2023 Travelogue

In August of 2023 I started off on a road trip in my Subaru Outback which was a continuation of my trips in 2019 and 2022.

After watching a Huell Howser show on the Manzanar Reservoir, I decided to start with that as my first destination. I’d been to Manzanar before, but had missed the reservoir. Photos at

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ManzanarReservoir2023/index.htm

After overnighting in Bishop, the next tourist stop was Mono Lake. I had made a quick stop there once when the visitor center was closed, but a visitor center stop is a must. Got good advice there on trails to take and even a tour. Bugs actually live in the lake! Photos at

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/MonoLake2023/index.htm

At Mono Lake they told me to make a worthwhile short detour to Bodie ghost town:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Bodie2023/index.htm

Pitched my tent in  Coleville. Made a history stop the next day at Dangberg and Mormon Station in Nevada:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/MormonStation2023/index.htm

Walked around and visited a couple of little but interesting museums. 

Stayed in a motel in Susanville. 

Managed to visit Tule Lake when the new visitor center was closed:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/TuleLake2023/index.htm

Disappointed yet again that the Klamath Basin wildlife refuge is still dry and mostly dead in spite of the rains. I was told that in the past the refuge had depended on irrigation runoff. Unfortunately irrigation has become too efficient to produce runoff and the refuge has the lowest priority for water.

Made an unplanned stop at the Collier Logging Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Collier2023/index.htm

Just saw the sign as I was driving by.

Another serendipitous stop occurred when I made a pit stop and discovered the Crooked River Bridges which are very photogenic.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/CrookedRiver2023/index.htm

Stopped for the night at the Redmond KOA.

Finally getting close to my first planned destination, I made a stop at the Reach Museum in Richland Washington to prepare. This museum presents the story of Hanford Reach, including the natural, human, and Manhattan Project angles.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ReachMuseum2023/index.htm

Highly recommended if you are making a trip to the National Monument.

Camped out for 2 nights at the KOA in Pasco, originally one of the sites of the three local boomtowns built for the Manhattan Project. I prepped there for my trip the next day for Reactor B trip:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ReactorB2023/index.htm

I had signed up ahead of time for the tour of Reactor B at Hanford, the first full scale nuclear reactor as they say. For information on the tours, see

https://manhattanprojectbreactor.hanford.gov/

Went to the visitor center and then took the park provided bus to the site after an orientation lecture.. After another orientation lecture onsite you can wander around the reactor until it’s time to get back on the bus. You can’t wander around outside of the reactor site since it may still be hot. Only the reactor building is still standing. The massive water pumping and purification plants are gone. 

For your convenience, back at the visitor center there is a coffee place nearby as well as two craft breweries. There was also a brewery on the other side of the campground in Pasco.

While heading back to camp I noticed that there is a small park with the sail from submarine Triton, and not too far away by car is a Leslie Groves Park:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Triton2023/index.htm

The next day I drove  to my next planned stop, at LIGO for the tour:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/LIGO2023/index.htm

This is another tour for which you have to make advanced reservations. Much of the Hanford Reach area is still off-limits to the public, which means it is empty of human development and noise, and so a perfect spot for LIGO, which doesn’t need any extra vibrations. 

The tour is only an hour long but worth it. The visitor center also has exhibits inside and out.

I did take a drive through the sections of the Reach that are accessible to humans, especially along the Columbia River. Again, due to the radiation danger, this is the one stretch of the Columbia that has not been developed. However, from certain points along the river you can see the white cocooned remains of the reactors that did not become museums. Very eery.

Made my escape to the farming town of Hermiston which had a great and bargain priced brewpub.

The next day while driving along the freeway at rest stops there were  history kiosks that explained the history of the Oregon Trail:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/OregonTrail2023/index.htm

At Twin Falls I decided to take some photos of Shoshone Falls:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/ShoshoneFalls2023/index.htm

The falls depend on whether or not they turn the water on.

Next planned stop was EBR-1, the first power producing breeder reactor. Note, Hanford B did not produce electrical power; all the heat was taken away by the water cooling system sourced from the Columbia River. They had plenty of electricity from the Grand Coulee Dam. EBR-1 is now a walk-in museum. Included is a display room about EBR-2 and the cancelled IFR.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Camas2023/index.htm

Drove through Arco which claims to be the first town lit by nuclear power. On the way out came across another submarine sail rising from a rest stop which had been meant to be the Arco Science Center:

Around Arco (ikemi.info)

Arco had been in contention with Idaho Falls as the logistics and administrative center for what is now Idaho National Laboratories.

After spending the night in Idaho falls, the next stop was Camas National Wildlife Refuge where there were some birds. Drove the nature trail.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/Camas2023/index.htm

After more driving got up to Butte Montana where I noticed the World Museum of Mining

World Museum of Mining (ikemi.info)

I got there in time to go on a tour which included a trip underground.

The Butte KOA had a nature trail running through it so I took an evening walk along it. Lots of birds and bugs.

The Museum of the Rockies had been recommended to me so that was my next stop:

Museum of the Rockies (ikemi.info)

I especially liked the Living History Farm:

Living History Farm and more MOR (ikemi.info)

Not too far away was the American Computer Museum, which although small, was pretty comprehensive:

American Computer Museum (ikemi.info)

In Butte I wondered why the sky was turning brown. It was explained to me that it was smoke from the Canadian forest fires. They are still going, and the smoke filled the sky to Yellowstone. 

Stayed at the Livingston/Paradise Valley KOA outside of Yellowstone. Kind of a nice location.

The next day I visited Heart Mountain:

Heart Mountain (ikemi.info)

Smokier and smokier but cleared after passing the Yellowstone area and on to Cody where it was kind of windy at the KOA there.

The next day I stumbled upon Thermopolis and the Hot Springs State Park where I did not go for a dip but a hike instead. Don’t forget to cross the suspension bridge to see the geological formations. Reminded me of the hot springs I had seen in  Pamukkale, Turkey. 

Hot Springs State Park (ikemi.info)

Also in town was a fantastic dinosaur fossil museum:

Wyominng Dinosaur Center (ikemi.info)

After camping in Rawlins I drove towards Silverton from the north, stopping first at the Ouray KOA. The views on the drive were incredible. At Silverton the next day I walked around and spent time at the San Juan County Historical Society Museum, which is a must see if you are there. 

San Juan County Historical Society (ikemi.info)

Back in 2015  I had ridden the train into Silverton:

Silverton Train Ride (ikemi.info)

Back then the stop was too short to see much and it was raining, so I had been wanting to get back to Silverton since then.

I descended down towards Santa Fe, first overnighting in a motel in Espanola. The next day I visited the Randall Davey Audubon Center where I went for a hike and enjoyed their garden. I also asked and was guided to the room where some Randall Davies paintings were on display. More info at:

Randall Davey: Explore An Artist’s Legacy

You can search for examples of Davey art online. 

Next I visited the large New Mexico History Museum

New Mexico History Museum (ikemi.info)

 and then the International Folk Art Museum

International Folk Art Museum (ikemi.info)

And the adjacent Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Museum of Indian Arts and Culture (ikemi.info)

At the Folk Art Museum I especially enjoyed the exhibit on Yokai.

Last stop on the way out of Santa Fe was the site of the former DOJ prison camp where my grandfather was confined according to his FBI record. His crime? Belonging to a Japanese association. On the site is now one of the biggest dog parks I have ever seen. 

