water was beginning to return so we had to pack it out of there.  We’ll have to go back this summer when it’s a little warmer.  More photos at my photography website, CounterPointPhotography.com

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The Santa Monica Pier is located at the foot of Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica and is a prominent, 100-year-old landmark in Southern California.  The last time I was like 10 years ago.  It was time to head back.

The smell of the ocean and creosote filled the air.  The parking lot on the pier is next to the old Carousel Building.  The Carousel Building was designed and built in 1916 by Charles Looff, one of the original designers of the Santa Monica Pleasure Pier.  It’s been restored a few times and is listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.  With a Byzantine-Moorish style, the building houses one of the few surviving all-wooden Carousels in the world – less than 70 continue to operate today.  Painted ponies and chariots, restored in 1990, brings you back to an earlier, simpler time.

Skyler heard the calliope playing and we knew we’d have to start the day here at the Carousel.   It’s pretty funny, Skyler get so excited to go on carousels but when he is on it, he gets really serious.  We went on a couple of times it only cost $1 for me and Skyler was free (children under five are free).

A surprise to me was once it started up, it hauled butt.  Seriously.  We’ve been on other carousels but nothing prepared me for the speed at which the Santa Monica Carousel goes.  Skyler loved it, with the music blaring, and the speed of going round and round and round.

He still kept his serious face.  ”Come on Dad, I’m riding a horse.”

After we made it off the speeding carousel, we headed down the pier to grab some lunch.  There are a ton of greasy, carnival stand eateries that line the walk.  We jumped into one and ordered the staple, Fish and Chips.

Pacific Park is where all the rides are located.  Each ride requires tickets so we bought a few so we could ride the Pacific Wheel. Completely solar powered, it stands 85 feet tall, carries 20 gondolas and sits on the pier.  Pretty impressive.  We stood in line for a while.   Quite comically the least efficient employees were working this attraction but it worked out alright.

There was a nice view of the ocean and the crashing of waves below us that kept our attention on other things rather than waiting.

Ready to board, it’s like he pulls it out of his pocket, The Serious Face.

Over all it was well worth the wait.  Only in California can you be at the beach in 80 degree temperatures and spy off in the distance the snow covered peaks of the Southern Californian mountains.

Time really does go by fast.  Able to ride the larger kid rides Skyler and I decieded to ride Inkie’s Airlift, A scaled-down Scrambler for children, and then road the ‘off-road’ Pier Patrol – A ‘train’ of cars that run around a beach-themed track, with Skye.

He had a blast, but it was getting late and we were getting into Skyler’s nap time.  We finished up and headed towards the car and remembered we wanted to visit the aquarium.

Quickly we found the signs for it under the pier and paid a $5 donation to the Heal the Bay Foundation to go in the aquarium.  Saw som Jelly Fish, Star Fish and a few small sharks.  Not a huge aquarium or even big for that matter, but it’s nice to see people passionate for a cause.  Time was running before we’d reach the point of no return with Skyler so we packed it up and headed out.  Skyler fell asleep in the car.  It was a fun day.

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Rose Parade 2010

Is there a better way to start off the new year than to go to the Rose Parade?  There might be.  But this year, there was no better way to celebrate the new year than to head down to Pasadena, California, and find a spot on the parade route. One of Skye’s students was able to get us up-close and personal seating on the parade route with excellent parking.  This helped out so much, especially with Skyler.

The night before we set and packed the car so all we would have to do is get up, get Skyler dressed and head out the door.  Skye’s Mom and Step Dad were coming too so they were going to meet us at 5:30am when we were set to head out.  Nicely everything went as planned.  Before long we were already in Pasadena and could see the crowds of people.  The GPS didn’t help much since as you got closer to the parade route the more we found barricades blocking off streets.  We had  a printed out map for where were were to park so I just used that.

We found the parking.  It was a block away from the Pasadena City Hall and about half a block away from the parade route.

The reserved seats we had were across the street from the post office and on the street.

