mile

I knew I’d chosen the right spot to hike as I drove past the yellow-leaved bigleaf maple trees near the trailhead.

I was in search of fall foliage near Los Angeles, and after a bit of research, I’d taken a chance by heading over to Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest to see if I’d get lucky.

I am now here to help you, hopefully, find the same good fortune on your autumnal adventures.

The idea that L.A. and its surrounding mountains feature trees with fall foliage can be hard to grasp for those who’ve been misled into believing that 1) L.A. is a desert (it’s not), and 2) The area doesn’t have seasons (it does!).

“L.A. was once wetlands fed by the cobweb streams and marshes of the L.A. River. It had oak woodlands and grassland valleys,” wrote Times columnist Patt Morrison. “Then, at least a thousand years ago, Native Americans were burning land to flush game and to make more oak trees grow to make more acorns to eat. It’s the last hundred-plus years that made the native landscape unrecognizable.”

Thankfully, it remains possible to observe the seasonal changes of our native trees in the wild lands around L.A. County. Below, you’ll find three hikes where you’ll see some level of fall foliage.

The leave of a bigleaf maple changing from bright green to brilliant yellow in Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Before I dive into those hikes, though, I wanted to teach you how to find autumnal colors near you. My hope is that you can use this information to find off-the-beaten paths near you where the loudest thing is the pop of fall colors (rather than cursed Bluetooth speakers). Here’s how your local outdoors reporter finds hikes with fall color.

• Know your native plants: There are multiple native trees, shrubs and plants that evolve as the weather cools to produce orange, red, yellow and copper colors. Those include California sycamores (orange-yellow leaves), bigleaf maple (bright yellow), Southern California black walnut (yellow), valley oak (orange, yellow, brown), poison oak (red), California buckwheat (rusty red) and more.
• Find where the wild things grow: After identifying the native trees and plants that could (hopefully!) produce colorful leaves, you can log onto iNaturalist, a citizen science app and website, and search for them in a hiking area near you. For example, I searched bigleaf maple and noticed a few documented near the Lower Stunt High Trail. Might there be a bit of fall foliage there?
• Look for water sources: Water makes for happy trees. It’s a near guarantee that if you head to one of our still-flowing local rivers or streams — like a hike along the 28(ish)-mile Gabrielino Trail where it runs parallel to the Arroyo Seco or West Fork of the San Gabriel River — you’ll find fall foliage. (This includes hiking from near NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab near Pasadena to the Brown Mountain Dam or from Red Box to the Valley Forge trail camp.)
• Set your expectations: As the fine folks at California Fall Color point out, it’s hard to predict when fall colors will pop. It depends on several factors, including the amount of daytime sunlight, nighttime temperatures and annual rainfall. That said, if you visit a trail, and it’s still quite green, consider returning a week later to see what you find. Nature is, lucky for us, a perpetual surprise!

I hope you use this knowledge to find fall foliage close to you that’s off the beaten path. That said, the three spots below are worth considering too and require no homework as I’m here to do that for you too.

A hiker heads up the fire road at Big Santa Anita Canyon in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Winter Creek Trail at Big Santa Anita Canyon

Distance: 5.2-mile loop trail
Elevation gain: About 1,230 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Chantry Flat Picnic Area for leaf peeping

Upon parking at the Chantry Flat parking area — which is admittedly a challenge on the weekend — you’ll have multiple hiking options to venture through Big Santa Anita Canyon. Note: If you forget to buy an Adventure Pass, you can usually snag one at the Adams Pack Station, which is open Tuesday through Sunday.

I chose to take the Winter Creek Trail because it leads you through dense vegetation, and I hoped this would increase my chances of noticing leaf changes. My dog, Maggie May, and I headed north down the fire road near the restrooms and then turned after about 900 feet onto the Upper Winter Creek trailhead. As we zigzagged along this single-track route down the hillside, I looked down into the canyon and quickly spotted pops of yellow — at least nine bigleaf maples changing with the season!

(Photos by Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I passed California bay laurel, rubbing their leaves to smell their spicy, pungent aroma, and noticed a branch with exactly one yellow leaf. The tree was considering changing with the season. Rusty red buckwheat, red poison oak and yellowish beige California brickellbush also grew along the trail. Rather than doing the entire Winter Creek trail, Maggie and I were racing daylight and turned around where the trail meets back with the fire road for just under a 2-mile adventure. The moon was rising over a ridgeline of the San Gabriel Mountains as we left.

Hiker Christina Best pauses amid the fall foliage along the Icehouse Canyon Trail on a First Descents monthly meetup in the Angeles National Forest in 2019.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

2. Icehouse Canyon to Icehouse Saddle

Distance: 6.6 miles out-and-back, or 7 miles if looping around on Chapman Trail
Elevation gain: About 2,600 feet
Difficulty: Hard
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: San Antonio Falls Trail. It’s wide and mostly paved, but steep.

The Icehouse Canyon Trail to Icehouse Saddle is a pristine route that takes hikers past the crystal-clear creek and up to Icehouse Saddle, where you’ll be surrounded by pine forest and have sweeping views of the Antelope Valley and Mojave Desert.

You’ll pass bigleaf maple, incense cedar, canyon live oak and more. The parking lot, which you’ll need an Adventure Pass to use, often fills up by 8 a.m. on the weekend, so it’s best to arrive early or try to visit on a weekday.

The higher you climb, the more likely you’ll encounter snow this time of year. If you don’t plan to pack crampons, please turn around once you reach snow.

Western sycamore trees like these grow in the aptly named Sycamore Canyon in Point Mugu State Park.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

3. Sycamore Canyon Trail in Point Mugu State Park

Distance: About 6 miles
Elevation gain: About 200 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: The trail is mostly wide and flat, making it easier to navigate.

The aptly named Sycamore Canyon Trail is a fire road hike that takes you through the lush Point Mugu State Park. You’ll immediately see the limbs of large sycamore trees stretching over and around the trail. If conditions are right, they should be among the trees featuring fall foliage.

The trail also features Southern California black walnut, black sage, the fragrant California sagebrush and several other aromatic delights. Regardless of what you see, it’s a treat to be among pristine coastal sage scrub and other native habitat. And if the mood strikes, the beach is nearby. That sounds like a true Southern California fall day.

One of a handful of introspective signs at Big Santa Anita Canyon.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I hope you spot gorgeous fall colors on your adventures this weekend.

If you do, please feel free to reply to this email (if you’re a newsletter subscriber) with a humble brag with your photos. I love hearing from you!

3 things to do

A desert tortoise shuffles about the Desert Tortoise Research Natural Area in California City, CA.

(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

1. Celebrate desert tortoises in Palm Desert
The Mojave Desert Land Trust will be on hand from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Living Desert Zoo & Gardens in Palm Desert to celebrate Desert Tortoise Day. The organization will host tortoise-themed activities, including a scavenger hunt and a meet-and-greet with Mojave Maxine, a tortoise who lives at the zoo. Learn more at livingdesert.org.

2. Take trash out of wetlands near Marina and Playa del Rey
Volunteers are needed from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at both north and south Ballona Creek to pull trash from these important wetland habitats. Participants must wear close-toed shoes. Register for either location at ballonafriends.org.

3. Tend the land with new friends in L.A.
Coyotl + Macehualli will host a volunteer day of weeding, planting and mulching from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday along a hillside in El Sereno. The exact coordinates will be provided to participants. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

The must-read

Adrian Boone, a Muir Woods National Monument Park Guide, teaches children about the forest at the Ross Preschool.

(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)

Park rangers are among government workers furloughed while the United States experiences its longest government shutdown. Times staff writer Jenny Gold wrote about how, in an effort to provide some income to these rangers, the San Francisco Bay Area-based Grasshopper Kids is paying out-of-work rangers to educate children at area schools. Riley Morris, who works as a seasonal interpretive ranger at Muir Woods, said they wondered whether the children sitting inside classrooms or school auditoriums would still be interested in learning about redwoods without the “magic” of sitting in a park among the towering giants. “But it’s just been so cool seeing that when all of that is taken out of the equation, these kids are still just so totally glued to like the information that I’m sharing with them,” Morris said. “You can just tell they’re almost vibrating with excitement.”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Do you have a nature lover on your holiday gift list? (Hi, Mom!) If so, check out this curated list of outdoors-themed gifts that Times staff writer Deborah Vankin and I wrote together for this year’s L.A. Times Holiday Gift Guide. I loved trying out the Six Moon Designs hiking umbrella, which I am eager to take on desert hikes this winter and spring. The Nomadix Bandana Towel is almost always either around my neck or in my pocket on every Wild hike. And the moment I finish writing this newsletter, I’m going to go find my North Face mules, which I also included on the list. They’re perfect for chilly evenings on the couch — or by a campfire. And as a bonus, read our list from last year’s Gift Guide, which doesn’t have a single repeated item. Boundless ideas for your boundless adventurers!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

About a week ago, I was chatting with friends at a gathering when I realized I had before me a diverse range of political ideologies. “How are you guys voting on Prop 50?” I asked.

I received a range of answers, including folks who wanted more information before casting their ballot and those who remained conflicted. As a journalist, I don’t share how I vote on, well, anything, and I also don’t tell people how they should vote. But I want to encourage you to vote.

If you, like my friends, remain conflicted or want more information, what better way to work those feelings out than out on the trail? Using a strategy known as temptation bundling — where you pair something you enjoy with something you’re perhaps procrastinating — you could download a few political podcasts beforehand and listen as you hike (leaving one earbud out) or invite a few pals and talk out your thoughts on Prop 50 as you hike along.

Here you’ll find three great hiking areas near ballot drop boxes. We aren’t forced to vote in one specific place here in L.A. County, so let’s take full advantage of that.

The Glendale Sports Complex and Verdugo Mountains from the Catalina Verdugo Trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Area around the Glendale Sports Complex

Ballot drop-off point: Glendale Adult Sports Office

Hikers have a few options when adventuring around the Glendale Sports Complex, including the 2-mile Catalina Verdugo Trail loop. This trail leads hikers through the San Rafael Hills around the Glendale Sports Complex. It’s not an escape from urban life, but it is well-maintained and has much to appreciate, including native trees like laurel sumac, lemonade berry, oak trees, toyon and ceanothus. You can run your fingers through the zesty California sagebrush as you consider your podcast’s or friend’s points on our current political dynamic.

At 1.25 miles on the trail, you have the choice to continue up to the Ridge Motorway, or you can go down .7 of a mile back via the Catalina Verdugo Trail. The Ridge Motorway continues upward, offering ocean views, before connecting with the Descanso Motorway and several other trails.

The accessible alternative is the Mountain Do Trail that runs around the border of the sports fields. You can extend your journey beyond the Mountain Do Trail, which I drew out via CalTopo here. It’s overall a wide path with a gentle slope and a few picnic tables where it’d be nice to take a break and consider how to complete your ballot.

Native California wildflowers in the scenic Alta Vicente Reserve in spring 2024.

(Kendra Frankle / For The Times)

2. Palos Verdes Nature Preserve

Ballot drop box location: Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall

The Palos Verdes Nature Preserve is actually 15 individual preserves totaling about 1,500 acres. That includes the Alta Vicente Reserve, 55 acres around and below Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall where a ballot drop box is located.

The Alta Vicente Reserve features a few different trails that can be turned into a 2-mile loop. If you want to further your adventure, you can hit one of the trails that remains open despite landslides. Regardless, you’ll be treated to gorgeous ocean views, a sight that always helps me think.

Those seeking an accessible option can take the Seascape Trail and see the Point Vicente Lighthouse or try the Terranea Beach Trail.

After hiking and voting, you can also visit the Point Vicente Interpretive Center to learn about local flora and fauna. It is open daily and also features a fun gift shop.

Visitors to Vasquez Rocks Natural Area walk up the photogenic rock formation.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

3. Vasquez Rocks Natural Area and Nature Center

Ballot drop box location: Vasquez Rocks Natural Area and Nature Center

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area is one of those places you can visit over and over, and keep seeing something new. I enjoy taking the Apwinga Loop Trail, a 3.4-mile trek where you’ll pass massive pancake-like rock formations along with the park’s appropriately named “Famous Rocks.” This trail connects with others in the park, including the Bobcat Trail, Tokupar Ridgetop Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail as it descends into the canyon.

The Juniper Meadow Walking Loop is about a half mile and is an accessible loop. Its trailhead is near the parking lot where visitors can see the park’s iconic geography. Hopefully, the high desert atmosphere provides you with ample time and space to consider the choice you’d like to make on your ballot!

The good news is, if these trails aren’t calling to you, there are voting centers and ballot drop boxes all over L.A. County. It doesn’t matter where you go — just that you vote!

3 things to do

Gladys Samuel, from Long Island, N.Y., visits the community altar at Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles. Grand Park pays tribute to the cultural tradition of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, every year.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

1. Observe Day of the Dead around L.A.
Several local parks are hosting Día de los Muertos events, including from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Grand Park. The event, titled Noche de los Muertos, is a closing ceremony that will feature music, dancing, lanterns and a community mercado. Nature for All and other local groups will host a Día de los Muertos event from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Marson Park in Panorama City. Participants can help build a community altar and design mini paper altars. San Gabriel River Park will host its Día de los Muertos event from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. Learn more about additional park Day of the Dead events at L.A. County Park’s Instagram page.

2. Hike with an almost full moon in L.A.
The Sierra Club Angeles Chapter will host a 5-mile moderate hike from 7 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday through Griffith Park. Guests should arrive by 6:45 p.m., allowing for extra time because of the park’s Haunted Hay Ride. For additional details and to sign up, visit meetup.com.

3. Do the most for the least tern in Huntington Beach
OC Habitats, a local conservation nonprofit, will host a dune preservation work day at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at Huntington State Beach. Volunteers will pick up trash and remove invasive species to help improve the nesting habitat of the endangered California least tern. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

I am terrified to report that it’s tarantula mating season, meaning these eight-legged furry residents will be far easier to spot on the trails. Times staff writer Lila Seidman wrote — in a story I was almost too scared to read — that in California, “October is typically a prime mating month for the bulky, hirsute spiders. Natural cues are key, with autumn’s initial precipitation generally triggering the march. Experts suspect males are following pheromones to hunkered-down females.” Although I will never personally find out, some parts of the tarantula feel almost like sable fur, Seidman wrote. “They’re soft like kitties,” said Lisa Gonzalez, program manager of invertebrate living collections at the county Natural History Museum.

I will take my chances trying to pet the fuzzy tummies of my actual cats because, regardless of how reasonable it is, their fangs scare me less! (I am much less of a wiener when it comes to literally any other spider — judge me not!)

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

If like me, you’ve never been to Big Sur, now is the time for Southern Californians to go. My colleague Christopher Reynolds reports that because Big Sur’s South Coast highway remains closed, there’s a rare window of solitude: “empty beaches, dramatic cliffs and nearly empty trails for six months.” Whaaaaa? Amazing. Let’s take full advantage of this opportunity and support local businesses in the process!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Sometimes, the best place you can go is a dead end. Especially when that dead end is surrounded by crashing surf on empty beaches, dramatic cliffs and lonely trails through forests thick with redwoods.

That’s the situation along Big Sur’s South Coast right now.

A chunk of the cliff-clinging highway has been closed for a series of landslide repairs since January 2023, making the classic, coast-hugging, 98-mile San Simeon-Big Sur-Carmel drive impossible. Caltrans has said it aims to reopen the route by the end of March 2026, if weather permits.

That means the 44-mile stretch from San Simeon to Lucia will likely be lonely for at least six more months. Travelers from the near north (Carmel, for instance) will need to detour inland on U.S. 101. Meanwhile, many Canadian travelers (usually eager explorers of California) are boycotting the U.S. altogether over President Trump’s tariff policies and quips about taking over their country.

And so, for those of us in Southern California, the coming months are a chance to drive, hike or cycle in near solitude among tall trees, steep slopes and sea stacks. The weather is cooler and wetter. But over the three October days I spent up there, the highway was quieter than I’ve seen in 40-plus years of driving the coast.

Moreover, those who make the trip will be supporting embattled local businesses, which remain open, some with reduced prices. Fall rates at the Ragged Point Inn, 15 miles north of Hearst Castle, for example, start at about $149 nightly — $100 less than when the road was open.

“It’s kind of perfect,” said Claudia Tyler of Santa Barbara, on her way from Salmon Creek Falls to two nights of camping at Plaskett Creek in Los Padres National Forest.

“I am sorry for the businesses…,” Tyler said, “but it’s good for the traveler.”

Further north, David Sirgany, 64, of Morro Bay, was getting ready to surf at Sand Dollar Beach, thinking about coastal erosion, climate change and this moment in history.

“To me,” he said, “it feels like the end of a time that will never be again.”

The Ragged Point Inn stands at the southern end of Big Sur.

The closed area, known as Regent’s Slide, begins about 26 miles north of Ragged Point, toward the south end of Big Sur, and covers 6.8 miles. Thus, you’d need to detour inland via U.S. 101 to reach most of Big Sur’s best-known attractions, including the Bixby Creek Bridge, Pfeiffer Beach, Nepenthe restaurant, Deetjen’s Big Sur Inn, McWay Falls and Esalen Institute.