Santa Fe Department of Justice Internment Camp site (ikemi.info)

Stopped at a motel in Bernalillo Next day it was on to Albuquerque where I visited the Biopark and zoo:

ABQ BioPark (ikemi.info)

ABQ Zoo (ikemi.info)

The Japanese Garden in the Biopark has come a long way from my first visit a while back. 

Stayed overnight at Holbrook and then made an unplanned detour to the Flagstaff Arboretum:

Arboretum at Flagstaff (ikemi.info)

Where I did a lot of walking and visited the gardens and greenhouse.

On the way home I stayed near the London Bridge:

London Bridge (ikemi.info)

And then finally stops at Parker and Poston:

Parker and Poston (ikemi.info)

The train station is the same one you can see in the photos in the little museum in the shopping center. It’s been there for over a 100 years.

A lot of my family was interned at Poston and returned later for a Poston Pilrimage:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2023/PostonPilgrimage2023/index.htm

Travelogue 2022

2022 Travelogue

In September of 2022 I decided to continue a trip I had started in 2019, but had to cut short due to a loss in my family. I started off in the last third of September, which was kind of late for a lot of things. If you live in Southern California, you tend to forget that the rest of country might have seasons and things shut down.

Anyway my first destination was Merced to see the Merced National Wildlife Refuge:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/MercedNWR2022/index.htm

After staying the night in Merced. Learned that Refuges were built to lure migrating birds away from farmland. Capitalism can sometimes lead to good things. 

Then it was on to revisit the Sacramento NWR

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Sacramento2022/index.htm

Kind of dry, but still some birds to see. Camped at the Mt. Shasta KOA where it was very cold and they thought I was nuts to sleep in a tent. Continuing on the next day to Klamath Basin NWR, it was totally dry and almost no birds to see. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Klamath2022/index.htm

Better luck at the Lava Beds National Monument where I did a lot of walking:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/LavaBeds2022/index.htm

On to a motel in Salem and the next day it was a revisit to the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum. Kind of a shock to see a water slide coming out of a jet airliner.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Evergreen2022/index.htm

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/EvergreenSpace2022/index.htm

This time the price for visiting the cockpit of the Spruce Goose had dropped to $30 and I was richer so I went for it:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/SpruceGoose2022/index.htm

I camped at the Mt. St. Helens KOA. I went to one of the first visitor centers, but didn’t drive all the way up. The video feed was good enough for me. 

Made it up to Seattle to see the hugely expanded Museum of Flight:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/MuseumofFlight2022_2/index.htm

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/MuseumofFlight2022/index.htm

Could have spent another day there.

Stayed at a motel in town. The next day I drove over to see the Wing Luke Museum

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/WingLuke2022/index.htm

And took the walking tour of the area. After that made it to the Seattle Asian Art Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/AsianArt2022/index.htm

Stayed the night in a Wenatchee motel.

The next leg was to my reason for the trip, Glacier National Park. Camped for 2 nights in the huge Glacier campground. Since it was late in the season no reservations were required to drive into Glacier, but it was almost bumper to bumper in some places. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Glacier2022/index.htm

Definitely a fantastic place. Sad that the only glacier I could see was via my 400mm zoom lens on my MFT format camera, for an effective focal length of 800 mm if it were a 35mm format camera. The world is definitely getting warmer. To go hiking, the rangers told me to buy bear spray, which is kind of the opposite for parks in CA where you cannot carry bear spray. I bought a used can to be a good guy.

On the retreat from Glacier I visited U of  Idaho Arboretum and Botanical Gardens:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/UIdArboretum2022/index.htm

And spent the night in Clarkston. Then it was on to the Idaho State Museum in Boise:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/IdahoMuseum2022/index.htm

Stayed the night in a Boise motel.

The next day I visited the Idaho Botanical Garden. I was puzzled at first but the nice lady who sold me my entrance ticket assured me that there was a garden around the corner. Indeed, there is a large and interesting garden that I enjoyed walking through:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/IdahoBotanical2022/index.htm

The same lady advised that I also should see the Sawtooth Botanical Garden in Ketchum. Just the drive up there was worth it, but the small garden is nice with a large Tibetan Prayer Wheel blessed by the Dalai Lama. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/SawtoothBotanical2022/index.htm

I descended back down to the KOA near Twin Falls. The Snake River runs through a gorge outside of town that should be a National Park:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Perrine2022/index.htm

The next morning I visited the Minidoka National Historic Site. This late in the season the visitor center was closed but I walked most of the history path:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/Minidoka2022/index.htm

Next stop was Craters of the Moon where I did a lot of walking, getting kind of to the area where the astronauts practiced:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/CratersoftheMoon2022/index.htm

While driving to Idaho Falls and my motel I noticed EBR-1, which was already closed for the season, but gave me ideas for my next trip.

Early the next morning I walked over to the Japanese Friendship Garden:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/IdahoFalls2022/index.htm

This whole area along the river is very scenic.

While driving I chanced upon a rest stop called Hell’s Half Acre. There is a trail that goes around a mini version of Craters of the Moon. Definitely a lucky stop.

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/HalfAcre2022/index.htm

My goal for the day was the Golden Spike Historical Park. I got there just as the re-enactment of the historical moment was ending. The locomotives stayed there for most of the day and I was able to see them leave and return to their barns. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/GoldenSpike2022/index.htm

Camped at the KOA near Brigham City. It was Sunday so EVERYTHING in this part of the world was closed. The next day I visited the Bear River Migratory Refuge but the visitor center closes on Mondays. Did walk the trails, but the place was hurting for water. Bear River is the major source of water for the Great Salt Lake. 

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/BearRiver2022/index.htm

From there I drove to the Topaz Museum in Delta Utah. This museum (https://topazmuseum.org/) was founded in the town of Delta UT to preserve the history of the Topaz camp. I have to give Delta some credit for this effort. 

Topaz Museum Home

I drove out to the site of the camp where there is a monument but little left standing of the camp itself. Stayed the night in Beaver, UT. Wanted to make one last stop before I went home and found on Google the Clark County Wetlands:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2022/WetLandsPark2022/index.htm

There is a very nice visitor center and lots of hiking trails. All of the waste water from Las Vegas gets processed through there to create the wetlands, before being returned to Nature (Lake Mead). Heat there if you need some nature in Vegas!

2019 Travelogue

In the middle of September I started on what I thought would be an ambitious road trip. My first destination was the California State Mining & Mineral Museum. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside due to security concerns. So, check their website at:

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=588

However, photography was allowed at the Mariposa Historical Center:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Mariposa2019/index.html

And their website is at:

https://www.mariposamuseum.com/

The next day I chanced upon the Sacramental Valley Museum in Williams, CA:

https://www.mariposamuseum.com/

And their website is at:

https://sacvalleymuseum.org/

Another interesting place to visit if you’re in the area and interested in local history. Note that they close for the season.