This was the view we had of the parade.  We actually were sitting on the street level as the floats passed by.

The floats were impresive, the crowd was respectful and everyone had a great time.  We saw Oscar DeLaHoya hanging over a balcony behind us and Jack Hanna on a float.  Now where else can you say that but at the Rose Parade?

Skyler loved watching the bands, especially the drummers.

It was a cold, early morning but we all had a great time!  What really impressed me was the fact that we could actually smell the flowers on the floats!  Pretty cool.

Here the link to all the pictures from the Rose Parade.

Rose Parade on CounterPoint Photography

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Amboy Crater

Back in March of this year, I was driving through the Mojave to the Grand Canyon.  Years earlier, my friend, George M. and I were shooting a highway student film out this way on Route 66 near the town on Amboy, California.  We had hiked up the volcano with my old pal and dog Marcus, and camped out at the Crater to shoot a really, not sure if it was ever released, cheesy sci-fi “thriller” for an indie producer.

One time we had driven out there in a 1985 Honda Prelude and tried to “off-road” it over the sand and volcanic rocks.  Don’t try it.  It doesn’t work.  We got hung up on some rocks and took a couple of hours to get free before it was pitch dark.  It was still fun and with all the time we spent out therein the extreme heat and wind, Amboy holds a special place in my heart.  So whenever I get the chance to take Route 66 through Amboy I’ll take it.

My wife was taking her choir to the Grand Canyon so my son and I, with the help of my parents, played the part of the roadies and tagged along.  We headed out a couple hours earlier so we could have more time to stop to stretch our legs a few times.

Amboy Crater is located midway between Barstow and Needles and is about 75 from either of these towns. The crater is accessible via Interstate 40 to National Trails Highway – Route 66.

If you are planning for a cool hike this is the ticket. Here are the basics you need to know:

Amboy crater is considered a moderate hike. The Crater area has been used to test the Mars rovers The trail starts though the lava fields. Just passed the lava field is a moderately flat area to the base. From the base, hike to the west side up a moderate slope. On the west side, follow the hike trail near the base. At the breach, hike up the steep incline into the crater. Once inside, you can hike straight to the caldera, or follow one of the steep trails up to the rim. You can hike on the rim from one side of the breach to the other. The northeast side of the rim is very narrow and steep on both side so be careful. Hiking boot recommended, lava rocks are sharp. This hike is best attempted in Autumn or Winter. Summer temperatures can get well over 100 degrees. Mucho HOT!
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Regular desert precautions apply: watch for snakes and other desert wildlife, bring abundant drinking water, hat, sunscreen, and sturdy shoes. It is best to avoid visiting Amboy Crater in summer conditions or in windy weather.

BLM’s Needles Field Office telephone number is +1 760 326 7000. Shaded and unshaded picnic tables are available, as are public restrooms.

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Amboy Shoe Tree

What the hell is this???

This shoe tree is located about 1/4 mile east of the famous (or infamous) Roy’s Diner in Amboy, California on a long forgotten stretch of Route 66.  Before the completion of the Interstate 40, this was main route for the Needles/Kingman area from Southern California.  There are many eclectic and interesting sites to see on Route 66 out here in the desert.  I would suggest the someday you travel the California desert via Route 66 to appreciate its beauty. Use caution in the summer months, the high temperatures usually average somewhere between 110° and 120° degrees.

Amboy Shoe Tree

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He headed down the 5 towards San Diego at 8pm on Friday. Checked in to the Town and Country Resort (1950s Style) at around 10pm. The night before Skyler was not feeling so well. He had a low grade fever. Probably teething. He woke up as we got there and stayed up until midnight. The next morning Skyler slept in until 8am. Oh my God. We could remember the last time we slept in until 8am. Not even when Skye was pregnant did we ever get to sleep in that late. How cool!