But there’s plenty to explore on the stretch from San Simeon north to the roadblock at Lucia (milepost 25.3). Just be careful of the $8.79-per-gallon gas at the Gorda Springs Resort. (At $6.99, the Ragged Point gas station isn’t quite so high.)

San Simeon Bay Pier at William Randolph Hearst Memorial Beach.

Here, from south to north, are several spots to explore from San Simeon to Lucia. Be sure to double-check the weather and highway status before you head out.

See Hearst’s castle. Or just one of his zebras.

I’ve been hoping to see some of the Hearst zebras in the hills of San Simeon for years, and this time I finally did — a single zebra, surrounded by cows in a pasture beneath distant Hearst Castle.

That was enough to make my brief stop at the castle visitor center (which has a restaurant, historical displays and shop) well worth it. Other travelers, however, might want to actually take a tour ($35 per adult and up) of the 165-room Hearst compound (which is officially known as Hearst San Simeon State Historical Monument).

The state park system’s visitor tallies from June through August show that 2025 was slightly slower than 2024, which was slightly slower than 2023.

Perhaps with that in mind, the castle last fall added “Art Under the Moonlight” tours, which continue this autumn on select Friday and Saturday nights through Nov. 16. The castle also decorates for the holidays.

If you’re spending the night, the Cavalier Oceanfront Resort has 90 rooms (for as little as $169) and firepits overlooking the sea.

A zebra, part of the Hearst Castle animal collection, is seen from the visitor center off Highway 1 in San Simeon.

San Simeon Bay Pier or hike San Simeon Point Trail

My southernmost hike was at the San Simeon Bay Pier. From the parking lot there, walk north on the beach and follow a path up into a eucalyptus grove. That puts you on the 2.5-mile round-trip San Simeon Point Trail (owned by Hearst Corp. but open to the public.)

At first, the route is uneventful and surrounded by imported eucalyptus (now being thinned) and pines. But there’s a payoff waiting at the point, where tides lap on a little sand beach, waves crash on dramatic black rocks and pelicans perch on sea stacks. Look back and you see the beach, the pier and the hills of the central coast sprawling beyond them.

Then, if you’re as hungry as I was, you rapidly retrace steps and head to the Seaside Foods deli counter in Sebastian’s General Store, a block from the pier. (I recommend the Coastal Cowboy tri-tip sandwich, $21. But you could also take your meal across the street to the Hearst Ranch Winery tasting room.)

Find the Piedras Blancas elephant seal viewing area, then go beyond it

California’s coast is a catalog of uncertainties, from rising tides and crumbling cliffs to private landowners discouraging public access. But we can count on the elephant seals of Piedras Blancas.

Elephant seals gather at Piedras Blancas, north of San Simeon.

Once you pull off Highway 1 into the observation area parking lot, no matter the time of year, you’re likely to see at least a few hulking sea creatures flopped on the sand and skirmishing for position.

Because it’s a great spectacle and it’s free, there are usually dozens of spectators along the shore. But most of those spectactors don’t bother to follow the boardwalk north and continue on the Boucher Trail, a 1.9-mile path along the bluff tops and across a meadow, leading to striking views of sea stacks and Piedras Blancas Light Station.

Along Boucher Trail, just north of the elephant seal viewing area at Piedras Blancas.

(BTW: Visitors need an advance reservation to tour the Piedras Blancas Light Station. At press time, all tours were canceled because of the federal government shutdown.)

At Ragged Point, that Big Sur vibe kicks in

About 10 miles beyond the elephant seals, the raw, horizontal coastal landscape morphs into a more vertical scene and the highway begins to climb and twist.

Right about here, just after San Carpoforo Creek, is where you find the Ragged Point Inn, a handy place to stop for an hour or an evening. It has 39 rooms, flat space for kids to run around, cliff-top views, a restaurant, gift shop, gas station and a snack bar that’s been closed since the highway has been blocked.

Right now, this stretch of the highway “is a great place to cycle,” said Diane Ramey, whose family owns the inn. “I wouldn’t do it at a normal time. But now the roads are uncrowded enough.”

To recover from the “frightening” drop in business when the road first closed, the inn has put more emphasis on Sunday brunch, the gift shop and live music on summer weekends, Ramey said.

At Salmon Creek Falls, roaring water meets tumbled rocks

At the Salmon Falls trailhead, 3.6 miles north of Ragged Point, there’s room for about 10 cars in the parking area on the shoulder of the highway.

When the highway is open, those spots are often all full. Not now. And it’s only about 0.3 of a mile to the base of the 120-foot falls, where there’s plenty of shade for the weary and boulder-scrambling for those who are bold. In the hour I spent scrambling and resting, I encountered just two couples and one family, all enjoying the uncrowded scene.

If you want a longer, more challenging hike, the falls trailhead also leads to the Salmon Creek Trail, a 6.6-mile out-and-back journey through pines, oaks and laurels that includes — gulp — 1,896 feet of elevation gain.

The yurts and quirks of Treebones Resort

Treebones, about 14 miles north of Ragged Point and 2 miles north of the rustic, sleepy Gorda Springs Resort, is an exercise in style and sustainability, producing its own power and drawing water from its own aquifer.

Treebones Resort, just off Highway 1 in the South Coast area of Big Sur.

Born as a family business in 2004, Treebones has 19 off-the-grid units, mostly yurts, whose rounded interiors are surprisingly spacious. Its Lodge restaurant offers chef’s-choice four-course dinners ($95 each) and a sushi bar.

If you book a yurt (they begin at $385), you’ll find your headboard is a felted wood rug from Kyrgyzstan (where yurts go back at least 2,500 years). The resort also has five campsites ($135 nightly, advance reservation required) that come with breakfast, hot showers and pool access.

A deck at Treebones Resort.

“For the last 20 years, we were basically 100% occupied from April through October,” assistant general manager Megan Handy said, leading me on a tour. Since the closure, “we’ve stayed booked on the weekends, but we’ve seen at least a 40% decline midweek.”

Once you’re north of Treebones, beach and trail possibilities seem to multiply.

Stand by the edge (but not too close) on the Pacific Valley Bluff Trail

Several people told me I shouldn’t miss the Pacific Valley Bluff Trail, a flat route that begins just north of Sand Dollar Beach. It runs about 1.6 miles between the roadside and the bluffs over the Pacific. Here you’ll see sea stacks in every shape, along with a dramatic, solitary tree to the north. In about 45 minutes of walking amid a land’s end panorama, I never saw another soul. Plenty of cow patties, though, and a few patches of poison oak, which turns up often near Big Sur trails.

A little farther north, I did run into four people walking the beach at Mill Creek Picnic Area. I found even more at Kirk Creek Campground, which was booked solid because it has some of the best ocean-view campsites in the area and it’s on the ocean side of the highway.

Waves crash near Sand Dollar Beach.

Big trees and a meandering creek at Limekiln State Park

Limekiln State Park is one California’s youngest state parks, having been set aside in the 1990s. But its occupants, especially the redwoods, have been around much longer.

And now, after park closures over storm damage and infrastructure issues and a reopening early this year, we have a chance to enjoy the place again. Or at least part of it. The park’s campground, Hare Creek Trail and Falls Trail remain closed.

But there’s still plenty of opportunity to check out the rare overlap of species from northern and southern California. As the Save the Redwoods League notes, “You can’t find both yucca and coast redwoods in very many parks.”

The park is about 4.4 miles south of the Highway 1 closure. Entrance is $10 per vehicle. I savored the 1.5-mile out-and-back Limekiln Trail, which is one of the best ways to see redwoods in the area. And once again, no fellow hikers.

Highway still too busy for you? How about an isolated lodge or a silent monastery?

Just south of the highway closure, the rustic, isolated Lucia Lodge and the New Camaldoli Hermitage, a Benedictine monastery, remain open for overnight guests.

But not everyone knows this. Unless somebody at Google HQ has just made a fix, Google Maps will tell you incorrectly that the hermitage and lodge are beyond the road closure. Nope. They’re both on the south side of the road closure, accessible to northbound traffic. And they’re both really quiet.

“People come here for silent, self-guided retreats,” said Katee Armstrong, guest ministry specialist at New Camaldoli Hermitage. Its accommodations, high on the slopes above the highway, include nine single-occupancy rooms and five cottages with kitchenettes ($145 nightly and up).

Meanwhile, on the ocean side of the highway, the Lucia Lodge’s 10 very basic units are visible from the road. Four of them are cabins that go back to the 1930s, when Highway 1 was new.

Some nights, there are only one or two guests, and those guests typically see no hotel employees, because there’s no lobby and the staff is down to a skeleton crew. (The lodge’s restaurant and lobby burned down in 2021.) The nearest restaurant is at Treebones, about 10 miles south.

“We have to have a conversation with every guest who books with us,” said Jessie McKnight, the lodge reservationist. Many “end up canceling once they understand the situation,” she said. “You’re kind of on your own.”

Ad yet, she added, “it’s so rare to experience Big Sur like this. Once the road opens, I think it’s going to be right back to being a zoo.”

The road to Ragged Point Inn.

I felt like a child again as I wandered down to the riverbank to look at crawdads.

“Oh, the L.A. River folks posted on Instagram about this, but I didn’t know they were right here,” my walking partner said.

Dozens of bright red crustaceans swam and fought and hid in the warm shallow water of the Glendale Narrows of the Los Angeles River. A Cooper’s hawk swooped down to grab a branch presumably for a nearby nest. A black-crowned night heron accidentally dropped its lunch, perhaps a frog, back into the water.

Crawdads, or crayfish, fight each other, eat and bask in the sun in the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Later, I’d witness Canada geese arriving in formation before landing on the river for their evening dinner and rest.

In all honesty, I hadn’t expected such abundant life less than a quarter of a mile from the 5 Freeway. But that’s what you’ll discover along the sandy, soft bottom segments of the L.A. River where nature rejected concrete and instead built back life.

Jason Wise, an L.A.-based conservationist, was my walking partner who spotted the crawdaddies, as I was raised to call them in Oklahoma. I had asked Wise, who regularly hosts educational hikes, if we could walk along the river and explore one of its soft bottom segments.

Since moving to L.A., I’d wondered why certain parts of the river were lush and beautiful. My wife and I had biked a few times from Koreatown to the river trail, usually eating at Spoke Bicycle Cafe. Why did this segment look like an actual river and not the concrete flood channel featured in the 1978 film “Grease”?

Ducks stand on rocks in the sandy bottom of the Los Angeles River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

We’ll get to that precise answer, but first, a bit of geography and history.

The L.A. River has existed for thousands of years and was the site of Indigenous villages for more than 1,000 years. It is, in its current iteration, a 51-mile “engineered waterway” whose banks were channelized with concrete starting in 1938 and finished by 1960, according to the county public works department.

Three portions of the river, though, remain unpaved:

• The Sepulveda Basin in the San Fernando Valley.
• The Glendale Narrows, a 7.4-mile stretch through Glendale, Atwater Village, Elysian Park and Los Angeles.
• The Long Beach estuary.

Wise and I met at Elysian Valley Gateway Park, which provides access to the natural streambed.

As we watched its waters flow by, Wise explained that the L.A. River was a wild, free-flowing river that often changed course.

The Glendale Narrows area of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

For example, as Times columnist Patt Morrison pointed out: “From today’s downtown, it coursed west and southwest all over the Los Angeles Basin until around 1825, when another flood redirected it toward where it flows today, more or less south from the original pueblo.”

This was a problem for L.A.’s developers. And not only that, Wise said, but the river flooded seasonally throughout the 1930s. At the same time, L.A. was growing rapidly, with lots of money to be made in building industry and homes as close to the river as possible.

In 1938, L.A. experienced a great flood — which in today’s meteorological lingo, we’d explain as essentially back-to-back atmospheric rivers hitting in 4½ days, bringing about 16 inches of rain, which is on average how much the area gets in a year. At least 96 people died (although experts say the number is probably higher).

The flood was the impetus for controlling the river, especially given that officials wanted to keep building near it.

At that time, two plans emerged, Wise said. This moment, dear Wilder, would be a good one to correct if you perhaps have a time machine on hand.

A beautiful evening at the Glendale Narrows of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

In a report titled “Parks, Playgrounds and Beaches for the Los Angeles Region,” designers recommended the region create an “emerald necklace,” or a series of parks along waterways, including the L.A River, the Rio Hondo, the San Gabriel River, Ballona Creek and Compton Creek. Officials could engineer the river with slopes to better handle flooding, and parks would soak up water and replenish the water table.

Areas near the river still might flood, and “we might have to replace some picnic tables or a playground, but otherwise, the whole city has all these parks, and a connection to nature and our wild river that is actually the foundation of the city, the reason that L.A. exists,” Wise said.

We didn’t do that.

Instead, officials asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a faster, simpler (and, in other words, cheaper) solution, Wise said. “Not that it was cheap to dig up and concretize a river, but if you locked this into place … you can then develop right up to the edge,” Wise said.

But in certain places, including the Glendale Narrows, the plan didn’t work. The Glendale Narrows has a higher water table than other areas of the L.A. River, and the engineers realized the concrete wouldn’t set because of the high amount of water and springs bubbling up.

White-faced ibises mingle on rocks at the Glendale Narrows of the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

With the soil exposed, seeds could take root, plants returned, and wildlife came back. The ecosystem, as best it could, rebounded.

“It was an amazing mistake,” Wise said of the Corps’ inability to lay concrete over the entire L.A. River. “I’m so grateful that the Army Corps screwed that up.”

And now, there’s momentum to rethink the landscape of our river’s design.

My first question about that was: “Would we have to tolerate flooding again?” Wise told me that’s a common misconception. For one, it’s arguably impossible to “rewild” the entire river.

“You can’t get rid of this right now because there are homes right there,” Wise said. “We can’t completely undo the mistakes of the past, but we can find a way to create a better future and learn from those mistakes. The best thing to do with a mistake is to learn from it and do things better. It’s harder now, but what can we do to bring some wild back?”

Geese and other birds float along the Glendale Narrows of the Los Angeles River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

A few days after my visit with Wise, I returned to the L.A. River for sunset. I parked again at Elysian Valley Gateway Park and walked about a third of a mile south to an area of the river where heaps of rocks make it easier to cross the still-concrete part of the river to reach the natural area.

And then for an hour, I stood in awe as a concert of birds performed their evening serenade. White-faced ibises stood perfectly balanced on rocks among the calm river. Great blue herons passed by overhead. American coots submerged themselves underwater in search of food. A few large fish popped up to eat bugs.

Then I heard honking. Not the kind from the nearby 5 Freeway, which for this moment in time, didn’t exist. Four Canada geese appeared above in formation, swooping down to land together on the water. They floated over to the bank, just 15 feet or so from me, where one goose stood watch, protecting its three flock members as they ate and rested. I felt lucky to witness that, like I was living in a Mary Oliver poem.

A Canada goose watches out for its flock members as they eat and rest on the L.A. River.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

It grew darker, and I soon left — only to hear more honking as nine more geese landed.

On my way home, traffic felt less obnoxious. My empty fridge felt less of a problem. Even the Trader Joe’s parking lot left me unaffected. Instead, I felt connected to not only our river and our city, but to the humans around me. As Wise reminded me:

The L.A. River “is the foundation of the city. Nature is all around us, and it’s even there within the city. There should be more of it … and through that connection, we realize we are nature. We are also animals on this planet, that everything is connected. We’re all one big living, breathing organism. Nature is a conduit to the rest of community and supporting each other and building each other up and helping each other out.”

3 things to do

Children’s paintings of P-22, L.A.’s late lion king who lived in and around Griffith Park for more than a decade, at the 2022 P-22 Day Festival.

(Save LA Cougars)

1. Keep P-22’s memory alive in L.A. 🦁🕯️
The #SaveLACougars campaign will host its annual P-22 Day Festival from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Shane’s Inspiration (4800 Crystal Springs Drive) in Griffith Park. The event honors the legacy of P-22, a male mountain lion who inspired countless Angelenos into advocating for our local wildlife. Several local conservation and Indigenous groups will host tables with information about how attendees can get more involved in protecting our public lands. Guests can also meet the people behind the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, take home native plants, enjoy art, crafts and food-trucks and check out the latest P-22 merchandise. Learn more at savelacougars.org.

2. Prowl for the phantasmal in Pasadena
L.A. Fright Club, a horror-themed fitness group, will host its spooky hike club at 7 a.m. Sunday at the Lower Arroyo Seco trail. The group will meet at the trailhead in the San Pascual Stables parking lot (221 San Pascual Ave. in South Pasadena). Costumes are encouraged. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

3. Embrace the eerie in Elysian Park
We Explore Earth will host Forest Bridges Day Camp, a Halloween-themed community celebration, from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday in Elysian Park. Attendees can participate in guided hikes, workshops, pumpkin carving, cornhole and more. Participants should bring a blanket, camping chair and/or pillows for the movie “The Nightmare Before Christmas” at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are available at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet climbed 72 summits over 14,000 feet in the contiguous U.S. in 31 days this fall. Jornet is pictured here in the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 13,000 feet (3,962 meters).