I then chanced upon the Sacramento National Wildlige Refuge, followed by the Shasta National Historical Park.I then chanced again on the McConnell Arboretum & Gardens in Redding, CA which include the Sundial Bridge. Unfortunately I packed this all into one gallery:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Shasta2019/index.html

The next day I drove through Tulelake and the  Klamath Basin wildlife refuge. Back then it had water and birds. Too bad I didn’t appreciate all the birds I saw back then. Also didn’t have the camera gear to capture any photos of them. I did go to see Petroglyph Point (https://www.nps.gov/places/petroglyph-point-tulelake-ca.htm)

My photos at:

https://www.nps.gov/places/petroglyph-point-tulelake-ca.htm

The next day I made it to the Portland Japanese Garden:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Portland2019/index.html

And the next day the Portland Musem of Art:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/PMA2019/index.html

Followed by the Lan Su Chinese Garden:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/LanSu2019/index.html

The next day I visited the Tacoma Art Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/TMA2019/index.html

Followed by the Museum of Glass:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/Glass2019/index.html

And the Washington History Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/WashHist2019/index.html

The next day I squeezed in the Washington Park Arboretum and Japanese Gardens

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/WashingtonPark2019/index.html

And the Flying Heritage and Armor Museum:

http://ikemi.info/Graphics2019/FlyingHeritage2019/index.html

I had previously visited this museum on the way back from Alaska in 2008:

http://ikemi.info/graphics/FlyingHeritage/index.html

This museum was closed during Covid and since the founder Paul allen had passed away, it was feared that the museum would permanently close. However, Steuart Walton bought the collection and museum reopened in 2023.

I probably should have turned around a day earlier, but I had to cut my trip short at this point and return home. I resumed the trip in 2022 and 2023.

Parks of LA and OC, part 3

This is the third installment of my report on park explorations in LA and Orange Counties during and after(?) the Covid pandemic. 

I’ve found that I rather like finding parks, nature centers, wilderness areas that are new to me so I plan on keeping it up. 

There may be some repeats from the past reports which means that I revisited them or just plain forgot. My main resources for discovering venues have been Google Maps and more recently Alltrails. To get decent use out of Alltrails, you have to pay money, but it has helped me find some trails that I never would have imagined were there.

Some of my discoveries are simple walks around city parks, but others are in wilderness areas that require decent shoes/boots, water, sun protection, etc. Do your homework before you go. If it’s a place you can find on Google, I don’t include directions since you should be able to Google it yourself. Be careful where you park. I typically only do hikes of 4 miles or less due to some medical issues. If you are interested in serious hikes look elsewhere. 

Working backwards in order of discovery, I just went up a trail to Santa Susanna Pass from the east side. You can also drive up from the west side. This is better as an Alltrails hike, but you can probably figure out something from Google. Parts of the trail, the Devil’s Slide, require good boots and if you do this in the summer you’ll need water and good sun protection. Parts of the trail are pretty rough. I did it in the winter so heat wasn’t a problem. Over 700’ of altitude gain, but you can get some good views. 

Santa Susana Pass State Historical Park, Stagecoach Trail (ikemi.info)

I returned to upper Newport Bay and the Nature Center is now open. It’s a big one and I found it interesting. Photos at

Upper Newport Bay and Big Canyon (ikemi.info)

Using Google I did find a short little hike. Took me a while to find the trail head.

I discovered the San Dimas Nature Center which was kind of hidden in a park. There was no one around when I visited it but I thought it was interesting, then again I think all nature centers are interesting since they say something about the community. From there you can walk to the trail head of the Sycamore Canyon Trail (how many Sycamore Canyon Trails are there in the area-I’ve encountered three so far). Don’t try going through the equestrian center. It is possible to go around it. The trail is a straight up slog to the top, but the trail is good. There are apparently alternate trails, but I don’t know where they go.

San Dimas Nature Center and hike (ikemi.info)

I didn’t know there was a waterfall in Pasadena, but you can hike to one from the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. It’s about a 4 mile round trip (in spite of what is posted) and the trail gets rough near the end. 

Eaton Canyon (ikemi.info)

Out in Claremont you can  pay for admission to the California Botanical Gardens. 

California Botanical Garden (ikemi.info)

No problem walking around here on good walkways and trails. 

I was surprised that the City of Fullerton is full of trails. These are easy walking and there are more than I explored. You can Google them.

Part of the Fullerton Loop Trails (ikemi.info)

This is a little farther afield, but Placerita Canyon in Santa Clarita has a very nice nature center and numerous trails. Should be prepared for real hikes.

Placerita Canyon (ikemi.info)

In Monterey Park (the city) is Edison Trails Park

Edison Trails Park (ikemi.info)

This is a powerline trail but it has some altitude variations and is kind of interesting. 

More straightforward and flat is the powerline park in El Segundo

El Segundo Powerline Parks (ikemi.info)

Rio de Los Angeles Park in LA has a flat walking path with some interesting features

Rio de Los Angeles State Park (ikemi.info)

Lincoln Park in LA has an interesting walking path with a number of artistic installations.

Lincoln Park (ikemi.info)

I revisited Ascot Park in LA and finally decided to go north to the other entrance which takes you to a hillside neighborhood. You can walk on surface streets back to the parking lot to make a full loop.

Ascot Hills Park (ikemi.info)

Rose Hills Park (not the cemetery) has its own trails that connect with Debs Park near the Pasadena Freeway. Google should show you the connection. The western trail has some elevation gain.

Rose Hill Park and vicinity (ikemi.info)

In Rowland Heights you can do the Powder Canyon Trail which has some good climbs

Powder Canyon Trail (ikemi.info)

This is a flat linear walk, but from one side of the storm channel you can see the Great Wall of LA in Tujunga mural.

Great Wall of LA in Tujunga Wash (ikemi.info)

A nice island of green in LA is Augustus Hawkins Nature Park

Augustus Hawkins and other parks (ikemi.info)

Nearby, especially if you have a bicycle, are South Los Angeles Wetlands Park and  South Park to the north.

Bixby Marsh is a small preserve run by the LA Sanitation Dept. It only opens once a month:

https://www.lacsd.org/community-outreach/tours-speaker-s-bureau/bixby-marshland

Popular with birders from what I understand.

Gardena Willows Wetlands Preserve is open to the public again. Only open a few times a month and may require online reservations. Check at

https://gardenawillows.org/

A loop trail goes mostly around the  perimeter. Unfortunately, last time I went, there are no longer guided tours. 

Echo Park in LA has a paved walkway around the large pond. Try to catch the Lotus Festival

Lotus Festival (ikemi.info)

You can walk through Alondra Park

Alondra Park (ikemi.info)

Darby Park in Inglewood has a short paved walking trail. You can get a good view of Sofi Stadium from there. 

Thomas S. Burton Park in Hacienda Heights has a short walking loop around the park. I went there when I discovered that my desired trailhead was inaccessible. 

Columbia Park in Torrance has a walking path of about a mile. Also the venue for the local Cherry Blossom festival. 

Cherry Blossom Festival (ikemi.info)

In Brand Park in Glendale there are trails behind Brand Library. You can make a loop or go up all the way to the top. Although not long, one of the trails can be a gutbuster and becomes a scramble in some places. The one to the west? You could also just walk around Brand Park.

To the NW is Stough Nature Center, which is quite modern and has nice displays. There are trails that set off from it. I only ventured a short way up one of them since I had already explored Wildwood Canyon Park on the other side of the golf course. There is a trail that climbs up from there and connects to a paved road so you can make a loop of it. 