We headed to Sea World at a leisurely pace and got in the park around 10am. Right around that time the park was empty and the caretakers were walking the flamingos to a grassy area for them to get exercise. We got some pretty cool photos of them with Skyler. We hung out with the Manatees, saw some penguins, Sharks, Dolphins, played in the water a little and was all done by 430pm.

We went back to the hotel, ate at a sport bar with Skyler, walked around the resort as Skyler had to touch ever bush he saw. We went back to our room, Skyler was out at 8pm we were out by 9pm.

The next morning Skyler slept in again. We got up at 8am and were fully energized. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant after we packed up and checked out. Skyler took a short nap as we headed over to the embarcadero where there were tall ships and the Hornblower Cruises where they take you around the bay and point out historic things and animals and such. We had a good time on that 1 hour long cruise, Skyler met another little guy and challenged him to a race up the stairs. We had to stop the competition early due to windy conditions and dirty stairs.

After the cruise we walked down to Seaport village and had some fish tacos and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. Skyler liked that part the best. Sorry no pictures. It went fast. Soon enough we were headed back to the car some 14 miles away (20 minute walk) and ready to get home. It was a great weekend and I’m glad Skyler had such a great time. Now I’ve got to hide the ice cream from Skyler. Oh boy…

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I know there are some sad people out there that may not completely appreciate huge cool factor that this is. If only for a few insightful moments, humor me.

Known variously as Century Ranch, Fox Ranch, and Malibu Creek Park, the main portion of the property that was once owned by 20th Century Fox was originally purchased in 1900 by a group of people who formed the Crag’s Country Club. In 1901, they built a dam across Malibu Creek at the top end of the gorge, thus forming the seven-acre lake, now known as Century Lake. Below Century Lake is Rock Pool. This was used in many films, most famously in Planet of the Apes or Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Skye and I had been there four years earlier; from what we remembered it was an easy to moderate 4.6 mile hike. This would be a good hike to get back into it all again.

Now this is something both Skye and her mother can attest to, when I’d go hiking I’d tend to over pack and over carry a lot of stuff, case in point, my unceremoniously named “$500 Black and Yellow Backpack.” I’d carry an extra couple of water bottles, my SLR film camera, video camera and on occasion, 5-pound rocks for Skye’s mom’s backyard stream. Maybe subconsciously I had been training for this day.

It was a beautiful day. The weather could not have been better with blue skies and a gentle breeze. Skyler just had his 6-month checkup a week earlier and weighed in at just under 18 pounds, an extra 18 that I’d be carrying along.

My setup; a hip bag with two water bottles, one for me, one for Skye; a small camera, a “Baby Bjorn” with a baby boy included. All-in-all an extra 20 pounds. Not bad, that would have been only 4 rocks for the stream. Skye carried an over-the-shoulder bag that included our PB&J sammiches, a baby bottle, baby formula and a jar of peas, oh yeah, and three martini glasses. We are going to the old MASH site, remember?

The beginning of the hike is rather straightforward. The trail meanders along Malibu Creek, hence the name of the park, before the trail breaks from the creek and begins to ascend up a short but effective switch back hill. Even with the nice weather we had to stop a couple of time to catch our breath. Now when I say we I really mean me. Skye was doing much better that I. Before long, we were at the top with a great view. A brief pause and then we began our way down. To our left was Century Lake, in front of us a gentle down slope.

The trail headed northwest about a quarter mile before it arrived at a stream crossing.

The bridge had seen better days. The wooden rails had been snapped and broken, remnants of some huge flood. At this point we turned on to “Crag’s Trail” and basically just followed the creek.

The creek and the trail headed southwest through a ravine. We saw how high the water got during the recent storms, they must have been some 12 feet high during the height of the storms. Crazy stuff.We stopped along the creek to sit upon some kind of cement drainage system. It was lunch time for Skyler.

Break out the peas! We passed out time watching the mountain bikers pass through the water puddles and mud. Skyler was amused as he ate and really wasn’t as messy as I thought he’d be.