(Andy Cochrane)

In just 31 days, Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet recently climbed all 72 summits in the contiguous United States that stand over 14,000 feet tall — a feat similar to climbing Mt. Whitney 2½ times per day, every day, for a month, writes Times staff writer Jack Dolan. Jornet’s journey included California’s “Norman’s 13,” which is 13 summits over 14,000 feet in remote alpine terrain between Lone Pine and Bishop. My first question, reading Jack’s piece was: “Why?” Jornet said he doesn’t do it for the glory. “I do these things because I love them, because they bring me joy and happiness, not because I think they’re very important,” he said.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

For fans of one of California’s silliest native animals, I have great news! Reservations opened Monday for guided elephant seal tours at Año Nuevo State Park, which is about 6½ hours northwest of L.A. Every December, these massive sea mammals migrate to the beaches of Año Nuevo for their breeding and birthing season. There is fighting — drama! — along with lots of vocalizing and “galumphing,” the park said on its Instagram page. To reserve your spot for a tour, visit this website, and from the “category” dropdown menu, choose “guided seal walks” before choosing which day you’d like to go. Reservations are available 56 days (eight weeks) in advance of your desired walk date.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

CHICAGO — Since the Trump administration announced its intention to accelerate and forcefully detain and deport thousands of immigrants here, the Chicago area is a split screen between everyday life and a city under siege.

As many people shop, go to work, walk their dogs and stroll with their friends through parks, others are being chased down, tear-gassed, detained and assaulted by federal agents carrying out immigration sweeps.

The situation is similar to what occurred in Los Angeles in summer, as ICE swept through Southern California, grabbing people off the street and raiding car washes and Home Depots in predominantly Latino areas, while leaving large swaths of the region untouched.

Take Sunday, the day of the Chicago Marathon.

Some 50,000 runners hailing from more than 100 countries and 50 states, gathered downtown to dash, jog and slog over 26.3 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and city streets.

The sun was bright, the temperatures hovered in the upper-60s, and leaves of maple, oak, aspen and ginkgo trees colored the city with splashes of yellow, orange and red.

Demonstrators march outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.

(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)

It was one of those rare, glorious Midwestern fall days when everyone comes outside to soak in the sunlight, knowing the gloom and cold of winter is about to take hold.

At 12:30, Ludwig Marchel and Karen Vanherck of Belgium strolled west along East Monroe Street, through Millennium Park. They smiled and proudly wore medals around their necks commemorating their marathon achievement. They said they were not concerned about coming to Chicago, despite news stories depicting violent protests and raids, and the Trump administration’s description of the city as “war torn,” a “hellhole,” a “killing field” and “the most dangerous city in the world.”

“Honestly. I was mostly worried that the government shutdown was somehow going to affect my flight,” said Marchel. He said he hadn’t seen anything during his few days in town that would suggest the city was unsafe.

Another man, who declined to give his name, said he had come from Mexico City to complete the race. He said he wasn’t concerned, either.

“I have my passport, I have a visa, and I have money,” he said. “Why should I be concerned?”

At that same moment, 10 miles northwest, a community was being tear-gassed.

Dozens of residents in the quiet, leafy neighborhood of Albany Park had gathered in the street to shout “traitor” and “Nazi” as federal immigration agents grabbed a man and attempted to detain others.

According to witness accounts, agents in at least three vehicles got out and started shoving people to the ground before throwing tear gas canisters into the street. Videos of the event show masked agents tackling a person in a red shirt, throwing a person in a skeleton costume to the ground, and violently hurling a bicycle out of the street as several plumes of smoke billow into the air. A woman can be heard screaming while neighbors yell at the agents.

Last week, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order requiring agents to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas, chemical sprays, plastic bullets and flash grenades.

Witnesses told the Chicago Sun-Times that no warnings had been given.

Deirdre Anglin, community member from Chicago, takes part in a demonstration near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.

(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)

Since Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” was initiated more than six weeks ago, roughly 1,000 people have been arrested or detained.

At the ICE detention facility, in Broadview — a suburb 12 miles west of downtown — there have been daily protests. While most have been peaceful, some have devolved into physical clashes between federal agents or police and protesters.

In September, federal agents shot pepper balls and tear gas at protesters peacefully gathering outside the facility. On Saturday, local law enforcement forced protesters away from the site with riot sticks and threats of tear gas. Several protesters were knocked to the ground and forcefully handcuffed. By the end of the evening, 15 people had been arrested.

Early Sunday afternoon, roughly two dozen protesters returned to the site. They played music, danced, socialized and heckled ICE vehicles as they entered and exited the fenced-off facility.

In a largely Latino Chicago neighborhood called Little Village, things appeared peaceful Sunday afternoon.

Known affectionately by its residents as the “Midwestern capital of Mexico,” the district of 85,000 is predominantly Latino. Michael Rodriguez, a Chicago city councilman and the neighborhood’s alderman, said 85% of the population is of Mexican descent.

On Sunday afternoon, traditional Mexican music was being broadcast to the street via loudspeakers from the OK Corral VIP, a western wear store.

Demonstrators protest near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Broadview, Ill., on Oct. 10.

(Kayana Szymczak/For The Times)

Along East 26th Street, where shops and buildings are painted with brightly colored murals depicting Mexican folklore, history and wildlife — such as a golden eagle and jaguar — a family sat at a table eating lunch, while two young women, in their early 20s, laughed and chattered as they strolled west toward Kedzie Avenue.

Rodriguez said that despite appearances, “people are afraid.”

He said he spoke with a teacher who complained that several of her elementary-school aged students have stopped coming to class. Their parents are too afraid to walk them or drive them to school, hearing stories of other parents who have been arrested or detained by ICE agents at other campuses in the city — in front of their terrified children.

Rodriguez’s wife, whom he described as a dark-skinned Latina with degrees from DePaul and Northwestern universities, won’t leave the house without her passport.

At a barber shop called Peluqueria 5 Star Fades Estrellas on 26th, a coiffeur named Juan Garcia sat in a chair near the store entrance. He had a towel draped over the back of his neck. He said his English was limited, but he knew enough to tell a visitor that business was bad.

“People aren’t coming in,” he said. “They are afraid.”

Victor Sanchez, the owner of a taco truck parked on Kedzie Road, about a half-mile south of town, said his clientele — mostly construction workers and landscapers — have largely disappeared.

“Business is down 60%,” he said to a customer. “I don’t know if they have been taken, or if they are too afraid to come out. All I know is they aren’t coming here anymore.”

Rodriguez said that ICE agents have arrested people who live in his neighborhood, but those arrests took place outside the borders of his district.

“I think they know this is a well-organized and aware neighborhood,” he said. “I think they’ve cased it and decided to grab people on the outskirts.”

Among my many memories of hiking around Southern California, I have a few that haunt me.

The time I got briefly lost around Mt. Waterman, where I’d been several times. When I ran out of water hiking Strawberry Peak on an unseasonably hot day. When I was dressed appropriately for a long day hike until I fell into the river and was uncomfortably cold for the rest of the day. When I thought I was on trail only to realize I was kind of stuck on a steep, unstable hillside.

Each time, I was underprepared. Each bad experience was preventable. That’s the lesson of today’s Wild.

I spoke to Dr. Rob Scanlon, author of the newly published “Surviving the Trail” (Falcon Guides), a guide book that lays out how we can prevent the most common hiking emergencies by slowing down and planning long before we hit the trail.

Scanlon said he sees his work as less of a “hiker safety” book and more of a “hiker empowerment” book.

“I’m hoping people will recognize that this is intrinsically a dangerous place to be,” said Scanlon, who is board certified in internal medicine, pulmonology, critical care and sleep medicine. “Being a little bit anticipatory, and certainly concentrating on the simple things you can control, will really lead to an almost near guarantee that you will not end up the subject of a news headline.”

I never want to write about any of you, dear Wilders, unless it’s to amplify the great work you’re doing in the outdoors. I do, however, want to help us all learn — through a thoughtful, not sensationalist, approach — how we can make the kinds of memories we enjoy reflecting on.

The subtitle to Scanlon’s book is “Five Essential Skills to Prepare Every Hiker for Adventure’s Most Common Perils.” Let’s dive into what those are.

On a hot day, it’s important to stay hydrated, including on hikes that lack shade, like this one in Griffith Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Dehydration 🥵

Long before 7-Eleven, Buc-ee’s and (as an Okie, I must mention) QuikTrip, humans had to actually plan for hydration. Today, if you’re out and about and you’re thirsty, there are generally “20 places you could stop within a rock-throwing distance where you could grab something to drink,” Scanlon said. “We’re more acting in real-time in our off-trail lives, not anticipatory like it used to be.”

This mindset can lead to a lack of planning around hydration. And it shows in the data, as Scanlon notes in his book. “Thousands of hikers” require rescue every year because of issues around dehydration, he wrote.

In his book, Scanlon outlines not only how to determine whether you’re dehydrated on the trail but also, arguably more important, how to plan out your fluid needs. The key factors for determining how much water you should pack are: how fast you’ll be hiking, the terrain you’re traversing, the temperatures you’ll encounter and how humid it’ll be.

Scanlon outlines this in a handy chart, which I used to determine I’m generally bringing enough water: about 32 ounces an hour, given I’m going about 2.5 mph, gaining between 1,200- and 2,000-feet elevation and hiking in moderate temperatures.

“I try to stress strategy. Stopping at the local gas station on the way to the trailhead and grabbing a 12- or 16-ounce bottle of [water] is not a strategy,” said Scanlon, who lives in Georgia. “The strategy begins before the hike.”

Wild writer Jaclyn Cosgrove and dog Bonnie enjoy a frolic in the snow near Buckhorn Campground last winter.

(Mish Bruton)

2. Perilous weather ☀️❄️

As we head into colder temperatures here in Southern California — we just got snow in our mountains! — it is crucial to layer appropriately, including with the right materials.

Any hiker has experienced the phenomenon of bundling up at the car and then needing to shed at least one layer at the start of the hike. Scanlon said as we move and generate heat, we need to either shed or open layers, aiming to maintain feeling a little on the cool side.

My favorite cool-weather layering approach is a merino wool base layer with a puffer vest on top. Sometimes I add gloves, but it really depends on the wind temperature. I often wear either fleece-lined hiking pants, especially if I will be around snow, or thick leggings. And I almost always have on these socks, which all my friends are tired of hearing about. In my pack, I carry extra socks and another base layer that I often change into at my destination. I also like to have my rain jacket (with pit vents!) in case it’s windy at the summit.

All of this is informed by one basic thing I do before hiking: I extensively check the weather, which is not always a straight-forward process.

“Most only look at the weather forecast before traveling, but it often changes as hike time approaches and may not apply to whether the hike will actually take place,” Scanlon wrote. “Forecasts often pertain to the conditions in the nearest city center or local airport and not necessarily those in the hiking areas and surrounding mountains.”

Scanlon outlines great resources to be better prepared for mountain conditions, including this website.

Mish, a friend of The Wild, crosses a stream via logs on the Trail Canyon Falls hike.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. Crossing rivers and creeks

Drowning is the most common cause of death in national parks, including misunderstanding how to safely swim in or cross a river. Even the experts struggle with that, which emphasizes just how challenging — and dangerous — it can really be.

Scanlon told me about a five-day backpacking trip he took to the majestic Banff National Park. There was a man-made bridge over every creek crossing, except for one. The trail directed Scanlon and his friends to cross a wide, swift, deep river, and despite scouting other options, they found there was no good spot to cross elsewhere.

At first, Scanlon felt safe, knowing how to cross a river, including facing upstream

Scenes from James Murren’s story, “How to plan a bikepacking trip across Catalina.”

(James Murren / For The Times)

, leaning into the oncoming water flow and shuffling slowly, moving through stable sidesteps.

But as he entered the outside curve, which he knew would be the fastest and deepest part, he was in water almost to his hips, “which is the no-go zone.”

“But I was almost there, and I got pretty close to getting toppled over, but I leaned into the oncoming water extra hard to counterbalance it and somehow got through,” he said. “Even when you do it right, you can still have issues, but I think the majority of times it’s not knowing the technique, not knowing where it’s best to cross and maybe the hubris factor.”

4. Falling from high places

People are increasingly getting too bold in high places, especially in the name of selfies and social media posts, Scanlon said.

The way to get ahead of this problem on your own journey is to decide yourself and within your group that you will not let the glory ahead of you influence your behavior.

I did similar on a recent trip to Taft Point, where multiple travelers have fallen to their deaths. I’d seen the gorgeous images of hikers sitting or posing on a rock that juts out dramatically over Yosemite Valley, and I’d told myself, “Maybe not.” Instead, my dear friend Patrick captured my image safely from a lookout point (which, per optical illusion, looks like I’m much closer to the edge than I am).

It can be hard to fight against this FOMO, but going beyond safety rails or going off-trail for better views or trying to impress our friends can all lead to deadly outcomes.

“There are certainly people who’ve fallen from unstable ground beneath them, and that you can’t necessarily prepare for,” Scanlon said. “But the majority of [accidents] are bad behaviors, like poorly executed selfies and [people] doing things they really shouldn’t. We should not be doing our first handstand ever on an 800-foot cliff.”

A trail sign at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area reminds guests of one of the most important tenants of hiking: Stay on the trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

5. Getting lost

This is arguably both the most important chapter (Skill 5: Land Navigation) of Scanlon’s book and the most important thing you can understand outside of hydrating appropriately.

Because, as Scanlon pointed out to me, understanding the factors around how we get lost “is extraordinarily important to nail down because getting lost is the gateway to the other perils.”

So, how do we not get lost?

In an estimated 40% of cases, a hiker got lost because they wondered off-trail, Scanlon wrote. This could be because they accidentally followed a spur or game trail, thinking it was the true trail. Another 17% of cases involve bad weather striking, and hikers moving off-trail to seek shelter.

Scanlon goes into extensive detail — just over 100 pages — about how to navigate in the wilderness, including how to use the different types of compasses, understanding the different parts of the compass and more.

One of his suggestions is easy enough to follow: “Before venturing out on any day hike or backpacking trip, study the map ahead of time and identify the nearest safety point,” whether that be a nearby road, railway, local airport or nearby town. Whatever you choose, it should hold the highest potential for seeing other people who can help and have the fewest visible obstacles on the map to arrive there.

“Navigating to this safety point will be our fallback plan when we have become lost and all else fails to get us back to the trail or trailhead,” Scanlon wrote.

I hope you can take this knowledge and apply it to your next hike. I know I will (and probably also pack Scanlon’s book in my backpack), along with carrying this mindset with me on the trail:

“The No. 1 goal is everyone gets home in one piece, and the secondary goal to get to the summit” or wherever you’re headed, Scanlon told me. “As long as you start out with the predetermined goal that everybody gets home, I think everything you prepare for and every on-trail decision you make should be serving that goal.”

The views from the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook include Culver City and the surrounding L.A. area.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3 things to do

1. Roast marshmallows in the Baldwin Hills
The Nature Nexus Institute and California State Parks will host a campfire stroll from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. Families can participate in hands-on activities, listen at storytime and roast marshmallows for s’mores by the campfire. Register using the park’s Google form.

2. Heal the land in Elysian Park
Volunteers are needed in two shifts Friday at Elysian Park to help maintain native plant life. From 8 to 10 a.m., volunteers will work at the burn plot, an experimental restoration garden. Later in the day, volunteers will prune and water plants from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more about the morning event at testplot.info and the afternoon event here.

3. Document flora and fauna in Pacoima
L.A. city’s junior urban ecologist Ryan Kinzel will host a community science-focused hike from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday at Hansen Dam (10965 Dronfield Ave., Pacoima). Kinzel will lead guests in participating in the L.A. Nature Quest by using app iNaturalist to document plant and animal life as the group hikes. Learn more at the parks department’s Instagram page.

The must-read

Scenes from James Murren’s story, “How to plan a bikepacking trip across Catalina.”

(James Murren / For The Times)

There are so many ways to experience Catalina Island, including bikepacking. Times contributor James Murren took a two-day trip from East End to Little Harbor Campground and back to Avalon, covering 40-plus miles and about 5,000 feet of elevation. In his guide on how to bikepack the island, Murren writes about not only the beauty but also the surprising solitude he found there. “I had not seen another person for quite a while as I biked deeper into the hinterlands of the island, connecting to East End Light Road,” Murren wrote. “Along the ‘backside’ of the southern end of Catalina, it felt even more remote. East End afforded stunning views of the ocean and San Clemente Island to the south.” What a remarkable opportunity — and it’s only a ferry ride away!