Wildwood Canyon Park and Stough Nature Center (ikemi.info)

Back down south again in Brea is Carbon Canyon Regional Park. You can hike to the southern side of the park where you can see a genuine redwood grove, planted from seedlings leftover from a bank promotion. They might not be too happy but they are surviving. 

Carbon Canyon Regional Park Redwoods (ikemi.info)

In the Whittier Hills a complement to the Arroyo Pescadero loop is the in and out Arroyo San Miguel Trail. At Arroyo Pescadero when you go up the entry trail, skip the turn off to the loop and keep going on the broken pavement. This should take you to a tunnel that goes safely under the street. 

Arroyo San Miguel Trail (ikemi.info)

Peck Road Water Conservation Park has some nice views and plenty of birds There is a colony of homeless people living there.

Peck Road Water Conservation Park (ikemi.info)

My 2022 Holiday Greetings, extended version

This is an extended version of my Holiday card text, so it will be of interest to a very small audience, if that. Read it if you want. 

Best of wishes to everyone and I hope you’re doing okay. For me, no return to normal, but coping, sort of. Steadily trying to get rid of stuff, but not sure if outflow exceeds inflow. If it weren’t for digital books, I’d be in desperate straits. I’m starting to face  up to the fact that some books I will never open again, but in spite of that there are still some I can’t let go of, yet. The number diminishes every year. Big milestone this year was letting my telemark skis go. Finally got ones that worked for me, but my knees, as well as the cost of lift tickets,  say it’s time to quit. A lot of other outdoor gear is also gone. Power tools are disappearing. I’ve built enough speaker enclosures and I don’t want to start another one. I hauled my almost last major stash of plastic models to the local aviation museum. 

A number of years ago I walked away from scuba diving after my dive partner died. My short time as a pilot ended after an eye injury and then loss of balance. Lots of transitions out; only transition in has been into DIY. I could include gardening, but that’s kind of a DIY.

Have all of my vaccinations (5 covid, 1 flu, 1 shingles, and something else Kaider gave me). I still wear a mask in crowded indoor areas. I liked catching a reduced number of colds and sinus infections in 2020 and I want to keep that up. I had chronic sinus infections pre-covid and they seem to be gone now that I use a mask. Using N95 masks. Shame that I sewed all those masks per the NY Times design and don’t use them anymore. I do occasionally go out to restaurants, and even go indoors, but I try to stay away from crowded ones. As a science project, I got a CO2 meter from Amazon to see how good the ventilation is indoors. The theory being if that the CO2 level is high, the ventilation is poor and there are more possibilities that the germ concentration is high. My reading so far have convinced me to keep wearing a mask. 

Don’t like traveling anymore, but did get out to go see Glacier National Park and adjacent areas. 

Got one photo of a glacier using a very long telephoto lens. Got that lens to take pictures of birds, but the wildlife sanctuaries I visited were mostly dried out. Makes the drought very real. Very impressed by Idaho and Utah, as always. Visited the small Hemingway memorial near Ketchum. Impressed by the beauty of the area. Would have liked to have gone on the trail nearby.

Guess I can’t get away from photography, although I’ve started selling off or giving away some cameras. Right before the pandemic I started getting into old 35mm film cameras after finding a place that would refurbish them.  A friend gave me a camera. Picked up some old classic bodies and lenses off of eBay.I got most of the stuff I wanted before prices started to go up after this hobby became popular. Learned not to buy used camera gear from Japan, which was sort of disappointing. Don’t shoot film very much since it is expensive, but when I do the concentration required is refreshing. Don’t know how the great photojournalists made those shots with manual focus and exposure, plus lugging around all that weight. I don’t remember a Nikon F weighing that much. 

After watching a bunch of Caltech astronomy outreach webinars, decided I wanted to go see the Owens Valley Radio Observatory again. It’s currently closed to the public but I talked my way in via email. Some of the nice people there answered some of my dumb questions. Neat (and free) place to visit if it’s opened to the public again. I timed it to also catch the Caltech outreach lecture at Bishop High School. Got to hear in person one of the astronomers I’d seen on the webcast. 

Mt. Palomar Observatory, also part of Caltech, has re-opened to the public again, so I am planning a trip to go down there again. My folks took me there when I was little, as well as a trip shortly after college. My father got to watch them haul that 200” mirror up the mountain; the JWST of the time. The LIGO up north is also open to the public so I will be planning an expedition there, too.

Audited another free online EDX class, this time on Radio Astronomy instead of the history of Tokyo. My math abilities have really degenerated. Trying to exercise what is left of my mind. Had an MRI this year, which is kind of like a Disney ride with all the noise and jostling around, but more expensive. Didn’t learn much except my brain is shrinking at a “normal” rate. Time to start drinking better wines and reading faster. 

Good harvest of persimmons this year and the limes are doing okay. Vegetables didn’t do well with the watering restrictions and me disappearing for a while on vacation. Not going to make it off the grid, yet. Plenty of squirrels and gophers in the adjacent park, but I’d have to compete with the resident coyote. Had a family of raccoons in the yard for a while, but they disappeared right after I set up trailcams. Started using the cams on the bird feeders, but now we have avian flu so I emptied out the feeders as recommended by the nature center. Back to watching webinars and talking to the geese in the parks. I do keep my distance because of that avian flu threat. 

Although I promised my aunt I would back off on motorcycling, I still have my Triumph in the garage. It’s supposed to be the last bike in my life, although the Yamaha FZ800 was supposed to have fulfilled that role. The Triumph is not a bike I especially like, but I have tamed most of its bad features and it’s good enough to go to the Huntington Library so I can take advantage of the special motorcycle parking space near the entrance. Long motorcycle trips are now out of the question due to my health situation. I did make a trip as far as San Luis Obispo this year. Current plan is to give up motorcycling in 2 years if I last that long. Maybe I’ll get a Honda Super Cub then.

Should bicycle more since it is good for my knees. I got rid of my full size bike and now have just a couple of folding bikes. The folding bikes fit into the back of my car. Lifting a full size bike onto my roof rack is now problematic. At the least I bicycle to the LA Natural History Museum or California Science Center. The recently completed Metro K-line can also take me there, so sometimes now I can cheat. With a senior discount card, I sometimes like exploring where I can go on the Metro, especially with a bike to increase my options. 

Continuing to explore local parks, nature centers, and wilderness ardkikemi@wordpress.com/wp-admineas. The pandemic started me on this and I’ve been amazed at how many there are in LA and Orange Counties. I keep on discovering ones that are new to me. I can still hike if it’s under 4 miles and the terrain is not too bad. 

Well, that is my summary for my 2022.

My photos from 2022 are at:

http://ikemi.info/mytravel2022.html

LA and Orange County parks where you can distance

Part 2

It’s been a year, so I should finally write this update, especially since near the end of 2021 with the Omicron variant becoming dominant here in LA, isolated (or at least social bubble isolated) outdoors recreation is important again.

One big change is that with the resurgence of traffic, it is no longer easy to get to Orange County, so not as many excursions down there. Also, from an LA Times article I learned that Bolsa Chica became too popular, with too many people and especially dogs disturbing the birds. 

I found that Google Maps wasn’t adequate for my explorations, so I invested in a subscription to the Alltrails app. I had been using it on an unpaid basis, but the subscription gives access to more trails, some I never dreamed existed. 

