Mt. Lukens: Day Two

I've already visited Mt. Lukens - the highest point in the City of Los Angeles - and I don't necessarily want to go back. It's not that the view is that bad, it's just that the top is devoted to a very large antenna farm so it's not exactly an aesthete's dream.

However, when I went there I took an fairly gently-graded fire road. As a training hike, I wanted to take the Stone Canyon Trail, which gains 3200' in 8 miles round-trip. It doesn't go straight up, but that's still a workout.

Since the trail is said to be a bit difficult to find, I decided to scope it out first. Yesterday I drove up Big Tujunga Canyon Road in an attempt to follow these directions. First problem: the Wildwood Picnic Area was closed. It was later in the day and there was no sun in the canyon, so, rather than parking on the road then hiking down to the canyon bottom I decided to keep on driving. I'm not that familiar with the other hikes in that area and I was cutting it too close to go exploring.

So, earlier today (stop me if I'm boring you) I decided I'd try to explore the ways to Mt. Lukens from La Crescenta side. The link above mentions a route from the Deukmejian Wilderness Park at the northern tip of Glendale. However, there's no trail named the "Cresenta Valley Trail". There is a "Crescenta View Trail", as the guide pictured here shows. Yet, it seemed to me the Dunsmore Canyon Trail would be the one that would be the one to go to Mt. Lukens rather than the Crescenta View Trail. So, I took the Dunsmore trail up. After less than a mile, it dead-ended. There looked to be a very rough use trail at the end and I went up it about 10 feet until I decided it wasn't really a use trail at all and I didn't want to pick up dozens of ticks crawling through brush.

So, back down and I asked at the Ranger's station (there had been no one there when I left). They told me both the Rim-of-the-Valley and the Crescenta View Trail go to Mt. Lukens, but they couldn't quite figure out what "Roy's" comment at the first link was talking about.

So, for Mt. Lukens: Day Three (which probably won't be tomorrow), I'll try one of those two, or I'll see if this Doske Road exists (Route 1 here). I believe that's also the route taken by Roy Randall. Or, I'll take one of the routes from the Wilderness park.

On the way up the Dunsmore trail, I noticed that I was being followed by a guy carrying a black case, and he was gaining on me (truly a rare occurence). As he passed me he asked, "You don't mind if I" - at this moment I thought he was going to say something like "fall back and let you pass me instead". However, what he said next "blew" me away: "You don't mind if I play my saxophone?" Well, that's a new one on me! He walked ahead then over onto a dam. As I hiked ahead and then back I had a musical soundtrack.

On the way back after my mini non-adventure, I was leaving a parking lot when I noticed an elderly gentleman collapsed on the sidewalk. He was bleeding from his mouth and he couldn't get up. I summoned the paramedics and he was hopefully OK.