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Birders off the coast of Sonoma and Marin counties got quite the surprise last week when they spotted the critically endangered waved albatross, the largest bird in the Galapagos! It’s believed to be the first sighting of the bird north of Costa Rica, and it remains unclear what brought it more than 3,000 miles north of its homeland. Those lucky enough to see it included a seabird tour. “The excitement level on the boat when the bird was first identified was intense, with much screaming and shrieking, followed by beatific smiles from a dream come true,” passenger Glen Tepke told a Press Democrat reporter. Ah, the mystery and surprise that each new adventure brings!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Kilian Jornet, one of the world’s most accomplished mountaineers, did something this month that left even other elite athletes gasping: He climbed all 72 summits in the contiguous United States that stand over 14,000 feet tall.

In 31 days.

That’s like climbing California’s Mt. Whitney — the nation’s tallest mountain outside of Alaska — two-and-a-half times per day, every day, for a month.

But reaching so many summits, so quickly, was only half the battle. In fact, it was “the fun part,” a surprisingly rested-looking Jornet said in a Zoom interview from Seattle earlier this month, three days after summiting Mt. Rainier in knee-deep snow to complete the grueling journey, which he started in early September.

The hard part was negotiating the spaces in between.

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet treks through the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 14,000 feet.

(Andy Cochrane)

“If you’re driving, you see the landscape,” Jornet explained. “But you don’t feel it.”

OK, how do you feel it?

By running the hundreds of miles of remote mountain ridges, and biking the thousands of miles of desolate highway, that separate the towering summits scattered across Colorado, California and Washington.

In total, Jornet covered 3,198 miles under his own power. He biked 2,568 miles. He ran 629 miles. He climbed 403,638 vertical feet.

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Tommy Caldwell, arguably the best technical rock climber of his generation and the first to climb Yosemite’s nearly impossible Dawn Wall, followed Jornet’s progress on Instagram. When the Spaniard finished, Caldwell posted, “my mind is officially blown.”

Like many elite climbers, Jornet, 37, slips into a stoic, been-there-done-that voice when describing mountain conditions that would terrify mere mortals. But he broke character, briefly, talking about climbing the summit of Mt. Shasta in Northern California.

As often happens on that free-standing volcano, a howling gale struck just as Jornet approached the 14,162-foot summit.

Shaky video shot by a climbing partner shows Jornet’s trekking poles flailing and his feet sliding around on the ice as he struggles — and fails — to remain upright in what sounds like a hurricane.

“It was crazy,” he conceded, “probably the windiest day I have ever had in the mountains.”

Asked why, exactly, he puts himself through so much agony, he snapped back into aw-shucks mode. He sank into his comfy seat, smiled with the confidence of a man who has parried that question a thousand times, and said:

“Why not?”

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet climbed 72 summits over 14,000 feet in the contiguous U.S. in 31 days.

(Nick Danielson)

In an age saturated with professional outdoor athletes competing for social media attention and lucrative sponsorships — and in a world where the most iconic summits have been climbed, the biggest waves have been surfed and the wildest rivers have been run — one fashionable way to stand out is by setting a fastest known time, or “FKT.”

Jornet’s jaunt over and between those 72 summits, which he dubbed “States of Elevation” and gorgeously documented for his 1.8 million followers on Instagram, was, by all accounts, the fastest known time. It was also the only known time. Apparently, nobody else has tried to link all of those summits together in a single, human-powered push.

“Yes, it’s hard,” Jornet said with a laugh when asked if the constant, grinding pain was worth it. But after a while, “you get used to the discomfort, it’s just part of it, it doesn’t really bother you.”

The finale of Jornet’s 72-peak feat was a 14,441-foot volcano covered with glaciers, one of the broadest and most visually imposing mountains on the planet. Few people even attempt to climb Mt. Rainier this time of year because the weather can be so brutal.

As Jornet pedaled closer to the peak, it started to rain down in the flats, so he knew that meant snow on the mountain.

Crossing the glaciers with their immense, yawning crevasses hidden by fresh snow would have been too dangerous, so Jornet chose a steep and challenging rock route known as Success Cleaver. But even that was buried in knee-deep snow.

After summiting Mt. Rainier, Jornet posted that his U.S. journey was, “never about just the numbers, but rather a deep connection to wild places, and true test of resilience in body and mind.”

Anyone else claiming that might have been met with eye rolls, but Jornet is one of the few outdoor athletes who probably doesn’t need to pad his resume: He cemented his legacy as one of the all-time greats long ago.

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet hikes in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado in September.

(Nick Danielson)

Born just outside of Barcelona in 1987, he grew up in a ski area in the Pyrenees where his father was a mountain guide. He climbed his first mountain over 10,000 feet when he was 5.

At 20, he won the first of six titles in the Sky Runner World Series, an international competition consisting of long, high-altitude foot races that test speed and endurance on steep mountainsides.

At 26, he set FKTs for climbing Switzerland’s Matterhorn and France’s Mont Blanc, the tallest mountain in Western Europe. A year later, he broke the speed record climbing the bitterly cold and deadly Denali, in Alaska, the tallest mountain in North America.

A few years after that, he climbed Mt. Everest twice in one week without supplemental oxygen.

In addition to all of the technical mountaineering, Jornet has been one of the most successful ultramarathoners in history, winning the prestigious Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc, a 100-mile race through the Alps, four times.

After his early career dominating distance races in relatively cold climates, Jornet showed up at Northern California’s Western States ultramarathon in 2010. It’s a 100-mile race that starts near the shore of Lake Tahoe and descends to the Sacramento suburbs in late June, when the sun and temperatures can be unforgiving.

He was comically unprepared. “I didn’t do any heat training,” Jornet recalled, “so when I arrived I was like, ‘Should I have brought water for this race?’” Still, he came in third, then returned the next year to win.

In June, he went back to the Western States 100 for the first time in 14 years. The event has evolved since then: The field is fitter and more professional. But even at his relatively advanced age, Jornet came in third, dropping more than an hour off his winning time in 2011.

Back then, he relied mostly on raw talent, Jornet said. “I train much better now, I know I need to prepare specifically and put in the work.”

But does he ever just kick back and spend a weekend sprawled on the couch, a remote in one hand and a bowl of ice cream in the other?

“For me, that’s not relaxing,” he said, recalling the time he and his wife, Emelie Forsberg, also a world champion runner and skier, tried to take a normal vacation.

They had just completed a race on Reunion Island, off the coast of Madagascar, when they decided to spend a week on the nearby tropical island of Mauritius.

“We said we’d just sit on the beach and read books, and that’s all,” Jornet said. But by the end of the first day they looked at each other and wondered if they should change their flight to get back to running and skiing in the mountains. “It was like, yes, yes, yes for both of us,” Jornet said.

Spanish mountaineer Kilian Jornet in the Sierra Nevada range known as the Normans 13, which connects 13 summits over 14,000 feet.

(Andy Cochrane)

After years living in Chamonix, France, a hard-partying resort in the Alps regarded as the mountain sports capital of the world, Jornet and Forsberg moved to a house by a remote fjord in Norway. It’s a quiet place to raise their three young children, grow their own vegetables and train in the surrounding mountains, some of which have no names.

“Sometimes when you’re climbing Everest, or Mont Blanc, or Mt. Whitney, it’s like you’re climbing the famous name,” Jornet said. As he matures, he prefers climbing mountains simply “because they’re beautiful.”

But he still craves big challenges.

Last year, he climbed all 82 summits in the Alps over 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) in 19 days, traveling the 750 miles between them on foot and bicycle.

“This was, without any doubt, the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life, mentally, physically, and technically,” he wrote on social media. “But also maybe the most beautiful.”

That got him thinking even bigger, trying to imagine the most “aesthetic line” for a similar expedition in the United States.

After landing in Denver last month, he went straight to the trailhead for 14,256-foot Longs Peak. “But I really felt like crap,” he said, blaming a combination of jet lag and the air being so much drier in Colorado than in Norway.

For the first week, he wondered if he should just quit. But then, somewhere along the way, his body switched, “from fighting to adapting,” and he settled into a comfortable rhythm.

After summiting 56 mountains in Colorado, Jornet hopped on his bike and pedaled 900 miles to California, where 15 more high peaks awaited. At times, the headwind was so brutal he slowed to a maddening crawl, even when going downhill.

He’d also lost 10 pounds in the mountains and, at 5’7” and about 130 pounds, his slender frame has nothing to spare. So he spent much of his time on the bike shoveling calories — even spiking his water bottles with generous helpings of olive oil — to replace lost fat.

His long slog on the bike ended in Lone Pine, a dusty town four hours north of Los Angeles, where the Eastern Sierra rise 10,000 feet, like a solid granite wall, from the desert floor.

Jornet had covered nearly 200 miles that day, and faced a 6,000-foot climb to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead, where he would sleep before starting the toughest part of the whole trip.

The road up to Cottonwood Lakes is 23 miles of harrowing switchbacks, with vertigo-inducing views of the valley below at almost every turn. The drive, alone, freaks out a lot of people.

“It was cool that I arrived there in the dark,” Jornet said, undaunted by the prospect of pedaling off the side of a cliff. “Nice to do the climb when it wasn’t so hot.”

The next morning he started running “Norman’s 13” — a baker’s dozen of 14,000-foot summits along the Sierra Crest between Lone Pine and Bishop, the most remote and punishing alpine terrain in California. He made astonishing time: cruising over 14,032-foot Mt. Langley and 14,505-froot Mt. Whitney like they were speed bumps.

But for all their imposing altitude, the standard routes up Langley and Whitney don’t require any special skills, they’re just long hiking trails with very little exposure to deadly falls. Things changed when Jornet reached a section called the Palisades Traverse, just up the hill from Big Pine.

There, a ridge of jagged granite rises like an upside down saw’s blade over one of the last remaining glaciers in California. There are no hiking trails, just daunting towers of shattered and jumbled rock, where seemingly any misstep can lead to a thousand-foot fall.

Only the most committed mountaineers go there, and they tend to take their time, waiting for good weather and climbing with ropes and harnesses.

But when you’re on a mission like Jornet’s, you don’t get to “choose your weather,” he said. You just start and then you’re committed, you have to take what comes.

What came the day he reached the traverse was a surprising, early-season blizzard. It covered the usually reliable, grippy granite with about 4 inches of snow and ice. The storm made climbing “more complicated,” Jornet said, and more miserable.

It was cold and “I was completely soaked,” Jornet said. But with the help of Matt Cornell, a well-known climber from Bishop, he was able to keep going and finish the 100 miles of Norman’s 13 in 56 hours, shaving more than 19 hours off the previous record.

He only slept once during that span, he said, for about an hour and a half, lying in the middle of a trail.

When speed climbing over peaks, Jornet traveled light, carrying only the bare essentials to stay nourished and protected from the weather.

When possible, he was accompanied by photographers and videographers, most of whom had to be exceptional athletes to keep up.

He also stayed in contact with his press team and social media producers, and he sometimes slept in a support RV at the trailheads.

But after the frigid Palisades Traverse he indulged in a bit of luxury, pizza and a glorious night in a hotel bed in Bishop. The next morning, he hiked 14,252-foot White Mountain and then hopped on the bike for the 500-mile ride to the unexpected ordeal that awaited him on Mt. Shasta.

Having survived that with no serious damage, he biked through Oregon, finally with a tailwind, and then surmounted Mt. Rainier.

When he finally descended, instead of popping champagne in front of cameras and an adoring crowd, he and a few close friends spent a quiet night in an RV, swapping stories from the road and sharing shots of pickle juice — an inside joke that started somewhere during the trip.

“I’m not a big celebration guy,” Jornet explained.

He wouldn’t say what his next project will be, but several times he returned to the idea of climbing without crowds or fanfare.

“I do these things because I love them, because they bring me joy and happiness, not because I think they’re very important.”

One place he can sit quietly is at home in Norway, looking out the window, across the fjord to the nameless, snowcapped mountains in the distance.

He lets his eyes linger on their faces, settling on pretty lines to climb up or ski down.

As someone who spends entirely too much time reading trail reviews posted on outdoors apps, I often wonder what everyone would agree is a five-star hike.

Because sometimes folks puzzle me when they recount their experiences in the L.A. wild.

An AllTrails user categorized Josephine Peak, one of my favorite hikes, as “by far the worst highly rated trail” they’d experienced, as it was essentially just a “gradually inclining fire access road.” No mention of the stunning views, the beautiful plant life or the short drive to the trailhead that leaves you feeling grateful for how close we all live to this magnificence.

I’ve seen people give a trail a one-star review because of something that happened during their hike, like they got stung by a bee or tripped over a rock. I’ve noticed other folks who angrily write how horrendously maintained a trail is, but I know from hiking it that those users didn’t actually take the correct path.

Once, I saw someone post a Craigslist-style missed connection as a review. (I can’t remember how many stars they gave the trail.)

I find the concept of rating trails a bit bizarre, especially when we zoom out and consider our luck. We live in Southern California, where we can hike every day of the year, often for free. In the winter, you can find snow within a short drive of L.A.

In the summer, you can escape the heat by traveling high into Angeles National Forest where the mountain air is cooler. Or by lounging in a cool river under the shade of native sycamores and oaks in the San Gabriel or Santa Monica Mountains. And of course, there’s Griffith Park, with more than 4,210 acres smack-dab in the middle of L.A. where you can hike at all hours of the day for free.

Here’s what I would like to propose: Outside of serious hazards or maintenance issues, the best trail is the one you’re on. That’s the spirit that went into my adventures for this week’s Wild. I wanted to highlight less popular jaunts through our public lands.

The sun peeks through the clouds above the San Gabriel Mountains, as seen from near the top of the Hoyt Mountain trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Hoyt Mountain via Grizzly Flat

Distance: About 4.6 miles out and back
Elevation gained: About 1,450 feet
Difficulty: Strenuous
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Mount Wilson Observatory paved route

Hoyt Mountain is a 4,415(ish)-foot peak in the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains in Angeles National Forest. There are multiple routes to reach it. I chose to start at the Grizzly Flat Trailhead because it is an easier and shorter path to Hoyt Mountain than other options, like starting near the Clear Creek fire station.

You’ll start this trail via Hoyt Mountain Road, a wide dirt fire road. As you climb, notice the increasingly beautiful views. You’ll pass loads of buckwheat and other flowering plants, including California fuchsia, and chaparral yucca bursting out of the mountainside.

About a mile in, Hoyt Mountain Road explodes with green plants and trees, including California bay laurel.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

About two-thirds of a mile in, you’ll come to a split in the trail. Continue north on Hoyt Mountain Road. You’ll observe the trail’s foliage grow thicker about a third of a mile farther in. Take a moment to smell the spicy California bay laurel leaves (my favorite aroma of our local landscape). You’ll also likely see big berry manzanita, thick-leaved yerba santa and sugar bush.

I did notice a lot of animal scat — including bear — on this trail, so keep your eyes peeled for our mammalian neighbors. You will also notice that you can still hear the traffic from Angeles Crest Highway from the trail, but I think the striking panoramic views make up for it.

About 1.8 miles in, you’ll come to a wide, flat area where you might, if more observant than this outdoors journalist, notice three paths. There’s one that leads to a transmission tower, which this reporter may have taken before realizing it was the wrong way. There’s also a wider path, Telephone Trail. If you’re planning to hike to Hoyt Mountain, you’ll want to take the goat trail in between these routes.

The moon rises over the San Gabriel Mountains in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

This narrow, steep path is a fire break and is not an “official” trail. Its steepness reminded me of the scramble from Brand Park up to Mt. Thom. You will need hiking poles and footwear with good traction to help you find purchase on the steep hillside.

There are multiple false summits before reaching Hoyt Mountain. You do have the option — as controversial as it might be to suggest — to just vibe out on one of them. Go all the way to Hoyt Mountain if the spirit (and your legs) moves you.

The Castaic Rock Trail near Castaic Lake leads to a monolith measuring over 200 feet.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

2. Castaic Rock Trail

Distance: 1.3 miles out and back
Elevation gained: About 200 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: San Francisquito Creek Trail

The Castaic Rock Trail is a 1.3-mile out-and-back hike near Castaic Lake. It leads to a massive boulder — by some measurements, over 200 feet tall — that is known by many names, including Castaic Rock, Raven’s Roost and Rabbit Rock.

You’ll park on the shoulder of Lake Hughes Road and ascend a short, steep dirt path that quickly flattens out to become a pleasant jaunt through California buckwheat, sagebrush and other native plants. Look around, and you’ll notice panoramic views of Magic Mountain in the southeast and Cobblestone Mountain and Whitaker Peak in the northwest.

The trail meanders to the east side of the rock, where there’s historically been a bench located under the shade of hollyleaf cherry trees. Keep your eyes peeled for snakes and coyotes, as they’re common sights in the area.

Hikers can see sweeping views of L.A. from the Briar Summit Open Space Preserve.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. Briar Summit Open Space Preserve

Distance: About a mile out and back
Elevation gained: About 250 feet
Difficulty: On the easier end of moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Lake Hollywood Trail

The Briar Summit Open Space Preserve is a 52-acre park north of Laurel Canyon that’s full of native plants, including laurel sumac. The preserve offers striking panoramic views of L.A. County that you’ll likely have to yourself (especially if you go on a weekday).

