Santa Monica Summit

Seeking inspiration from the fog (Inspiration Point)

A pattern seems to be emerging. I hike to places known for spectacular, panoramic views, and find giant banks of fog (for reference, see previous exhibits A, B, and C).

Granted, sometimes I know it's coming, and the timing may even be by design (Exhibit A), and other times thanks to the fog I discover great things I otherwise wouldn't have noticed (Exhibit C). But every once in a while I would actually like to see the panoramic view...

Today I figured there was a chance, but I knew it wasn't great. Jay and Julia joined me for a hiking adventure to Sandstone Peak, the highest point in the Santa Monica Mountains. Southern CA has had a persistent June Gloom going for a while, meaning afternoon offers the best bet for sunny skies, but even then there's no guarantee.


Recent intel (shout out Lewis & Clark) indicated a heavy population of biting flies, the trail has minimal shade, plus this is prime rattlesnake territory, so I wanted to get to it early in the day (when presumably the flies are still asleep, and the snakes are tired from a long night of gopher hunting). Beating the human crowd on this popular trail was another motivation.

We saw several rabbits and a hopping deer enroute as we drove along the windy road to the trailhead, certainly a good sign! Starting up the trail, the fog had deposited plenty of water on the shrubs, which was pretty cool to look at:


We saw a bunch of hummingbirds and ravens, and every now and then the clouds would part to reveal pretty sandstone cliffs:


I was impressed by the amount of greenery at this time of year, though I could have done without this itchy bush of evil, apparently metamorphosing itself with fall colors in a vain effort to gain my appreciation and respect:

No dice. F.U.P.O.!

While the gray skies prevented views out over the Pacific to the Channel Islands or inland to the snowy San Bernardinos, the temperature was pleasantly cool for hiking (it is July, after all), the flies were minimal, and no rattlers were spotted (one cool big lizard though!) In keeping with the theme of the day, I decided to go for an artsy shot of my companions near the summit. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out:


Overall a great trip, and I look forward to returning sometime under clearer skies. Today's hike also took me past my 2010 elevation gain goal of 29029' (sea level to the top of Mt. Everest)! Target is hereby amended to 50k'!

Summary stats: 6 miles, 1100' net elevation gain, 3.5 hours including frequent stops and lunch at the top. Google Earth download.