Sunday, Oct. 26 -Mount Hillyer

We almost called it off. The heat, the fires. We called the ranger station and they warned of 70mph winds. And the next day they actually closed the entire Angeles National Forest. At this writing, it's still closed because of the fire and the stress it's putting on the system.

But we went anyway. And it was just beautiful. I don't know how Dan keeps coming up with these gems. Perfect weather, great rocks and trees, although we did notice some dead ones and Iris said they were bark beetle victims.

Notable vegetation included very big pine cones (not sugar pine, either, but huge), big acorns, mistletoe on some of the oaks. And a high mountain species of buckwheat that Steve pointed out.

In the above photo, a view looking west from the top of Mt. Hillyer, you can see the smoke of the Simi Valley fire.

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Upcoming Hikes:

New Year's Day - Not too early to think about.

January or February - Camping trip to death valley. Maybe Friday night at my friend's Bed and Breakfast and Saturday night camping at Stovepipe Wells or something.

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Note: Bigger, higher res photos available. If you ever want one, let me know.