The hike is simple. You will park in the neighborhood near the entrance, taking care to read signage and be respectful of residents. Past the gate, you’ll take a short, steep paved path up until you reach a locked gate. You will quickly be rewarded with views of downtown L.A. to the southeast, the Griffith Park Observatory to the east and multiple mountain ranges in essentially every direction.

Briar Summit was saved from development just over 20 years ago thanks to private donations and public money. “Development of even a few of the property’s five legal lots could have spelled the end [for] all medium- and big-sized mammal species in the range between the Cahuenga Pass and Laurel Canyon,” according to a 2004 news release.

The Briar Summit Open Space Preserve features several spur trails, unofficial paths leading to various dead ends (and adventures) around the 52-acre park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

There is a spectacular lookout point just a third of a mile in where you can sit on a boulder and observe the city around you. From here, you’ll notice a dirt path leading south. You can take it for a short distance, but it will quickly lead you down a dusty, unstable hill. I wouldn’t recommend taking it downhill unless you’re ready for an intense off-trail workout. There are several unofficial “goat trails” or spurs leading in various directions throughout the preserve. You should follow these with caution, as they’re not regularly maintained.

Regardless of where you go, I hope you have a five-star time out there — whatever that means to you!

A speaker shares information with visitors during an Indigenous People’s Day celebration at Vasquez Rocks Natural Area. L.A. County Parks and Recreation will host multiple Indigenous People’s Day celebrations in October.

(L.A. County Parks)

3 things to do

1. Celebrate Indigenous People’s Day around L.A.
Several Indigenous People’s Day celebrations are scheduled throughout mid-October in L.A. County. The 5th Tuxuunga Indigenous Peoples Day is scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at 12400 Big Tujunga Canyon Road in Tujunga. The event will include live music, dancing, storytelling and hands-on workshops. Vasquez Rocks Natural Area, the ancestral village of Mapipinga, will host a fireside gathering and celebration from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday. Visitors can listen to live music and storytelling around the campfire. The San Dimas Canyon Nature Center will co-host two events with the San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians Gabrieleno/Tongva: a tribal history and native seed planting event from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and a tribal history and necklace-making workshop from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 17. The Stoneview Nature Center will co-host its celebration with the Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians — Kizh Nation from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 18, an event that will include a nature walk and drum circle. Learn more at the Instagram pages linked above.

2. Sow seeds in Ascot Hills in L.A.
The Ascot Hills Park Green Team will host its monthly restoration event from 8 to 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Volunteers should meet at the park’s nursery on the west end of the gravel parking area. The work will include collecting and sowing California buckwheat and other native plant seeds. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

3. Nurture oak trees in Topanga
The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains needs volunteers from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday to help restore native oak woodlands at Trippet Ranch. Volunteers will water trees, yank weeds and apply mulch as well as potentially plant new acorns as needed. Learn more and register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

Wild horses gather near Benton, Calif.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Wild horses grazing in the Mono Lake area are the source of a heated debate among environmentalists, Indigenous leaders and animal rights activists, and the government over how to best manage the herds so they don’t decimate the land. “This year, the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approved a plan to round up and remove hundreds of wild horses roaming beyond the roughly 200,000 acres designated for them along the California and Nevada border,” Times staff writer Lila Seidman wrote. “No date has been set, but it could be as soon as this fall.” Environmentalists argue the move is necessary to save the otherworldly landscape at Mono Lake, but local tribes and nonprofits point out the government’s method of rounding up horses — hiring contractors with helicopters to drive them into stables — is dangerous, and even deadly, to the horses. “They’re going to run them down with helicopters and genocide them, just like they ran down us,” Rana Saulque, vice chairwoman for the Utu Utu Gwaitu Paiute tribe, said through tears.

This is yet another debate occurring around California about the best use and management plan of our public lands.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Want to help scientists understand our local wildlife? You can do just that by participating in the L.A. Nature Quest, which runs through the month of October. First, download iNaturalist, a citizen scientist app, on your smartphone. Next, simply go outside and start observing what plants and animals are in your neighborhood. Take good care to notice indicator and invasive species. After you’re finished snapping photos, upload your finds to the L.A. Nature Quest 2025 project on iNaturalist. Thanks for doing your part to protect our native species.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

For my final day, I wanted to do something I’d never done before: swim straight out to sea. When I do open water swimming, I swim parallel to shore. This would be different. No markers. No sight line. Just the horizon. The currents. The waves. On top of this, we would be swimming from Bolinas, a quaint fishing town that is famously hostile to visitors and removes its signs to keep them out. This is where the Bolinas Lagoon opens out to the open ocean. Seals gather here, and the sharks supposedly come here to feast on the seals. I didn’t know if this was just a rumor to keep out-of-town surfers away, but the Farallon Islands just 20 miles south of Point Reyes are the winter playground for some of the world’s largest great white sharks. For this endeavor I enlisted the help of my friend, Greg, a local.

We wore wetsuits. He gave me a cozy neoprene hat to wear over my cap and goggles to keep my head warm. He also provided me with a special anti-shark amulet that I wore on my wrist like a watch. Developed in Australia, these wrist magnets repel the sharks, he said, and “feel like a punch in the nose” to the sharks if they get too close. Sounded good to me!

The day dawned foggy, but the low blanket of mist that hugged the land the day before had lifted. I was terrified of swimming straight out and losing sight of land. Greg assured me that even in dense fog you know where land is by sensing the direction of the waves. That may be true, but I wasn’t ready to swim by the feel of the currents yet. Greg also wore tiny flippers that looked like duck feet and a neon bubble attached to his waist to carry our valuables and make us visible to boats. We agreed to swim out 15 minutes.

The waves were big. The surfers were already out at a local spot known as the “patch.” We dove through the waves, swimming hard between. The water visibility was nil — just a blur of yellow, brown and eventually black. We wouldn’t be able to see a seal or shark if it swam right beneath us. I didn’t like the feeling.

But my friend was beside me. Finally my shallow, panicked breath slowed, my stroke evened out and I settled in. Out past the waveline we stopped. The early-morning sea was glassy and smooth. It felt viscous, velvety and otherworldly. Pelicans and terns swooped and dove around us. Surprisingly, once we swam out, I could see the land encircled us with long arms. Stinson Beach stretched out to the right, Bolinas to the left. We would not lose our way. We swam farther out. Every few strokes we stopped to take in the view. We were just specks in the ocean, as tiny as a velella or an anchovy, part of a big, watery world.

Out here my perspective changed. I realized we could swim forever and still see the shore. We lay on our backs and let the swells gently lift us, then fall. The words of my father, a second-generation submariner, often recited when I was a child, drifted through my head: “Rocked in the cradle of the deep, I lay me down in peace to sleep.” We swam to where the glassiness ended and the wind rippled the surface, 14 minutes out.

The magic of the open water experience was better shared. No GoPro or camera can capture the vastness of the ocean for someone back on shore. Or what it feels like to ride the slow heaving of the ocean, pulsing like the heartbeat of the world. We came ashore in a big set, swimming frantically in, then turning to face the waves so we didn’t get wiped out. We swam until our feet touched the sandy bottom and crawled out happy but exhausted.

My body carried the rocking of the ocean for the rest of the day. I could close my eyes and be back there, gently rising and falling under the low, gray sky. I held onto that feeling as long as I could.

My friend promised me that by next year, he would have more bodies of water and more secret swims. Already he had come up with new watering holes I never knew existed. But for me, the quest had been a success. Being in water every day helped me regain my equilibrium. Surfers say the ions in salt water make you happy. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’m 60% water and I felt I had moistened my dry skin, lightened the pull of gravity on my aging body and shed some of the heaviness of the first six months of the year.

When I first went to my therapist many years ago, she told me the story of the selkies. At the time I was feeling overwhelmed with work, marriage and motherhood. Much of our work has been my journey back to myself. After my vacation, I told her of my adventure. She said, “You were able to put your pelt back on. You’re spending more time in your seal suit.” Yes. On land and in the water. I am. Sometimes the metaphor is the medicine.

One of two trained hawks stolen from outside SoFi Stadium during a Rams game was recovered Sunday in Hacienda Heights, nearly 25 miles from where the vehicle taken during the heist was found a week ago.

A two-seat motorized cart with a key left in the ignition was stolen Sept. 28 from the stadium. The hawks — named Bubba and Alice — were housed in green containers in the back seat and vanished along with the vehicle.

Bubba was recovered near Seventh Street in Hacienda Heights after a homeowner spotted the hawk in her backyard and contacted the Inglewood Police Department. Falconer Charles Cogger, who trained and owned the hawks, raced to the location.

“I made arrangements, got over there as quick as I could and got Bubba back,” Cogger told NBC Los Angeles. “Alice is still out there, but this gives me hope she will show up.”

The hawks were employed by SoFi Stadium to deter other birds from flying over SoFi Stadium during the game, keeping fans safe from unpleasant aerial droppings and also keeping birds from eating discarded food.

The Harris’s hawks, also known as bay-winged hawks, are large, lanky raptors that breed in the southwestern U.S. and throughout South America. They have vision eight times better than that of humans and are known for hunting together as a team.

The Kawasaki Mule UTV that housed the hawks was found abandoned Sept. 29 in a South L.A. neighborhood about five miles from SoFi Stadium and 25 miles from Hacienda Heights.

Inglewood police released a photo of the suspect taken by stadium security cameras, describing him as a male adult “wearing a black jacket with a white stripe going down the shoulder, black pants and black shoes.”

Cogger is holding out hope that Alice will turn up. Each of Cogger’s hawks wears a metal band around its leg that identifies it as captive-bred.

“They can only go so long without eating or getting water,” he said.

Anyone with information about Alice can contact the Inglewood Police Department watch commander at (310) 412-5206. Crime Stoppers is offering a reward for the hawk’s safe return.

I thought I’d noticed everything on the four-mile stretch of the Gabrielino Trail from its western trailhead near Pasadena to the Gould Mesa campground in Angeles National Forest.

I have a favorite sycamore tree about a mile in that, if it weren’t surrounded by poison oak, I would climb. I know some of the best water spots to splash around in the Arroyo Seco. I know how to identify and spot sacred datura, a common sight along the path.

But then I hiked the trail with a group of children (and a handful of grown-ups) from the L.A.-based adventure club Hiking Adventures With Kids (or HAWKs for short) and was reconnected with the childhood sense of wonder that our day-to-day adult lives grind down.

I saw the trail through the eyes of tweens who love nature so much, they screamed multiple facts at me, often all at once, including how cool vampire squid are, that rolly-pollies are related to crabs and that my skin was actively dying and falling off my body. It was such a comfort.

Here’s what I learned from my new trail buddies. I hope these tips help remind you to slow down and appreciate the wonders of our local flora and fauna.

Children from a HAWKs group slide down a concrete channel just off the Gabrielino Trail near Pasadena.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. A group of canines being walked on the trail by a human is a ‘dog parade.’

Wave accordingly.

2. If you see poison oak, tell a friend.

These kids saved me multiple times from brushing up against the woody shrub. They reminded me: “Leaves of three, let it be; if it’s hairy, it’s a berry!”

3. Eggnog.

This is less of a tip and more of an inside joke between best friends Lila and Elliot, both 10, who asked really nicely for me to include it. May they forever remember the time one of the largest newspapers in America published this.

Children from HAWKs, an L.A.-based company that takes kids on outdoors adventures, cross the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

4. Put animals down that don’t want to be touched.

Bradley Rydholm, a HAWKs educator co-leading the day’s hike, found a diabolical ironclad beetle to show the kids. It was at first playing dead, and some of the children reached out to touch it.

“You need to put him down because he looks like he doesn’t want to be touched,” Kaija, 8, said. “If they’re moving in your hand, that means it’s OK, but if they’re playing dead, you gotta put them back.”

Rydholm gently agreed and placed the beetle back in its pile of dirt and leaves.

5. When naming bugs, consider a compromise.

OK, perhaps this is a lesson the kids learned from me. The group was in a debate over whether to name the aforementioned diabolical ironclad beetle, with some voting for “Desi” and others voting for “Jim.”

This reporter, in the name of peace, suggested Desi Jim. “Bye, Desi Jim!” they called in unison as we continued onward.

6. Follow the ethics of frog catching.

Kaija, who asked whether I could make her a wolf in my story, told me that it’s best to catch frogs, name them and then release them.

I asked her whether she had any tips for naming frogs. “Jeremy, Fred, Pineapple,” she said, adding that she names them by their color.

I wanted to learn what color Jeremy was, but she discovered something far more interesting than me on the trail and ran off.

HAWKs hike leader Bradley Rydholm leads children down the Gabrielino Trail near Pasadena.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

7. If you want to touch a bug, take a picture first.

Ella, 8, told me that after you take a picture of the insect, you can use a smartphone to identify it and figure out whether it is venomous. (Note: Unlike plenty of adults, she knew the difference between “poisonous” and “venomous” and used the words correctly!)

“If it isn’t [venomous] and it’s totally safe, I would probably bring gloves because I’m scared of picking up bugs,” Ella said. “One time a lady bug peed on me.”

8. It is important to have a compass.

“Because if you get lost, it’s not very efficient to always rely on the North Star. Because it’s only around for a little bit [of] time. So if you don’t have a compass and you get lost, you’re going to have to wait until night to be able to move,” said Luca, 9, who bought himself a compass in a local shop in Felton.

Luca and I swapped adventure stories, as he is quite the world traveler. As a bonus tip, he informed me that it’s easier to roast marshmallows on a volcano (he visited one in Guatemala) than over a campfire. The volcano’s heat slow roasts the marshmallows; with a campfire, you’re more likely to accidentally light them on fire.

9. Avoid hills.

A few of the kids recently went on a HAWKs hike that apparently involved a “death road” that felt like “the stairwell of a million stairs” that went “pretty much nowhere” and had no real views, per Luca’s description.

Elliot, when asked for tips that adults should consider while hiking, told me that she enjoys being outside, but “I don’t really like going uphill.”

Same, girl. Same.

Kelly Knowles, a HAWKs educator, explains to the group the cultural significance of sacred datura to local Indigenous peoples.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

10. Appreciate the beauty of nature.

“I really like water,” Luca said. “Just enjoy the sound of water and just enjoy the nature, and check out the animals, lizards, snakes, butterflies and moths.”

“It’s really beautiful to see all these paths,” Lila said. “The beauty of nature is so fun, and it’s a good way to get a workout in or just get off screens because kids these days are on screens a lot. Brain rot!”

“I just remember it’s really good for me,” Elliot said. “The same thing about screens too, even though I don’t have an iPad since my brother broke it. … Honestly, I don’t want to think about anything from school or anything. Just want to be in the moment, ya know?”

3 things to do

The Bixby Marshland, a 17-acre marsh, is located to the northwest of the A.K. Warren Water Resource Plant (formerly the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant) near the intersection of Figueroa Street and Sepulveda Boulevard in Carson.

(Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts)

1. Explore a marsh in Carson
The Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts will host a tour from 8 a.m. to noon of the Bixby Marshlands, a 17-acre marsh near the intersection of Figueroa Street and Sepulveda Boulevard in Carson. Formerly part of a large freshwater marshland area called Bixby Slough, the Bixby Marshland was cut off from its water supply when the Wilmington Drain was installed in the mid-1970s, according to the agency. Docents will be at the event to help visitors spot the dozens of ducks, herons, hummingbirds and many other animals that frequent the marsh. Learn more at lacsd.org.

2. Yank weeds in Chino Hills
Volunteers are needed from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Chino Hills State Park to help restore a walnut woodland. Participants will pull and dig up invasive weeds, bagging and removing them from the area. The exact location of the volunteer opportunity and directions will be emailed upon registration. Sign up at volunteer.calparks.org.

3. Can’t fight the moonlight in Burbank
The Stough Canyon Nature Center in Burbank will host a full moon hike at 7 p.m. Monday. Hikers will meet at the Stough Canyon trailhead. This is a free all-ages hike. Children younger than age 12 must be accompanied by an adult. Register using the “Stough Canyon Nature Center” tab at burbankparks.com.

The must-read

Lightning strikes over Mt. St. Helena in Napa County.

(Kent Porter / AP)

Even with months of training and prep work, Megan Eskew did not stay long at the Mt. Whitney summit. There was a chance of thunderstorms in the area. Eskew was on her way down when she felt the first sprinkle. “Before you could even process the thought, ‘Oh, that’s rain,’ thunder boomed,” Eskew said. Times staff writer Jack Dolan wrote about the dangers that hikers faced as late-summer monsoons spread across California in recent weeks. Jack also covered the perils of trying to hide from the storm — and the importance of knowing when to turn around. Stay safe out there!

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

I love looking for signs of our local mammal population on trails. In a recent Instagram post, So Sinopoulos-Lloyd, co-founder of Queer Nature, explained how to identify mountain lion markings left on a tree, including how to distinguish between scratches left by a big cat versus a bear. The grooves left in the tree reminded me of the marks that my cats leave on their scratching posts (and other less-than-ideal places around our home!). Let me know if you notice similar out on the trails.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

My friend Deborah and I had already walked two miles around the Arroyo Seco, and I was beginning to worry we’d missed it.