Trails may be urban walks or strenuous on rough trails with sun exposure. Study maps beforehand and look up trail descriptions if you can find them.  If it’s not a city park, or even if it is one, make sure you take at least water, snacks, and a hat. For hikes in the whittier Hills, take lots of water.

First off is an easy one, the Sepulveda basin and Lake Balboa in Anthony Beilenson Park in Van Nuys. Fires left a lot of the area barren and blackened but there are still some interesting things. Unfortunately the extensive Japanese Gardens are still closed. Mostly flat and easy to navigate with a smartphone. You can walk around Balboa Park:

Lake Balboa area (ikemi.info)

Nearby is the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Preserve and Woodley Park with trails along the large ponds that attract plenty of birds.

It is possible to walk all the way around the Woodley Lakes Golf Course if you are gunning for your 10,000 steps. On one leg you can parallel the LA River which might be scenic if it were ever cleaned up. 

South of Burbank Blvd. are trails near the Sepulveda Dam with a good photo op. Some of the trails here are kind of rough and could be cleaned up. You might want to keep your eyes open, and stay away if it is raining.

Nearby is Los Encinos State Historic Park which is free and open for short walks with a few historic buildings.

Los Encinos State Historical Park (ikemi.info)

For a little climb there is the short trail in Deervale-Stone Canyon Park, Sherman Oaks. Its Crisp Canyon Road trail head is unmarked and almost invisible. 

Near Marina del Rey are the Ballona Wetlands. Short but interesting trail. You cannot park nearby since all available parking is occupied by an encampment. You can park on the other side of Lincoln Bld on Bluff Creek Dr., where you can also access the educational Ballona Discovery Park.

Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve (ikemi.info)

In the same area is the Bluff Creek Trail which parallels Bluff Creek Dr. The map shows two parallel trails, but the lower one is closed. At street level there are short unconnected accessible trails. The main trail gives you a view of what were the old Hughes Aircraft facilities which are now occupied by Google and Youtube. The hangar in which the Spruce Goose was assembled is easy to see. If you return by the street, you may get hassled by guards if you have a camera.

Bluff Creek Trail (ikemi.info)

If you want to see all the backed up container ships, you can get a great view from Deane Dana Friendship Park. Plenty of parking but when I was there the large visitor center was closed. Nice elevation gain if you want a workout. 

Deane Dana Friendship park (ikemi.info)

If you want another view of container ships, there is a short trail around the top of Signal Hill. Park at or across the street from Hilltop park. The trail starts at the park, but over half of the walk will be on streets. Some parts of the trail may be hard to find.

Signal Hill Walk (ikemi.info)

Back on the flatlands is Alondra Park to the west of El Camino College. The pond is kind of scenic. 

Alondra Park (ikemi.info)

If you want some elevation gain and some great views, you can now walk from the Hahn Rec. Center overlook to the Culver City Overlook. You can park in Hahn (free on weekdays) near the Japanese Garden. Pick one of the legal, civilized trails to one of the overlooks. You should be able to see the Culver City overlook as well as a lot of other sights. You should also be able to view the new pedestrian bridge that crosses La Cineaga Blvd. Hike down and cross it. This takes you to the lovely Stoneview Nature Center, which has one of the few open visitor centers in the area. You can continue on to the top and the Culver Center Overlook, where the visitor center is still closed. 

Hahn Viewpoint to Baldwin Overlook (ikemi.info)

If you want even more of a workout, you can get to the Overlook via the Culver City Stairs. These are popular and you may have to park blocks away, but you wanted a workout anyway. Very crowded.

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook via Culver City Stairs (ikemi.info)

Moving closer to Downtown, you can get some good walking climbs at Ascot Hills Park which is on LADWP land. A little run down, but there are some good views from the top. 

Ascot Hills Park (ikemi.info)

Near Dodger Stadium is Elysian Park, which has plenty of hills. There are picnic areas where people tend to clump but there are also plenty of trails and roads with adequate room. This was where the Firecracker 5/10K was run.

Elysian Park (ikemi.info)

If you keep going to Griffith Park you can park on the N side and start hiking from various trail heads. You can visit the Travel Town Museum for starters for free and have a walk around it, or even take a ride on the miniature train for a small fee. There is also a trail that starts right by it, wraps around and comes out at the Live Steamers Museum which is closed for the pandemic.  

Rattlesnake Trail (ikemi.info)

If you go up to the Caousel area (closed of course) you can take numerous combinations of trails, such as loops to the Old LA Zoo and the FernCanyon trail. The Zoo area has lots of picnic areas

Fern Canyon Trail (ikemi.info)

Hike to Old LA Zoo, Griffiths Park (ikemi.info)

An area which I would never have visited before but has been wonderfully rehabilitated is Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park. The only shortcoming is that you cannot circumnavigate the lake since the NE side is blocked by a golf course.

Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park (ikemi.info)

In a similar vein is the creatively named Recreation Park at E. 7th St. and Park Ave. You may be better off searching for the Yokkaichi Japanese friendship park.  There is also a bandshell and a pond for practicing fly fishing casting. There is a clubhouse for a fly fishing association, but I don’t know if it is functioning during the pandemic. There is a short flat trail.

Moving far to the north for something completely different is the Hacienda Hills Trailhead for the Puente Hills Landfill Native Habitat Authority. I hiked around there decades ago and a lot of work has been put into developing these trails. Warning: the very ornate gate does get locked on time (check the posted hours) and there is not another legal access point nearby. These trails can be very steep so be prepared for some serious hiking, although the trail surfaces are in good shape. You may be hiking under power lines, but one canyon I entered (steep to get into and steep to get out of) allows you to believe that you are far away from any civilization.

Hacienda Hills State Park (ikemi.info)

In roughly the same area and not too far from Arroyo Pescadero is the Worsham Canyon Trail. This is another challenging loop but the biggest challenge is figuring out where to enter it. I entered near Whittier College, parking at Penn Park. Other hikers told me that it was fine to enter from that direction in spite of some signs. The other entry point is from Turnbull Canyon Road, where there is very little parking. Kind of barren till you get to the S side.

Worsham Loop (ikemi.info)

Schabarum Regional Park has numerous trails. I parked near the equestrian center and entered the trail system there. There are apparently other trail heads. These hikes are in the hills so they do have elevation gain. 

Schabarum Park trails (ikemi.info)

Another good no nonsense walk up is Nike Hill near Rio Hondo College. Look for signs on Workman Mill Road and there is a small dirt parking lot. The trail head is marked and there are a lot of warnings to stay on the trail. There is shade and picnic benches at the top, along with the guard shack that once protected the base. This was a command and control site with no missile launchers. The launchers were located in the maintenance yard of a park in the NE quadrant of where Rosemead intersects the 60 Freeway at the end of Chico Ave., not too far from Progress Brewing. There is parking if you want to go for a walk on flat terrain for a change. Last 2 photos in this gallery are of the maintenance yard. Due to the elevation, the launcher doors are not visible.

Nike Hill Hike (ikemi.info)

Another flat walk is the Whittier Greenway. This follows the railroad bed with parks and educational/historical signage along the way, plus some art on the W side. I did it in two trips since it is 4 miles one way, which is the limit of my range due to arthritis. 

