Mandeville Canyon

Shot up to Mandeville Canyon near Brentwood for a quick hike today before the Trojan/Bruin water polo match. The hike was neither easy nor hard, about 8 miles round trip with a net elevation gain of 700'. The sunny, 70 degree southern California weather was perfect, and there were many blooming wildflowers to be seen, along with lizards, crows, and butterflies.

Even LA's wildflowers are jumping on the Laker bandwagon

This hike features nice views down to the Santa Monica bay and coastline, along with downtown LA, and - from the top of San Vicente Mountain - Burbank and the valley. There was quite a bit of haze, smog, and marine layer today, however, which rendered downtown and the San Gabriels barely visible.

There was a bit of a crowd (maybe a couple dozen), including a number of mountain bikers, but relatively speaking it wasn't bad considering the proximity to town and easy accessibility. There were lots of cool dogs too, my personal favorite being a chubby, furry Belgian Shepherd spotted near the top.

The best surprise for me was a historic Nike Hercules missle radar site at the top of the trail. Despite my obsession in youth over all things aircraft, I've never studied surface-to-air missles, and was shocked to learn that the U.S. once had nuclear-tipped SAMs. Holy cow! I guess that's one way to take out an incoming bomber.


There are a number of informational signs, as well as a great lookout tower, which I enjoyed all to myself while having lunch before a crowd showed up.


Another successful (urban) wilderness adventure!

Aloha.