Somewhere along this path lay a labyrinth. “Whenever I trail run here, it just kind of appears,” I told her, telling myself we couldn’t have missed it. And then, just when I started to lose faith, I noticed a clearing ahead.

“It’s there!” I said.

I was hiking with my dear friend Deborah Netburn, a Times reporter who covers faith, spirituality and joy. (Yes, we both have cool jobs!) We’d come to Lower Arroyo Seco Trail in Pasadena to see whether it could serve as a place for Jewish Angelenos observing Yom Kippur, one of the holiest day of the year in Judaism, to reflect on their past year in a natural space, rather than attending services in a synagogue.

Yom Kippur, which begins Wednesday evening, is the final day in the Ten Days of Awe, which also includes Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur is a time for deep reflection and atonement. You take a full accounting of yourself over the past year, looking beyond what you want to see or believe. You unearth any harm you’ve caused before seeking forgiveness, including from those you’ve harmed, from God and from yourself.

“It’s hard work,” said Deborah, who is Jewish. “But having a really honest accounting is a beautiful tradition and a valuable way to spend a day — one day. The religion does not ask you to do that all of the time. On one day a year, though … you unearth it all. You’re cleaning [yourself] out. And then you’re clean, and it feels really good.”

Some Jews can have this experience in their synagogues, but not everyone can, because they aren’t part of a community, they don’t feel comfortable where they are or they find traditional services too much of a financial burden for where they’re at economically.

“You can still have the experience [and] still do that work without being in a synagogue, and for a lot of people, the outdoors is a space that will support that work,” Deborah said.

Two years ago, Deborah wrote about L.A. Jews who don’t go to synagogue for Yom Kippur.

Rabbi Noah Farkas, president and chief executive of the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, told Deborah for that story that he wasn’t surprised that roughly half of the Jewish adults in L.A. choose to spend Yom Kippur outside of synagogue.

They’re “up in the mountains, they are riding bikes on the beach, they are meditating on the waves or meeting with friends to come up with creative rituals on how to let go of what is holding them down,” he said.

The La Loma Bridge, originally built in 1914, as seen from the Lower Arroyo Seco Trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Back at the labyrinth, Deborah instructed me to consider what I was carrying that I’d like to leave behind, our practice that day inspired by a Jewish ceremony known as Tashlich (or Tashlikh), typically performed between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which I will explain more about later.

I immediately knew my answer. As a trans American, the current political rhetoric has made me feel unsafe in my own body, in my community, in this country.

Per Deborah’s instructions, I picked up a rock and started to imagine my fear flowing into it. I started slowly walking the path. I knew my fear wasn’t going to dissipate from just one trip through the labyrinth, but I imagined a hunk of rock falling off a mountain as I walked. I could at least chip away at it.

I started to internally chant, “This body is mine. In it, I’m safe.” I arrived in the middle and tossed my stone into a rock pile where presumably others had done similar.

Our feet crunched over the dirt and gravel as we slowly left the labyrinth. I exited feeling like I really had left a piece of my heartache behind.

Deborah and I hope the three hikes we selected, which are listed below, offer both Jewish and non-Jewish hikers opportunities to partake in practices that are most meaningful to them. And for those observing Yom Kippur, g’mar chatima tovah!

1. Lower Arroyo Seco Trail
Distance: From half a mile to 2.3 miles, depending on your route
Elevation gained: Less than 200 feet
Difficulty: Easy
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: See map for trail notes; the eastern side of this trail is wide and flat with few rocks, while the western side, where the labyrinth is located, is rockier. If you’d like a more accessible labyrinth, consider Descanso Gardens.

The sunset seen from the Ray Miller Backbone Trail in Point Mugu State Park.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

2. Ray Miller Backbone Trail
Distance: 5.4 miles out and back
Elevation gained: About 1,000 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? No
Accessible alternative: Marvin Braude Bike Trail

The Ray Miller Backbone Trail, named after California State Parks’ first official campground host, is a 5.4-mile route through coastal sage scrub, including native plants like laurel sumac, coastal prickly pear and black sage. As lizards dart and butterflies flit across the path, take in the stunning views of the coastline. This is a great time to reflect on the past year.

Afterward, head over to the beach for a Tashlich ceremony, where you can symbolically cast out your sins — using natural elements like leaves, pieces of bark or sand — into the water. (Note: The concept of “sin” in Judaism is different from Christianity and what’s taught in the dominant culture.)

“That’s a really accessible ritual that’s Jewish, but it would work for anybody. The symbolism is universal, of casting out your sins,” Deborah said. “You wouldn’t traditionally do it on Yom Kippur because you’re at services, but it’s a great thing to do on Yom Kippur if you’re out in nature.”

The Vital Link Trail starts in Burbank’s Wildwood Canyon Park. It is one of the most challenging hikes in the L.A. area.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

3. The Vital Link Trail
Distance: 3.8 miles out and back
Elevation gained: About 1,700 feet
Difficulty: Strenuous
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Brace Canyon Park, which doesn’t offer the same level of difficulty but is in a geographically similar region of the county.

The Vital Link Trail in the Verdugo Mountains is one of the hardest hikes in L.A. County. It has limited shade and no on-trail water sources, so if you choose to tackle it, please pack extra water.

That said, this trail offers hikers an incredible physical challenge that doesn’t require a long drive into the mountains to reach.

Deborah and I wanted to offer a challenging trail option because, as she put it, “The experience of being in synagogue on Yom Kippur is a marathon, you are pushing yourself.”

For those who’d like a challenge on Yom Kippur, this trail delivers while offering expansive views of L.A. County. At the top, you’ll find the Willie Mann memorial chair, a lounger built in memory of a motion picture grip and hiker who loved this trail. It is a phenomenal meditation spot.

“At the end of Yom Kippur, you are exhausted, you are done, your head is killing you, you haven’t eaten, you haven’t drank anything,” Deborah said. “I wouldn’t do a hike like that on no food and no water, but I can see how it can give you that same sense of, ‘I’m clean, I just left a lot on the trail,’” even if you didn’t do a ritual like a labyrinth. The hike is the ritual.

Because of its steepness, sandy soil and some erosion, the trail is easier to navigate, especially on your way down, with trekking poles. It is easy to make a wrong turn because others have created off-trail shortcuts that can sometimes lead to dangerous drop-offs. Please download a map on your favorite outdoors app before going.

3 things to do

Coast live oaks shade the Canyon Trail in Placerita Canyon.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Join a hiking book club in Newhall
The Placerita Canyon Nature Center will host Books & Hikes from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday at the nature area. The group will discuss “Assembling California” by John McPhee as participants hike along the Canyon Trail. Event details are regularly shared in the book club’s Facebook group. To register, email [email protected].

2. Walk, bike and stretch through Glendale
Walk Bike Glendale will host a community gathering from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday at Verdugo Park (1621 Cañada Blvd.). Children can ride their bikes through a skills course, while adults can take learn-to-ride lessons. There will also be a bike repair station and maintenance class. Other activities include yoga, a trash pickup and 5K run. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

3. Yank invasive plants in Marina del Rey
The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust needs volunteers from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday to yank invasive weeds from at Area A (13748 Fiji Way) in Marina del Rey. Participants should bring water and wear close-toed shoes and sun protection. No pets allowed. Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

The must-read

The Point Arena Lighthouse on the Mendocino Coast in Northern California was built in 1908 to replace the original, which was built in 1870 and destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

Times staff writer Hailey Branson-Potts is on a quest to see all of California’s lighthouses. In the process, she’s learned a lot, and we, dear Wilder, are lucky that she’s willing to share that knowledge with us! Hailey penned a guide on visiting 14 of the state’s lighthouses. She outlines the nuts and bolts: how to see them, when they’re closed, how to get a stamp in your U.S. Lighthouse Society Passport. She also infuses every entry with charming local lore of each site. “In 1917, keeper William Austin and his wife moved in,” Hailey writes of the Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro. “They had eight children. My favorite part of the tour is an upstairs bedroom from which two teenage daughters, Thelma and Juanita, slipped out a window, scurried across the roof and sneaked away to go dancing.” I am so eager to add some of these lighthouses to my list of places I’d like to visit in California!

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Are you free tonight? Have you been thinking about volunteering your time in our mountains? The Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy will host a volunteer town hall from 5 to 7 p.m. at Taco Social (1627 Colorado Blvd.). You can get your questions about volunteering with the organization answered and enjoy free tacos with the new friends you’ll undoubtedly make! You can register here. Thanks for being a good human.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

The top two returners from last year battled for three miles before Lily Alder of Timpview (Utah) passed La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey in the final yards to win the Bob Day Girls Sweepstakes race on Saturday night in the 44th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic at Great Park in Irvine.

Alder won by 1.6 seconds in 15:40 flat after placing third in 2024 in 15:28.9 — seven-tenths of a second behind runner-up Dailey. Jaelyn Williams of Chula Vista Eastlake was third in 15:52 and taking fourth individually in 15:54.1 was Irvine’s Summer Wilson.

“My coach told me I could go 15:39 and I know I’m a lot better than I performed today,” said Wilson, a senior committed to Duke. “I found myself leading in the first two miles but my strength is my kick, so in retrospect it would’ve been smarter to stay back.”

Wilson’s former school JSerra (she transferred before her junior year) won the team title with 196 points.

Corona Santiago’s Rylee Blade, now a freshman at Florida State, set the meet record of 15:20.3 last fall. Her former Sharks teammate, Arkansas-bound senior Braelyn Combe, who won the state 1,600-meter title in the spring was seventh Saturday in 16:11.1.

Herriman (Utah) senior Jackson Spencer won the Doug Speck Boys Sweepstakes in 13:42.1, well off the meet record of 13:30.3 set a year ago on the same course by Owen Powell of Mercer Island (Wash.). Spencer, who was sixth in last year’s sweepstakes race, led the Mustangs to their fourth straight team championship.

Oak Park (203) won the Gold Varsity A boys race. Canyon Country Canyon senior Owen Souther was second individually in 14:41.8. Norwalk senior Leo Diaz won the Gold Varsity B race in 14:50.3 and El Toro was second in the team standings with 228 points.

Joaquim Sandoval, a junior from Warren, was first in the Blue Varsity B boys race in 14:28.6. “I’m feeling pretty good,” he said afterward.

Oaks Christian senior Delaney Napierala ran a personal-best 17:01.6 to outlast Jenna Murray of Moorpark (17:03.8) and win the Gold Varsity A girls race. In the Gold Varsity B race, Westlake freshman Sabina Cruz edged Autumn Banks of Tahoe-Truckee by one second in 16:50.7 while pacing the Warriors to the team title.

Many of the treks to reach the San Gabriel Mountains’ highest peaks are arduous slogs up steep hillsides, all-day affairs that, while rewarding, are not simple day hikes.

But then there’s Throop Peak (pronounced “troop”).

Reachable via a four-mile, round-trip hike over moderate terrain, this 9,138-foot summit offers panoramic views of Los Angeles County and beyond, with some hikers reportedly seeing not only the Pacific Ocean but also Death Valley from this mountaintop.

A few reminders before we dive in:

• Always check the weather before leaving, especially right now when L.A.’s weather patterns are flip-flopping between autumnal 🍂 and summer. 🥵
• Pack more water than you think you need; there is none on this trail (although Little Jimmy and Lamel Springs — seasonal water options — are nearby).
• Print this form, place it on your vehicle’s dash and remember to share a digital copy with a loved one before you leave.

A view of Mount Lewis and the Antelope Valley from the trail near Throop Peak.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

You’ll start your trek to Throop Peak at Dawson Saddle, a mountain pass that’s about an hour-and-a-half northeast of downtown L.A. There are no toilets at the trailhead, so make sure to stop beforehand if needed, perhaps at the nearby Jarvi Vista Overlook, which you’ll pass if you’re taking Angeles Crest Highway to reach the trail.

A view of the Antelope Valley, including Three Sisters and Black Butte, from the Dawson Saddle trail.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

You’ll find the trailhead across the highway from a large maintenance shed. Please take good care as you head up the first third of a mile of the trail, which is narrow and slippery. Hiking poles would be helpful here.

Need to catch your breath as you get acclimated? Turn and appreciate the immediate views of the Antelope Valley to the north!

Soon, you’ll reach a ridgeline that you’ll take south past fallen logs, green pine trees and thick manzanita. From here, about half a mile in, you can look to the southeast and see where you’re headed. Throop Peak will be already visible! The trail is fairly moderate from here.

The trail to Throop Peak includes a lush segment through pine forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

About 1.25 miles in, you will notice on your map that you can take one of two paths to reach the summit.

Mostly out of curiosity, I took the more direct route: a third of a mile up steep terrain where I crushed over sandy, rocky soil that at times was unstable. I wished I had trekking poles, but in what seems to be my curse, I forgot them at home (again!).

Just before reaching the summit, I followed the path through a thick stand of manzanita. I crossed through, although doing so always gives me the willies because snakes love shady shrubs.

The other path to the summit is twice as long, but only two-thirds of a mile, so still a short jaunt. With either path, you will gain just over 460 feet in elevation, and either path will reward you with increasingly stunning views.

I was blown away when I reached the summit, quickly noticing nearby Mt. Baden Powell, which I’ve hiked many times. Farther out, I observed layers of mountains seemingly stacked against each other, like views a painter using aerial or atmospheric perspective employs to show depth.

Layers of peaks visible from the Throop Peak summit.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I read the plaque at the summit that identifies its namesake, Amos G. Throop, founder of “Throop University in 1891,” which eventually became CalTech. (For transparency, Throop founded a Universalist group in Pasadena that exists now as the church I attend; hence I knew how to pronounce the peak’s name.)

The official and unofficial signs that mark the summit of Throop Peak.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

One of the nice parts of this hike is that it isn’t terribly crowded. I encountered only five people and three dogs on my late afternoon hike last week. I had the summit to myself, which meant I could sit and really appreciate not only the surrounding vistas but also its native plants, including thick patches of yellow rabbitbrush, some lupine and maybe a bit of San Bernardino beardtongue, if my plant identification app is correct.

If you’d like to continue hiking, you have the option — as long as you have a good map — to keep hiking, hitting Mt. Baden Powell, Mt. Hawkins or any number of other surrounding peaks.

On my way down, I listened to two Clark’s nutcrackers calling back and forth to each other, and then later, the echoing squawks of ravens communicating as they foraged together.

The view from Throop Peak, a less popular hike in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Given its short distance, moderate difficulty level and high payoff, this is one of my new favorite hikes. I’d like to return soon with friends to watch the moon rise from the summit, as the clear views to the east offer excellent opportunity for that. With every new adventure comes inspiration for the next one. May you find the same!

Throop Peak via Dawson Saddle
Distance: 4 miles
Elevation gained: About 1,200 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: For desert vibes, the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve; for views, Mount Wilson Observatory

3 things to do

Beachgoers enjoying the sun at Bluebird beach.

(Jacqueline Pinedo / Los Angeles Times)

1. Hunt for “trashure” along L.A’s coastline
The California Coastal Commission’s annual coastal cleanup day will be from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, with cleanup events across the coastline. Several volunteer events are scheduled in L.A. County from Malibu to Long Beach. This year, volunteers can participate in what the commission has dubbed the “world’s largest scavenger hunt.” Various “trashure,” which can be redeemed for prizes including hotel stays, sporting event tickets and gift cards, will be hidden at cleanup sites. Learn more and sign up at coastal.ca.gov.

2. Begin your birding journey in Huntington Beach
Bolsa Chica Conservancy in Huntington Beach will host a beginner birder workshop from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday at its interpretative center (3842 Warner Ave.). Participants will learn how to use binoculars and how to spot and identify local birds. The class is $20 per person. Space is limited. Sign up at bolsachica.org.

3. Hike near herons in Harbor City
Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks will host a nature hike from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday through Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park in Harbor City. Ryan Kinzel, the park department’s junior urban ecologist, will guide participants on this free trek near Machado Lake, home to more than 300 species of migratory birds, including multiple species of herons. Register at eventbrite.com, although walkups are welcome.

The must-read

A coyote at Ayala Cove located on Angel Island, a state park in the San Francisco Bay Area, on Aug. 29.

(California State Parks)

At first, the dog-like creature swimming through the San Francisco Bay looked to be a seal or sea lion. Times staff writer Alex Wigglesworth reported that onlookers, including seasoned wildlife scientists, were amazed to discover that it was instead a coyote, swimming a quarter mile off the coast of Angel Island. Coyotes have lived at Angel Island State Park since 2017, when scientists observed the first one to arrive. That ’yote may have howled enough pleas for companionship across the bay to entice more to join it. Brett Furnas, an environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, pointed out that the coyote recently spotted was swimming away from the island. “That’s consistent with dispersal,” he said. “I think some of those coyotes are now saying, ‘Hey, we want our own territory,’ and they’re trying to swim back to Marin.”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Our local parks are for everyone. That’s why it’s so important that as many residents as possible weigh in on the city of Los Angeles Park Needs Assessment. Is your community in dire need of green spaces? Does your local park need better lighting? What’s missing? What’s your dream for your neighborhood park? You can submit your comments at needs.parks.lacity.gov to help shape the future of our green spaces and more. On the website, you can also learn about when the next community meeting is scheduled near you.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

I was so tired of being hot, and my patience for city life was wearing thin. I needed to find a place with a cool breeze and without the groan of my wall air conditioner and without honking, sirens or tailpipes that sound like unhinged bumblebees.