Whittier Greenway (ikemi.info)

Whittier Greenway, eastern half (ikemi.info)

Another concentration of Nike missile bases is in the Palos Verdes Peninsula. In fact, the Rolling Hills City Hall was a missile base building and the launchers are in the maintenance yard (again). There are trails that start from the park near the city hall. Not too steep to hike around there. When the city hall was open, they were nice enough to print out trail maps for you.

If you want more of a challenge, there are many trails, usually steep, in the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve and the Portuguese Bend Preserve. https://www.rpvca.gov/1155/Portuguese-Bend-Reserve

Main entrance is at the end of Crenshaw Blvd. Past a certain point, you have to pay for parking via an app. If you are cheap like me, you can park a ½ mile or so back from the trailhead for free. 

Palos Verdes Nature Preserve (ikemi.info)

If you want something flat in the area, you can try the Boundary Trail which takes you past backyards. You can find the trail on Google, but the entrance is not marked, and it can be challenging to follow in places. You are in town, so you really can’t get lost. 

Boundary Trail (ikemi.info)

I did challenge the  traffic and made a few forays into Orange County. I decided to actually spend some money for an overnight campsite in Chino HIlls and do some more hiking there. 

Camping fee includes real showers. When I was there the camp ground was not crowded. Hard to believe there are shopping centers a few miles away.

Chino Hills State Park (ikemi.info)

A less ambitious trip was to Irvine Park to ride the train and visit the zoo. You can walk around the park without crowding. 

Irvine Park (ikemi.info)

The Fullerton Arboretum was finally reopened. Flat walks in a very pleasant and interesting environment. Parking lot may get crowded and you may have to park on surface streets in the frat area. 

Fullerton Arboretum (ikemi.info)

Finally, I made a trip to Franklin Canyon in Beverly Hills, very late in the day. A winding road gets you there, but I have to admit it was scenic with low stress trails. 

Franklin Canyon (ikemi.info)

My personal pandemic update

Tried starting to write this a few times, but there were always new developments. As I write, we now have to deal with Omicron (no Xi), but the authorities aren’t sure how bad it is. In the Greek alphabet we are getting close to Omega.

Bottom Line: Wear an N95 mask, get vaccinated, and minimize exposure to other people for protection in depth. Look for good ventilation if you’re indoors. Remember that nothing is 100% safe by itself or even combined. The best you can do is to try to get the odds in your favor.

No matter what silver linings the pandemic may have had, such as more webinars, nothing was worth all the lives lost and the permanent damage some survivors may have suffered via Long Covid or other damage.. That we have more Covid fatalities in 2021 than 2020 even with a vaccine is a tragedy:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/u-s-has-already-seen-more-covid-deaths-in-2021-than-2020-before-vaccines-were-available-as-experts-again-warn-pandemic-is-not-over-11637769586

Plus many more sources if you do a search.

I got my Pfizer vaccinations as soon as I was eligible. I had been skeptical  because of  the speed of the vaccine development, but my GO criteria were two weeks (kind of an optimistic number) of jabs without major side effects and over a million people vaccinated. These personal requirements were far exceeded. More importantly, when I learned that the virus was beginning to mutate, I knew that even risky vaccinations were vital to slowing down the rate of mutation. Unfortunately, not enough people have been vaccinated to slow the mutation rate. This also reduces the effectiveness of the vaccinations.

I have received my booster vaccination, which now appears to be a necessity and not a luxury, since the vaccination effectiveness appears to continuously drop:

https://covid.joinzoe.com/post/covid-vaccine-protection-fading

and

https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/how-long-will-coronavirus-vaccine-last

How much is still being debated. However, the vaccine still appears to retain the ability to prevent serious illness (such as going to an ICU) even if one does get sick. The second reference above also notes that vaccination provides better protection than natural immunity after infection.

Early on in the pandemic it was noted that the Covid virus has proof reading error correction, so it was pretty stable, unlike the 1918 virus which was pretty good at mutating very quickly, up to 3 times faster. See:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-01315-7

 I would like to hear an explanation for the sudden increase in mutations. Was it just the weight of evolutionary survival pressure that overrode the proof reading or was it recombination? Anyway, the virus became very good at mutating, given the large pools of hosts in India, Brazil, Red States, and an increasing number of countries which thought they had the virus under control. The Olympics and Sturgis Rally sure didn’t help. BtW, I found that Carl Sagan’s original Cosmos series has a graphic explanation of proof reading in episode 2 or so. 

Before it was apparent what a threat the Delta variant posed, some commentators were saying that it was terrible that the CDC had finally come around to endorsing masks since wearing a mask took away the incentive to get vaccinated. That sounds pretty ridiculous now that we know the Delta variant is many times more contagious than its predecessors. People also need to realize that nothing is 100%. Even if a vaccine is 95% effective, that means some vaccinated people are going to catch the virus. When you’re talking about millions of people vaccinated, that means a lot of so-called break-through cases. For the same reason, testing is not a good form of protection, as the former White House learned. Testing is of value for epidemiological statistics after the fact, but it is too inaccurate for effective screening. There have been cases of just one carrier starting a super spreader event. 

The smallpox and measles vaccines are unique in how effective and long lasting they are. This New Zealand website may give you an idea of how vaccines vary in efficacy:

https://www.immune.org.nz/vaccines/efficiency-effectiveness

Now that it is pretty well accepted that the virus is spread by aerosols, an idea that was bitterly fought for the longest time by the WHO and the CDC, we know that 6’ physical separation and plastic shields don’t do much, although I like them for other reasons. 

See:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/sars-cov-2-transmission.html

Plus more if you search.

Wiping down everything and using hand sanitizer is nice but won’t give you much protection from the virus alone. Washing your hands is still a good idea for normal hygiene. Americans weren’t washing their hands enough before the pandemic. 

So even after getting vaccinated, I use a N95 mask indoors and in crowded outdoor areas. The old wisdom was that it was unlikely to be infected outdoors. The Delta variant is so infectious it has caused a spreading event at an outdoor wedding reception with separation between the guests. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2021/07/12/outdoor-wedding-6-fully-vaccinated-infected-with-covid-19-delta-variant/?sh=ea6e85b6c493

I wear my mask indoors and outdoors if there are clumps of people around me. N95 masks are now readily available and at least for a while American manufacturers were begging people to buy them. Some health care workers don’t have N95 masks due to the buying practices of their employers. A more general discussion of outdoor transmission:

https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2021/08/how-safe-outdoor-activities

I suspect that lockdowns aren’t necessary if everyone is well masked. Closing the parks and telling people to stay indoors was a bad idea. At least with the early versions of the virus, being outdoors was safer than indoors. In general, the big street demonstrations did not lead to outbreaks if people were masked and well spaced. That may not be true now, with Delta. In a world where people refuse to wear masks, lockdowns may be necessary if the level of infection gets bad enough.

Colleagues recommended the book Premonition (2021) by Michael Lewis. This book reads like a screenplay and leaves a lot of threads dangling, but it does try to tell how the pandemic got so bad. It explains why the CDC is only useful after the fact and how things could have been even worse. It emphasizes the importance of timing. Travel bans and shutdowns that come too late are useless, as we have seen. It does describe how some people started analyzing how the 1918 pandemic ended. In The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History by John Barry a lot of the book describes the start of the pandemic, and even the development of American medicine leading up to that time, but very little is dedicated to analyzing and describing how the pandemic ended. 