With a nice olive-drab color on his cheeks and a full belly, he was ready to head into camp. We were about a quarter mile from the old site. There was a point at which I thought I heard the old helicopter overhead.

As the ravine opened we saw the old burnt out jeep. We knew we had arrived. There were florescent flag markers staked in the ground outlining the old set buildings.

We could see where the old Swamp tent used to be, the main building and where the flagpole used to be. The helicopter pad is still in an obvious position.

One of the best shots of the day was when I found the spot where, in the opening credits, “Radar” O’Reilly is looking out to see the choppers fly in. The horizon lined up. Of course we had to take a picture of Skyler in the same spot. ‘Skyler “O’Reilly”?  We walked around camp. It’s much smaller than that of the movie/TV show. Since the interior scenes were shot on a sound stage they mainly just used site for daytime exterior shots.

Remember those martini glasses? How can you not take a picture here without them?

Our trek back was along the same trail that brought us in. Skyler had seen it all before so he fell asleep on the way back.

Skyler told me that next time we go out there we are going to bring a golf club to find the minefield! Until next time!

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The day started at 415am. Left Yorba Linda by 500am, headed over to Hacienda Heights. Met up with Sam there then headed over to the West Covina Hummer Dealership. Arrived there around 6am.

It was pretty cool. As we pulled up there was a slew of other Hummers, H2′s, H2 SUTs, and H3′s. We pulled around to line up behind the others, received a number, nine, that they painted on our windshield then grabbed some food before we took off.

The caravan began it’s trek up to Azusa Canyon OHV area directly north of where we were. We just took Azusa Avenue until it got into the Angeles Forest. We all parked at the Rincon Firestation to go over safety issue and to remove running boards from the others who had yet to remove them. We had to hang around for a while because of this but soon enough we were off, 4-Locked Low and entering the Off-road area.

We hit our first of probably 10 river crossings. The water was probably 16″ to maybe 20″ deep. No problems.

We approached our first big obstacle. “The Rock.”  On each obstacle we had a spotter to tell us were to ride up. You can see the spotter in the above picture as we are about to go up.

At some points we were only 3-wheeling it. Actually on our ride home we were 3-wheeling too but I’ll get to that later.

Some of the other obstacles that we took on were Sand Hills, Mud Pits, Unhill Split ditches.

They were even going to show us what to do if we were to get stuck in sand. They tried to purposely dig in a hummer to get it stuck in the sand but they couldn’t. That was pretty funny.

I’d like to thank Sam for coming out, he took the majority of the photos. It was really great to get out there and be able to see how the Hummer performs under relatively insane situations.

On our way back to the Rincon Fire Station we got back on to the pavement so I switched out the 4-Locked Low back to the regular 4 High. Something didn’t sound right. It stayed in neutral. We called the Hummer crew over to check to see if I was doing something wrong but I wasn’t, the front right axle had snapped. It more than likely happened when we went up a sand hill. I put it in 2nd gear while still in 4-locked low, floored the peddle, like they told me, mind you. The front right tire must of gotten air born, and started to spin triggering the ABS which stopped the front right tire rather abruptly more than likely snapping the poor little axle. Below is a picture of it.

This little problem sidelined us from going on the 2nd part of our trip. Go up the Rincon fire-road to Panther Point. Next time. Instead Sam and I headed down the hill back to the dealership dropped off the H3 to get the right axle replace. A good thing. Hummer is covering the damage. They said it was rare that that happens, but, it happens.

Skye came to pick us up, and in a way it was reminiscent to when I had to get picked up from Sam’s house back in 2nd grade after I crashed his bike and bumped my noggin when we decided to go “Off-roading” on the dirt bike trails at Parks Jr. High. At least I didn’t break his axle…that’s another story for another time.

The day ended as we came back to my house and he helped Skye and I move the heavy furniture. Thanks Sam.  It really helped a lot!

Overall, it was a great experience and would do it all over again, minus the broken axle thing.

Future Off-Road trips coming soon…

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