After an hour’s drive, I pulled into the Islip Saddle trailhead parking lot, and I was alone with birdsong and a chilly breeze. I had arrived!

A view of the Antelope Valley from the segment of the Pacific Crest Trail from Islip Saddle to Little Jimmy Trail Camp.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

But as I faffed around preparing my hiking bag, a roaring construction truck pulled into the parking lot, blessing me with the smell of diesel. And then another. And then a road-paving machine that looked so advanced and alien, I wondered whether it could pave the moon.

Did these Caltrans workers miss the memo that this was a place of peace and solitude? How could they do this to me?

A bit huffy, I crossed Angeles Crest Highway and started the 2.1-mile trail — which is part of both the Pacific Crest Trail and the Silver Moccasin Trail — from Islip Saddle to Little Jimmy Trail Camp. I’d chosen this hike because it includes a north-facing slope, which means it gets less direct sunlight, and it starts at about 6,600 feet, climbing to 7,500 feet at the campground, which also helps ensure a cooler temperature.

Thick bunches of rabbitbrush grow along the trail from Islip Saddle to Little Jimmy Trail Camp.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Ambling up and through native plants, though, I kept grumbling to myself about the noise, clearly unable to appreciate the first views of the surrounding mountains.

And then I asked myself: “What in the world are you doing here?” I started laughing. Was I really going to let perfection be the enemy of the good? Had the heat cooked my brain?

Soon, I was pausing to appreciate the yellow rabbitbrush covering both sides of the trail. I spotted a molting lizard, looking haggard, and hoped I could make a similar transformation of my mood.

As chipmunks darted across the path, though, I was brought down, again, by the seemingly endless number of burned trees killed by the 2020 Bobcat fire. Would they ever grow back? Were they dead now?

Then I realized I was literally missing the forest for the trees. Yes, there were so many burned, and presumably dead, pine trees. But the forest floor was alive! The ground was covered in manzanita, Grinnell’s beardtongue and purple-pink Parish’s wild buckwheat.

A chipmunk darts around the detritus near Islip Saddle in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

I heard the tap, tap, tap of a nearby woodpecker, perhaps in search of its next meal. Curious little mountain chickadees flitted past. And the chipmunks, as always, made me laugh as they hopped from rock to rock, unsure of whether they wanted to eat a snack or hide.

A molting lizard scurries across a rock pile near the trail to Little Jimmy Trail Camp.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

All I could initially see was what we’d lost to the fire, and I was missing what had returned. Amid the blackened trunks, pine saplings dotted the forest floor.

About 1.4 miles in, I spotted living, breathing green trees, the survivors. I kept trudging along, feeling a newfound sense of awe at nature’s resilience.

Soon, I reached Little Jimmy, a 16-site backcountry trail camp. There were no campers, just me and the hulking pine trees. Sweaty, I felt a little cold as the wind blew past me. I had arrived.

I hope regardless of which of these three hikes you take, nature helps you free yourself from what’s weighing you down.

The view from Little Jimmy Trail Camp if one chooses to lie down and meditate on a picnic table.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

1. Islip Saddle to Little Jimmy Trail Camp
Distance: 4.2 miles (with an option to extend to Mt. Islip)
Elevation gained: About 850 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed? Yes
Accessible alternative: Paved paths through Buckhorn Campground

A stingray swims in the Colorado Lagoon, which was once part of a wetlands ecosystem that encompassed most of east Long Beach. The lagoon is now part of a 29-acre park in Long Beach.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

2. Colorado Lagoon path
Distance: 1.4 miles
Elevation gained: Minimal
Difficulty: Easy
Dogs allowed: Yes
Accessible alternative: This is an accessible hike!

This 1.4-mile accessible urban hike through a 29-acre marine wetland in Long Beach includes walking along the sidewalk, crossing over the lagoon’s causeway and taking a wide dirt path shaded by native plants and trees. And as a bonus, when you’re finished, you can go swimming at the lagoon’s sandy beach.

As I traversed the path, I paused on the bridge to look around the lagoon. I saw motion in the water and realized I’d spotted a sting ray! I watched the sand ray swim along for a bit, amazed at my luck. That said, if you do choose to go swimming in the lagoon, make sure to practice the sting ray shuffle.

Because of a large construction project, you cannot complete the full loop around the lagoon. You can either start at the eastern corner of the beach on the paved path and take the path in a northwesterly direction or start near Monrovia Avenue and East 6th Street, and take the sidewalk toward the lagoon.

Also, if you visit this weekend, look for the Friends of the Colorado Lagoon, who will host an educational talk from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday where visitors will learn about the lagoon’s history and ecology and then participate in a hands-on activity helping clean up the lagoon. Learn more at the group’s website.

Upper portions of the Rising Sun Trail afford elevated ocean views from Solstice Canyon in Malibu.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

3. Solstice Canyon Trail
Distance: 3 miles
Elevation gained: About 400 feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Dogs allowed: Yes
Accessible alternative: Legacy Park loop

Even when its seasonal waterfall is dry, Solstice Canyon is a lush landscape of coastal sage scrub (with the occasional black-hooded parakeet). This moderate hike takes you through the canyon, along its creek where black walnut and oak trees offer shade as lizards dash across the path. You can either take this more moderate route 1.5 miles in and turn around. Or if you’re thirsty for ocean views, make a loop by taking the Rising Sun Trail, a 1.4-mile more challenging route.

Regardless of where you go, please make sure to check the weather beforehand and go early in the day to avoid the hottest parts of the day. Thankfully, autumn is coming!

3 things to do

Churchgoers pass out water to cyclists at a previous CicLAvia event.

(CicLAvia Los Angeles)

1. Bike through Historic South–Central and Watts
Nonprofit CicLAvia will host a free open streets festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday where participants can traverse a 6.25-mile route through Historic South-Central and Watts. Visitors can walk and bike the route or choose any other people-powered means of transport. The route will include music, local food vendors and more. Learn more at ciclavia.org.

2. Bare it all on bikes in L.A.
L.A.’s World Naked Bike Ride will start at 10 a.m. Saturday downtown. Riders can choose from a more challenging ride at 10 a.m. or an easier 9-mile ride at 2 p.m. Participants can skate, scoot, jog or bike in their birthday suits along the ride. Body paint optional! Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

3. Star gaze in Malibu
The Malibu Creek State Park docents will host a night of stargazing and astronomy from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the park’s amphitheater. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets and their curiosity. Learn more at the park’s Instagram page.

The must-read

(Photo illustration by Avery Fox / Los Angeles Times; photos by Tiana Molony)

Whenever you visit Santa Barbara, a two-hour jaunt northwest of L.A., your trip most likely includes a visit to one of the city’s gorgeous beaches. But as Times contributor Tiana Molony points out, “Santa Barbara is a place of dual delights.” Molony outlines the best places to hike in the region, where you’ll have views of both the Pacific Ocean and the mountains. Saddle Rock Trail, for instance, offers a sweeping panoramic view. Or if you want to take a dip in freshwater, check out Rattlesnake Canyon. Any of the eight hikes she writes about sound like a worthy side quest on a trip along the Santa Barbara coast.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Dear Wilders, we have an important task at hand this fall. The California State Parks Foundation is asking nature lovers to report sightings of western monarch butterflies as they overwinter along the Pacific coast from October through March(ish). You can do so by downloading iNaturalist, a free community science app, and register for an account. You will use the app to upload photographs of monarchs you spot, noting the location where you saw them. I spotted a monarch last week near my apartment complex’s dumpster and immediately uploaded the blurry but helpful image. For those with extra time, you can register to volunteer to help count monarchs in overwintering sites near you. Let’s help document these important pollinators and do our part to ensure their survival.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

Forget Malibu or the North Shore. Next summer, you can catch a wave in Palm Desert, 100 miles from the nearest ocean.

After years of delays, DSRT Surf, the Coachella Valley’s second surf destination, is expected to open to the public in the summer of 2026. The new complex will offer inland surfers a steady stream of machine-powered waves in a 5.5 acre surf pool embedded in the sprawling Desert Willow Golf Resort.

The complex, which will eventually include a 139-key hotel and 57 luxury villas, is the latest addition to a growing number of surf resorts opening across the country and the world that don’t require proximity to a coastline. Surf pools may not have the romance and drama of the open ocean, but fans say they can provide beginners and experienced surfers alike consistent waves for working on skills as well as introduce the sport to people who lack easy access to natural waves.

A rendering shows visitors riding machine-powered waves in a 5.5 acre surf pool.

(Beach Street Development)

And at least in Palm Desert, it also helps that the weather is significantly more predictable than at a seaside resort where a surf trip might be ruined by a week of rain.

“We often say if you could pick a place in the world to do this, this is absolutely the best place in the world,” said Doug Sheres, a partner at Beach Street Development, the company behind DSRT Surf at a ground-breaking ceremony in 2024. “Literally right here in Desert Willow, surrounded by the greens, surrounded by the lake, surrounded by the mountains, and 350 days of sunshine a year.”

The project, which was delayed by COVID and a complex permitting process, has been in the works since 2018 and was approved by the Palm Desert City Council in 2019 despite some residents’ concerns about water usage and questions about the wisdom of building a surf park in the middle of the desert.

The wave pool holds 7 million gallons of water and, because of evaporation, filtration and maintenance, it is expected to go through roughly 25 million gallons of water a year. However, as part of its agreement with Palm Desert, Beach Street Development has committed to replacing 1 million square feet of existing turf in the Desert Willow Golf Resort with native plantings, a move that is projected to save 35 million gallons of water a year while not impacting game play on the courses.

“Through this initiative, our surf pool will not use any incremental water above or beyond what is currently already being used today at Desert Willow,” the developers wrote on DSRT Surf’s website.

In addition to the wave pool, DSRT Surf will also offer pickleball courts, a swimming pool, jacuzzi, yoga classes, a restaurant and a skate bowl.

The opening of DSRT Surf comes just two years after the reopening of Palm Springs Surf Club 10 miles down the road. That club is built on the site of a former water park and features a 1.5 acre wave pool, a lazy river and water slides. It hasn’t always been popular with guests and neighbors — its wave pool was plagued with mechanical issues in its early months, and its machines and events have generated dozens of noise complaints, though management has said noise-reducing solutions are in the works.

DSRT Surf’s massive surf lagoon will be larger than four football fields and will accommodate 70 surfers at once. Although prices for hour-long surf sessions have not yet been set, Sheres said they are committed to making surfing in the desert affordable for the local community.

“We consider this very much available to all income levels and demographics, ” he said in an interview. “It’s wide open to everyone.”

Bob Anderson — physician, pilot, executive — is nothing if not a perfectionist.

He’s owned his fair share of recreational vehicles and disliked each of them uniquely. There was the Earth Roamer (anemic axles, in his opinion), the $350,000 Newmar land yacht (complex emissions technology) and a 25-foot Airstream trailer (lots of propane). Yet Anderson, 81, keeps buying camping rigs. And he’s hoping the next one will be his last.

This fall, he’ll take delivery of a Lightship AE.1 Cosmos, an RV as similar to an Airstream as a Tesla Roadster is to a Pontiac Firebird.

What separates the Lightship from the rest of Anderson’s letdowns is its propulsion system and design: The rig has two electric motors, so it can drive itself while hitched to the vehicle towing it, and the entire top half tucks down for better aerodynamics while underway. With these two hacks, the vehicle towing the Lightship will feel virtually no weight most of the time. On the interstate, Anderson’s hybrid pickup truck will theoretically get its standard 27 miles per gallon, rather than the 12.5 miles it manages with the Airstream behind it.

“It’s going to change everything in the RV world,” Anderson says.

This year may well be an inflection point for the RV industry, when serious alternatives are emerging to the gas-guzzling rigs chugging between national parks.

In addition to the Lightship, the Pebble Flow — another towable camper with an electric drivetrain — will hit the road. Meanwhile, a host of electric vans will finally be stamped out in high volumes, most notably Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz , the latest iteration of the brand’s storied bus. Even incumbent Thor Inc., which is to RVs what Apple is to smartphones, is putting the final touches on its first hybrid rig.

“It’s certainly a huge milestone,” says McKay Featherstone, head of global innovation at Thor Inc. “People can finally go and buy these things and experience this technology.”

Last year, Americans bought 637,000 RVs, many of which burned a gallon of gas every six to 15 miles traveled. These rigs will stay on the road for about 200,000 miles, belching copious amounts of carbon dioxide.

Electric RVs promise to make the summer road trip vastly cleaner, more convenient and quiet.

Among other things, electric models will help the RV industry shake off what the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association refers to as a “Covid hangover.” The group is forecasting a slight increase in total US sales this year, in part because of the growing number of electric options.

“The vibes, if you will, are good,” says spokeswoman Monika Geraci. “And there does seem to be an appetite there.”

In a Venn diagram of folks who love camping and folks who are climate-concerned, there’s quite a bit of overlap. That may partially explain why, of the roughly 58 million American households that go camping every year, only 12 million of them own an RV.

Yet it’s not like RV drivers don’t care about the climate. “Obviously, these people love the outdoors,” explains Featherstone at Thor, “and that does translate into people who want a lighter footprint.”

In fact, some of the same people who long avoided camping rigs and their sizable clouds of emissions are now at the helm of RV startups. These folks could never find a camper green enough for their liking, so they set out to make one.

Lightship was launched by two Tesla alumni after a disappointing RV journey. Co-founder Toby Kraus says the company is getting plenty of interest from RV newbies who strive to keep a low carbon footprint, but the company has been surprised at the number of orders from everyday drivers and who don’t care about the climate benefits.

Anderson is one of the latter: He pays little mind to his personal carbon footprint. What thrills him is the idea of spending less money on gas and having an RV that doesn’t have to churn a combustion engine to run the air conditioning and refrigerator.

In that regard, Lightspeed is borrowing a page from the Tesla playbook.

“The reason Tesla was successful is not because it was sustainable,” Kraus explains. “It’s because the product was awesome. It was clean tech by Trojan Horse.”

With the glow of ambient light tucked behind ceiling fabric, the interior of the Lightship Ae.1 feels like the first-class cabin of a commercial jet. An induction cooktop is built into the counter, a heat pump quietly cycles air and everything on the rig is controlled by an app. Lightship plans to eventually sell smaller, more affordable models, but its launch vehicle costs a heady $250,000.

The Pebble Flow parks a little further down market with its founders edition priced at $175,000. Co-founder Bingrui Yang spent much of his career working at Apple on the iPhone and, aesthetically, the rig travels the same lane. With a bed that folds up against the wall and Starlink internet service, the interior is geared for Zoom calls as much as napping in nature, reflecting the rise of remote work.

“This is the right time for this product,” Yang says.

The market is also shifting in ways that may further favor electric models. Since 2021, the average age of US RV customers has dropped from 53 to 49, while the share of the market making more than $100,000 a year climbed from 29% to 33%.

“It’s not your grandma and grandpa anymore,” Geraci says. “It’s a different consumer, and they’re looking for more technology.”

While expensive, the new electric towables change the standard RV economics; because they can propel themselves much of the time, they can be towed with less horsepower and pair nicely with electric vehicles, machines for which towing has been Kryptonite due to range issues.

There are also alternatives on the horizon to the hulking, three-bedroom motor coach. These vehicles make up one out of every 10 RVs sold, yet they get some of the worst gas mileage of any non-commercial vehicle, hoovering up a gallon of gas every six or seven miles.

Thor is putting the finishing touches on a hybrid vehicle — dubbed simply “Test Vehicle” — that doesn’t look markedly different from its gas-burning products. But refinements in design make it about 20% more aerodynamic. The 210 kilowatt-hours of battery power under the hood along with a gas generator for charging give it somewhere around 500 miles of range.

On long trips, it will burn roughly half as much fuel as a similar-sized internal combustion rig and offer even better range on short jaunts. Thor will start taking orders in the fall and producing the vehicles by year-end.

Still, there’s a huge chunk of the camper market for whom even a towable is too much. Last year, Americans bought 8,300 camper vans as well as an untold number converted minivans and commercial vans to handle s’mores and sleeping duty.

These folks also have a bevy of new choices. In the first half of the year, Americans bought 2,500 ID.Buzzes. Many of those rigs will be pressed into minimalist camping service, and aftermarket shops are helping kit them out.

That includes Peace Vans in Seattle, which counts both Macklemore and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron as clients. For the Buzz, the company built three different camping configurations. Owner Harley Stitner expects to complete about 1,000 retrofits in the next few years.