World War Z  (2006) by Max Brooks is fiction but uncannily predicted how a pandemic would unfold if you substitute virus for zombies. Actually, the book was inspired by the first SARS outbreak (2003) and it only shares the title with the movie. I learned about this book from a Cambridge University The Naked Scientist podcast. Roughly the second half of the book is mainly entertainment, but the first half is eerie.

Brooks in a webinar also mentioned the National Response Framework :

National Response Framework (fema.gov)

Which is plan our government had for responding to a national emergency such as a pandemic. Too bad no one looked at it.

Currently reading The Coming Plague (1994) by Laurie Garrett based on a Max Brooks recommendation. Despite some nasty errors, this survey of recent outbreaks attempts to illustrate how the microbes are winning with our help. 

Caltech, where I did my best to get kicked out of the grad school, had a series of webinars on Covid:

Caltech Webinars | Coronavirus Information

I especially like one by Richard Flagan on aerosols and masks:

https://scienceexchange.caltech.edu/topics/covid-19-coronavirus-sars-cov-2/ask-expert-coronavirus/richard-flagan-masks-work

Part of my contact with the world is via webinars and my surveillance cameras. I have no plans to fly until 2023 at the earliest, if airlines are still around, and I’m going to a theater anytime soon. I do occasionally go out to eat outdoors by myself and recently I have met some of my friends for a drink where there is outdoor seating. I am still regularly hitting the parks to get some exercise and constantly looking for ones that are new to me, both urban and wilderness. It’s amazing in my part of the world how some parks are so under-utilized, which is a good thing for me. To keep my mind off the pandemic, climate collapse, the threat of war, supply chain collapse, and the rising price of coffee, I am trying to catch up with webinar version of LA Astronomy on Tap:

Los Angeles, CA

Learning about the Cosmic Web and beer.

LA and Orange County parks where you can distance

Uncrowded LA and OC parks to visit.

During the early Covid lockdown in LA, and ever since, the authorities said, if you paid attention, that you didn’t have to lock yourself indoors; it was okay to go for walks in the local park as long as you distanced and wore a mask. I pushed the local park concept a little, but I avoided people and stayed safe.

Disclaimer: I am not encouraging anyone to go out and visit these parks. 

On my last motorcycle trip to Alaska, I met a guy at a trading post who said that the best trip he ever went on was the one where he never got to his destination. In the limit, then, the best trip should be the one where you never left home. I had some big plans this year to go see the Isle of Man TT, but I had to settle for something a little closer.

For those of you who are impatient, here is a link to my 2020 photo galleries this year:

http://ikemi.info/mytravel2020.html

Starting at the April 22 entry, all of the galleries are about my explorations of local parks that I deemed to be safe. You can look through the photos and see if there is anything of interest. 

Some of the parks were closed during the initial lockdown, but they should all be open by now, unless they were damaged by the terrible fires we experienced. Make sure to check the websites before you go. Wear a mask and keep your distance.

One place that never closed is the LA Arboretum in Arcadia, the home of Fantasy Island and Tarzan. If you’re not a member, you need to buy timed tickets in advance. One of my favorite places in LA.

Built on a former dump (you’d never imagine), the South Coast Botanical Garden also requires times tickets purchased online. Even members need to make reservations, but it’s not too difficult. After LACMA self-destructed, a lot (most?) of the modern outdoor sculptures (but not the sculptures, if you know what I mean) found homes in exile here. 

In Claremont, the botanical garden there was somewhat grandiosely renamed The California Botanical Garden. It also requires tickets purchased online. Lots of forest to walk through. Kind of brutal in the summer.

In the above cases, the ticket systems keep the crowd density down.

Legg Lake in El Monte takes me back to my childhood. At one time they rocket ship jungle jims! All gone now, but the three lakes are still there. One has a model race boat facility so you can watch those if you catch it at the right time. The fun and unique concrete sculptures made by a Mexican artist were recently restored. Go find them all!

A lot of money has been poured into the Hahn State Recreational Area. The site of the Baldwin Hills Reservoir Disaster and an Olympic Village, there are plenty of trails and facilities, including frisbee gold inside the old reservoir bowl. The Japanese garden could use some maintenance, but there is a fishing lake and an artificial cascading stream. A bridge was recently added so that you can walk to the new Stoneview Nature Center which is actually open, very unusual in these times of Coved. From there you can climb to the Baldwin Overlook for spectacular views. Parking fee on weekends. 

Unfortunately the nature center at White Point near San Pedro is closed, but now you can go hiking again. Plenty of free parking. Once the site of a Japanese American swimming resort, you can also walk over the magazines of a Nike Hercules missile base whose command and control center was near Fort McArthur. (Another case of H-bombs in our backyard.) You can climb (and I do mean climb) up to the top to see the giant 16” naval rifle bunkers which are missing their guns but still intact. At one time at Fort McArthur they told me that the innards, the magazines and shell handling machinery, are still intact behind locked gates.

As you drive up the Pasadena Freeway, you would never know that the vast Debs Park is across from what used to be the Southwest Museum (now part of the Autry). I blundered into the main entrance back in my bicycling days. Usually pretty empty except for Holidays when the picnic grounds get totally jammed with overflow parking. Not happening this year. Most trails are mainly wide roads, the main one to the top paved. You can also connect to the south to Rose Park. The parks are supposedly near the intended path of The California Cycleway, an elevated  wooden bicycle road that was to run from Highland Park to the Green Hotel in Pasadena. Apparently it only made it from the Green to the Raymond Hotel. There were murders in this park a few years ago.

San Vicente Mountain Park has a few options. Access is via dirt roads, so be prepared. You can drive right up to the park gate, or park near the turn-off or above and walk in for your walk. If you park at the park, there are more trails going off into the hills for more options. This park is a former Nike missile command center with some of the platforms still viewable. They are fenced off and you cannot climb on them, although it appeared that they were accessible at one time. This site commanded missile launchers in the Sepulveda Basin behind the Japanese Garden. 

Santa Fe Dam charges an entrance fee, but they stop sometime in the winter. Long flat trails along the reservoir, and there is even a beach, which you can’t use during the pandemic. 

Chino Hills is vast. Rolling landscapes and some interesting trails. You can park outside the gates and hike in or pay the entrance fee and park inside, but parking appeared to be very limited. I only experienced a small part of the park. 

You can make a nice, interesting loop going through Marvin Braude Park. There is street parking near the Caballero Canyon Trailhead. Lots of parking in the park, too.

Heritage Park in Santa Fe Springs is small and flat but has some interesting sights such as the windmill and the remains of the estate that used to be there at one time. Too bad the little museum is closed and the train engine is off limits.

Upper Newport Bay Nature Reserve has rolling trails that go by the bay. My parents used to go water skiing about 55 years ago. The nature center is large and impressive, but also closed and spooky in a way. Free parking lot.

Sycamore Canyon switchbacks next to Rose Hills are a gutbuster. If you make it to the water tank, you can be rewarded with a real view if the air is clear. Brutal in the summer and the view may be obscured. Free parking lot but very small. You can keep going past the switchback turn-off, but you run into the park boundary eventually.

Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve has two main entrances and some trail options once you get in. Watch out for the bird watchers, but there is plenty of room. There is also a trailhead on the inland side near where giant bunkers for the 16” coastal defense guns. A developer tore out the unfinished bunkers, but now the bmx kids use the empty area. This was the sister site to the one in Whites Point. I go to this area repeatedly. 