Sam Shapiro launched Grounded RVs after six months on the road in 2020 en route to a job at SpaceX. “Before that, I don’t think I’d ever even been in an RV,” he says. “There’s this irony of having this experience to embrace nature, yet you’re sitting there at a campground running a combustion engine, creating exhaust, making noise.”

At its factory in Detroit, Grounded is essentially taking the chassis of an electric General Motors BrightDrop van, topping it with the shell of a Class B motorhome and adding its own solar array and battery management software. The rigs can travel about 300 miles on a charge. As with other electric campers, buyers will pay a premium: $195,000, nearly double what a gas-burning rig of the same size runs.

Last year, Grounded shipped 15 of its machines; this year, it’s aiming for 50. Roughly half of Grounded customers are RV rookies.

“They’ve been waiting for something like this to come along,” Shapiro says. “So many of our customers have said they never want to own a gas-powered vehicle again.”

Stock writes for Bloomberg.

I have a common refrain, almost a mantra at this point, whenever I — still excitedly — spot a large black bird soaring above me on a hike: It’s always a turkey vulture.

After hiking around Southern California for almost a decade, I have yet to spot a California condor, the vulture’s much-larger majestic cousin. I recently decided to stop simply hoping and actually dedicate myself to observing the largest land bird in North America. We are quite lucky, after all, to have such a large dinosaur living within an hour’s drive of L.A.!

And thankfully to me, and you, dear Wilder, the L.A. Times newsroom is home to a passionate birder who has made it his mission over the past five years to spot as many condors as he can. Raul Roa is a Times photojournalist and avid birder.

Roa has been birding for 30 years, but started actively looking for condors about five years ago. He documented his first condor on June 1, 2019, at Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge. Since then, he has documented 54 condors, each of which he can identify by its wing tag. What started his interest?

“They’re one of the rarest birds in the world. … And they’re endemic to our area — they’re local here,” Roa said. “To have a bird like this accessible in a relatively close [drive], I think it’s one of the birds people should want to see in their lifetime because they’re just majestic.”

Here are the condor-spotting tips I gleaned from our conversation.

Identify condor hot spots

In California, the condor’s range extends from Los Padres National Forest (which is northwest of L.A.), Angeles National Forest and a portion of San Bernardino National Forest, all the way north to San José and Sequoia National Forest. Under the right weather conditions, the birds can fly up to 250 miles in search of food — that would be like driving to San Diego and back in one day in search of tacos (which is reasonable if they’re really good tacos).

Magic Mountain Wilderness in Angeles National Forest is an area condors are known to frequent (and can be a nice area to hike in cooler temperatures).

Four California condors take a break on the roof of a home in Stallions Springs in 2021. The bird with the pink No. 5 tag is now a 10-year-old male.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Roa told me that the spots nearest to L.A. where he’s spotted condors include:

Other spots farther away, but worth the drive, Roa said, are:

And, as a bonus, “if you go to the same spot, you’ll see the same birds,” Roa said.

Learn how to identify them

Here are some key differences between condors and turkey vultures.

• Turkey vultures, with wingspans of about 5½ feet, are much smaller than condors, which have wingspans of almost 10 feet. (By comparison, the Cessna Skyhawk, a popular single-engine plane, has a wingspan of 36 feet and one inch, so a condor is just under a third as large!)
• Condors fly with their wings straight out while turkey vultures typically fly in a V-shape.
• Turkey vultures have white gray-ish feathers on the trailing edge of the underside of their feathers — what a non-birder might call the bottom of their wings — while a condor has a white patch across the upper underside of their wings (the leading edge, as the birders say) that, as an Okie, I think resembles a Texas longhorn.
• A condor will generally have a wing tag.

A California condor warms up in the sun next to some turkey vultures south of Carmel near Big Sur in 2010.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Roa has been lucky enough to have condors fly just feet above his car.

“I’ve been close to a condor, within 10 feet, and when they take off, their wings make a sound like nothing else,” he said. “It’s like a big swoosh in slow motion. I’ve never heard anything like that from another bird.”

Look at dawn and dusk

Roa said he’s had the best luck spotting the birds early in the morning or in the evening. During the day, they’re usually out hunting for fresh carrion, also known as dead stuff.

Be patient

“Wild animals will do what they want,” Roa said. “If you’re patient, you’ll see them. You might have to wait a few hours. You might see them right away. You might not see them, but that’s what I do. I go out there where they’re expected to be seen. … I get lucky a lot of times from being patient and watching the skies.”

And don’t forget your binoculars and long camera lens!

California condor green No. 84 (784) is a male named Eeuukey. He was photographed flying in Stallions Springs in 2021. Part of the Southern California flock, he hatched at the L.A. Zoo in 2015 and is now 10.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

Roa learned where to find condors by using apps like iBird. iNaturalist is also a good resource, and any condors you document can be used to help scientists understand their range.

There are also Facebook groups and great nonprofits where you can volunteer to help efforts to save the condor, including Friends of California Condors Wild and Free and the Ventana Wildlife Society, which hosts a monthly chat about the birds.

Be respectful

Despite herculean efforts to rescue them from the brink of extinction, condors remain critically endangered. If you’re lucky enough to see one in the wild, do not get close. Don’t be loud. Just respectfully observe them and count yourself among the lucky few.

A California condor rests near a dirt road in the Sespe Condor Sanctuary during an escorted trip through Hopper Mountain in 2019.

(Raul Roa / Los Angeles Times)

“Expect to see nothing, but if you see something, you’re really lucky. Feel grateful,” Roa said.

And, if you happen to see a turkey vulture instead, look closely for other birds near it. Roa sees them and condors together “all the time.”

Maybe I will see a condor someday after all.

3 things to do

Rainbow trout, only two inches in length, swim in the Arroyo Seco.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

1. Hike, bird and learn across L.A.
Several events are scheduled across L.A. County for California Biodiversity Day, which runs Saturday through Sept. 14. You can hike from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Black Star Canyon or at nearby Gypsum Canyon the following week. You can go birding from 8 to 11 a.m. Sunday at Debs Park to spot feathered neighbirds and then head to the Arroyo Seco at 3 p.m. to learn about the river’s biodiversity. Learn more about these and other events at californianature.ca.gov.

2. Bike along rivers in the San Gabriel Valley
ActiveSGV and Amigos de los Rios will co-host a 12-mile bike ride from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday starting at the Jeff Seymour Family Center (10900 Mulhall St., El Monte). The ride will take city streets and bike paths as cyclists explore the Rio Hondo and San Gabriel River. Register at eventbrite.com.

3. Paddle with pals in Long Beach
Kayakers and paddle boarders will meet for a sunset paddle at 6 p.m. today at Alamitos Bay in Long Beach. All skill levels are welcome, although participants should be comfortable paddling at dusk. Along with a vessel, guests should bring a headlamp or other light and a life vest or belt with leash. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

Steven Gutierrez, national business representative with the National Federation of Federal Employees, in Turnbull Canyon.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Amid staffing cuts, housing safety issues and stagnant wages, more than 600 employees at Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks have unionized. Times staff writer Lila Seidman reported that more than 97% of employees who cast ballots voted to unionize during an election held from July 22 to Aug. 19. The workers are represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees, which also represents park employees in Yellowstone, and staff at the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. “Culture is hard to change,” said Steven Gutierrez, a national business representative for the union. “It takes something like this administration firing people to wake people up, to say, ‘Hey, I’m vulnerable here and I need to invest in my career.’”

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Are you looking to up your outdoors game? Consider attending an information session about the Sierra Club’s Wilderness Travel Course at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Sports Basement Long Beach (2100 N. Bellflower Blvd.). This 10-week mountaineering and outdoor skills program, taught by the Angeles chapter in four locations across L.A., teaches participants about field navigation, scrambling, backpacking and more. The class aims to empower you to “travel, eat, and sleep more comfortably in any climate.” It also includes great field trips where you can test your knowledge. Registration for the next set of classes opens Sept. 15.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

A three-day weekend is approaching, and you’d like to escape to the mountains. But you didn’t plan ahead. What’s an L.A. outdoorsy resident to do?

Don’t fret, my dear Wilder, for there are about 30 first-come, first-served campgrounds around L.A. County, and I’m here to suggest a few where I think even the worst of planners could snag a spot this weekend.

Let’s start with the popular first-come, first-served spots near L.A.

Chilao’s Little Pines loop is aptly named, as it features several sizes of pine trees that provide nice shade and good smells.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

If you leave right now, meaning Thursday late morning when this newsletter publishes, you might get lucky enough to snag a spot at Buckhorn, a 38-site first-come, first-served campground in Angeles National Forest. This pine-dappled paradise is just over an hour’s drive from L.A. and sits at around 6,500 feet elevation, offering a cool reprieve from your steamy apartment. (That window unit can only do so much!)

Or you could try Chilao, an 84-site campground about 10 miles southwest of Buckhorn. It is also first-come, first-served. My wife and I once snagged the last campsite available on a Memorial Day weekend trip (in which we undoubtedly set up our tent in the dark).

The view from a campsite in Chilao campground in Angeles National Forest.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Buckhorn is very popular and fills up quickly. Chilao is also popular but larger, so again, perhaps you’d get lucky! Make sure to check both the Manzanita and Little Pines loops for spots. If you left Friday morning, I think you’d snag a spot at Chilao.

Crystal Lake — not to be confused with Crystal Cove — is a 120-site campground north of Azusa in Angeles National Forest. If you forget anything, the charming Crystal Lake Cafe is on-site, selling burgers, sandwiches and an array of camping supplies and treats. It is also a popular spot, but given its size, hopefully you could find a spot on Friday.

Coldbrook Creek at Coldbrook Campground.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

On your way to Crystal Lake, you’d pass Coldbrook Campground, which has 22 sites, including some spots next to the creek where the campground gets its name. If it were me and I had enough time, I’d swing by Coldbrook on Friday morning to see whether any spots were still open before heading up to Crystal Lake. That said, Crystal Lake provides stunning views of the night sky. My friends recently camped there around the peak of the Perseid meteor shower and saw shooting stars.

I am too nervous to try this, but resort Mountain High manages five campgrounds near Wrightwood, and some sites are first-come, first-served. Wrightwood is a charming mountain town, and hikes in the surrounding area offer stunning panoramic views. That said, the campgrounds are popular too, so I wouldn’t leave late Friday evening expecting to find a spot.

Several of the sites at Coldbrook Campground sit at the creek the campground was named after. The campground is also nestled among the San Gabriel Mountains and provides great views of nearby peaks.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

For those of you who are stuck at work until 5 p.m. Friday, I want to provide options for you too.

Here are some less popular but still great spots to consider.

• Horse Flat: A 26-site campground in Angeles National Forest shaded by tall pine trees and near the scenic Silver Moccasin Trail. No potable water available.
• Mt. Pacifico: Ten tent-only sites; no potable water; reached by driving a narrow dirt road for about 4.4 miles — an experience that gave me the vapors because of its steep drop-offs — and then another mile on a rougher road recommended only for high-clearance vehicles. It can also be reached by backpacking.
• Sawmill: A remote eight-site campground with striking views of the Antelope Valley and more that’s about a two-hour drive from L.A. There is no potable water, but thanks to recent renovations funded by federal Great American Outdoors money, the campground has bear boxes and campfire rings. The Pacific Crest Trail is nearby and great for day hikes! You must travel a steep dirt road to reach the campground, so consider a vehicle with good clearance.

Lastly, if you have gear handy, you could consider a quick backpacking trip. I wrote this guide on backpacking near L.A., highlighting great spots to check out. I’m personally itching to get back to Valley Forge.

Regardless of where you end up for Labor Day weekend, I hope you have a safe and serene time in our public lands. Feel free to let me know how it goes! I love hearing about your adventures in the wild.

3 things to do

Hikers trek in the Turtle Rock area in Irvine.

(William Vazquez)

1. Clean up a trail with new pals in Irvine
We Explore Earth will host a hike and trail cleanup as well as post-hike yoga and a journaling session from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday in Irvine. Participants will meet at the Turtle Rock trailhead, hiking 1.7 miles round-trip and picking up trash along the way. Afterward, the group will be led in yoga and nature journaling. Register at eventbrite.com.

2. Gaze at the stars in Silver Lake
The Los Angeles Astronomical Society will host a star party from 8 to 10:30 p.m. Thursday at Sunset Triangle Plaza (3700 Sunset Blvd.). Participants are encouraged to have dinner at nearby local restaurants while they look at the cosmos through provided telescopes. Learn more at nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov.

3. Learn about queer ecology in L.A.
Local naturalist Jason Wise and biological anthropologist Natalia Reagan will host a queer ecology-focused walk at 6 p.m. next Thursday near the Elysian Park Arboretum. Participants will learn about native Californian animals that scientists have documented engaging in homosexual behavior. Tickets on a sliding scale from free to $33.85. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

(Maggie Chiang / For The Times)

Any hiker knows that going outside is restorative, but I was intrigued to learn in my conversation with environmental neuroscientist Marc G. Berman that a person benefits from being in nature even if they don’t enjoy it. I recently spoke to Berman about his new book, “Nature and the Mind: The Science of How Nature Improves Cognitive, Physical, and Social Well-Being.” Berman told me scientists believe nature can restore our attention spans in part because it is “softly fascinating,” like when we gaze at a waterfall. “The kind of stimulation that gives you this restful, restorative experience has to be softly fascinating and not harshly fascinating,” Berman said. The thing that will stay with me most, though, is what Berman told me about the humanizing effects nature can have on our psyche — a crucial bit of data in the midst of so much dehumanizing rhetoric in the news.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Back in June, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins rescinded the 2001 “Roadless Rule,” a landmark environmental law that established significant protections — namely from road construction and logging — for 58.5 million acres of national forestland, including 4.4 million acres in California. The Trump administration says the rule must be revoked to decrease wildfire risk, a claim that environmental advocates found dubious, arguing this is yet another public land grab. Friends of the Inyo recently flagged that the public comment period, which is part of the formal rulemaking process, is expected to start soon on what should be done next regarding the Roadless Rule. You should be able to check this U.S. Forest Service page to stay apprised of the process. I will also keep you posted!

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.

The Trump administration halted construction on a nearly complete offshore wind project off Rhode Island as the White House continues to attack the battered U.S. offshore wind industry that scientists say is crucial to the urgent fight against climate change.

Danish wind farm developer Orsted says the Revolution Wind project is about 80% complete, with 45 of its 65 turbines already installed.

Despite that progress — and the fact that the project had cleared years of federal and state reviews — the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued the order Friday, saying the federal government needs to review the project and “address concerns related to the protection of national security interests of the United States.”

It did not specify what the national security concerns are.

President Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects. He recently called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post and vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. “The days of stupidity are over in the USA!!!” he wrote on his Truth Social site this week.

Scientists across the globe agree that nations need to rapidly embrace renewable energy to stave off the worst effects of climate change, including extreme heat and drought; larger, more intense wildfires; and supercharged hurricanes, typhoons and rainstorms that lead to catastrophic flooding.

Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee criticized the stop-work order and said he and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont “will pursue every avenue to reverse the decision to halt work on Revolution Wind” in a post on X. Both governors are Democrats.

Construction on Revolution Wind began in 2023, and the project was expected to be fully operational next year. Orsted says it is evaluating the financial impact of stopping construction and is considering legal proceedings.

Revolution Wind is located more than 15 miles south of the Rhode Island coast, 32 miles southeast of the Connecticut coast and 12 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard. Rhode Island is already home to one offshore wind farm, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm.

Revolution Wind was expected to be Rhode Island and Connecticut’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes. The densely populated states have minimal space available for land-based energy projects, which is why the offshore wind project is considered crucial for the states to meet their climate goals.

“This arbitrary decision defies all logic and reason — Revolution Wind’s project was already well underway and employed hundreds of skilled tradesmen and women. This is a major setback for a critical project in Connecticut, and I will fight it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said in a statement.

Wind power is the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S. and provides about 10% of the electricity generated nationwide.

“Today, the U.S. has only one fully operational large-scale offshore wind project producing power. That is not enough to meet America’s rising energy needs. We need more energy of all types, including oil and gas, wind, and new and emerging technologies,” said Erik Milito, president of the National Ocean Industries Assn., which supports offshore oil, gas and wind energy.

Green Oceans, a nonprofit that opposes the offshore wind industry, applauded the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management decision. “We are grateful that the Trump Administration and the federal government are taking meaningful action to preserve the fragile ocean environment off the coasts of Rhode Island and Massachusetts,” the group said in a statement.

This is the second major offshore wind project the White House has halted. Work was stopped on Empire Wind, a New York offshore wind project, but construction was allowed to resume after New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul, both Democrats, intervened.

“This administration has it exactly backwards. It’s trying to prop up clunky, polluting coal plants while doing all it can to halt the fastest growing energy sources of the future — solar and wind power,” Kit Kennedy, managing director for the power division at Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, every American is paying the price for these misguided decisions.”

O’Malley writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jennifer McDermott in Providence, R.I., and Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this report.