Niguel Botanic Preserve in Laguna Niguel is much nicer than it looks from the large parking lot. It’s on a hillside so be ready to do some uphill walking. 

Talbert Regional Park in Costa Mesa has some interesting trails and appears to be part of a complex of parks. Tall wooden staircase to get you from the lower level to the upper side. I parked at an adjacent park and took a long walk in, which other people were doing. I’ll have to see if there is an easier way to get in, but heck, I go to walk anyway.

El Dorado Park in Long Beach has a nice wilderness trail. Parking fee but you can park on the street if you don’t mind a little extra walk. A little more crowded that I would like, but manageable. 

Arroyo Pescadero Trail in Puente Hills has interesting wilderness trails. Right before I arrived a car was broken into. Small, free parking lot. 

I found that I have some more photo galleries I forgot to post and I didn’t get to all the parks listed. So, there will be a part 2. Of course, there are also more parks I want to visit. 

Use Google maps or Apple maps to locate these parks. The satellite views can give you a better idea of the trails and where there is parking. I found a lot of places, such as Arroyo Pescadero, just by examining satellite views. Out of courtesy, take a mask and wear it when you encounter people on the trail. That seems to be a universal practice in both LA County and OC

Hike by yourself or only with your current social bubble/pod. Go straight home afterwards. 

Hope this helps keep some of my associates from going stir crazy which could lead to risky behavior. 

Update on my Pandemic experience

The Pandemic since the last entry.

It doesn’t seem that long since March in some ways; in others it seems to have been very long. Really ashamed the USA has done much worse dealing with the pandemic than many third world countries. Amazing what a little organization can do. Perhaps the best example that it didn’t have to be this way is Taiwan, with other countries such as Vietnam not far behind. The West in general hasn’t done well. Also amazing is the callous attitude to the massive excess loss of life. Personally, I got very tired of the early refrain that the virus only kills old people, which turned out not to be entirely true. Especially moving was the very untimely death (not due to Covid) of Dr. Mary Fowkes, who happened to share my birth date: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/26/health/dr-mary-fowkes-dead.html

Her autopsies of pandemic victims indicated that the virus can leave all kinds of little blood clots throughout the body, including the brain. You could very well have a lot of latent damage even if you survive a bout of the infection.

There is also some indication that the CDC and WHO guidelines are inadequate. For example see:

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-12-09/five-minutes-from-20-feet-away-south-korean-study-shows-perils-of-indoor-dining-for-covid-19

Anyway, my personal approach has been that it is possible to stay reasonably safe even without the help of the government or a vaccine. 

It’s now clear that early CDC and WHO safety guidelines were inadequate since they did not account for airborne transmission of virus particles in aerosols. In fact, officials argued vehemently against this and the use of face masks. If you searched Wikipedia articles at that time, they said that masks were useless, even during the 1918 pandemic. In a way, I can’t blame the anti-maskers if they did their research in March of this year and formed their opinions then and never bothered to test them against reality. In my case, I observed that the spread of the disease was much less in places such as Taiwan and South Korea and most of the Far East. The big difference was the use of masks. Other measures such as contact tracing are also crucial, something we never fully implemented in this country, quarantining, and testing. I cannot implement those measures, but I can control wearing a face mask for myself. 

I think the 1918 pandemic eased up when enough people started wearing masks. The 1910 Manchurian pneumonic plague was finally controlled with masks and quarantine, as promoted by the brilliant Dr. Wu Lien-Teh. I am taking his advice, using a mask and staying away from people as much as possible. I am not a shut-in. 

Back in July CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield said that if everyone wore a mask for the next 6 weeks, we could drive the disease into the ground. (https://www.complex.com/life/2020/07/cdc-director-robert-redfield-says-if-everyone-wore-masks-pandemic-could-be-stomped-out-in-4-to-6-weeks)

He was probably right, although I would say at least an N95 mask, but unfortunately a good chunk of the population refused and now militantly refuses to wear masks. A mask serves two purposes, even if isn’t a very good mask. If you are a carrier, and we now know you can be asymptomatic and spreading the virus like crazy, it protects the world from you, and to some extent it protects you from the world. So if everyone were to wear a mask, there would be two barriers between you and a carrier. If not everyone is masked, there may be only one barrier. 

The common wisdom has been that outdoors you don’t need a mask. However, what is the definition of “outdoors”. As an engineer I would expect some kind of spec. to define what outdoors means. If the air is stagnant and there are a lot of people around you, are you still safe? If you are downwind of someone and air flow is laminar, are you safe? My humble guess is that even a flimsy mask may work outdoors as long as the dwell time near someone is very short, as in seconds. But, I have no proof. 

Indoors with a high dwell time with a lot of people, or even one, is a high threat situation. Besides washing your hands afterwards (I often wear disposable gloves) you need a good mask. Likewise, if you have any job with lingering contact with people, or even just with a lot of people, you need a good mask. 

According to this article:

Cloth Mask vs. Surgical Mask: The Surprising COVID-19 Winner

A really good cloth mask may be up to 79% effective. For my personal safety in a hostile environment, that is not good, unless maybe I am dashing in and out. If I have to go indoors, I use a 3M 6000 series mask with P95 or P100 filters (as or more effective than N95 filters). I had these before the pandemic for working in the shop around spray painting and saw dust, although I have to admit I was pretty bad about wearing them when I should have. You can still order these masks and filters from Amazon without restrictions. My understanding is that this is possible in order to keep production up. (Full disclosure: I own 3M stock, although I am sure not making any money on it.) Some masks and filters are controlled. 

The problem with the 6000 series mask is that the CDC does not recommend it. It has an exhaust valve so it does not protect the world from me. To salve my conscience, I inserted a P95 prefilter inside the mask over the exhaust valve. For some reason, this actually made the mask more comfortable. I’d like to hear what 3M thinks about that. Most places don’t care about my using a 6000 series mask. If I still had access to N95 masks, I would wear those instead since they are smaller. I used to buy them at Home Depot before the pandemic. 

The material that makes N95 possible was invented by the Taiwanese American scientist Peter Tsai back in 1995. N95 masks should have been easy and cheap to mass produce. There were mothballed production lines ready for this in case of an emergency such as the one we now have. Unfortunately, the government decided not to turn this on:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-days-of-the-pandemic-the-us-government-turned-down-an-offer-to-manufacture-millions-of-n95-masks-in-america/2020/05/09/f76a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html

The government could mobilize for ventilators, which turned out not to be the game changer we were hoping for, but they refused to do anything about masks, and even turned against them. 

So, medical personnel (as well as the rest of us) die for a lack of adequate PPE.

The best you can do now is to get a sort of CDC approved non-NIOSH approved KN-95 mask. You can check the CDC website at:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/respirators/testing/NonNIOSHresults.html

For comparison, see NIOSH approved:

https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/disp_part/n95list1-a.html#

One problem with non-NIOSH KN-95 masks is that they only have earloops which are not effective for getting a good seal. You might want to wear a mask over them which secures behind your head.

Amazon has a special webpage about KN-95 masks:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GCY8ADPEZ623KWSN

I am also experimenting with adding a P95 pre-filter to cloth masks that have pockets for fitler inserts, such as the OR mask sold by REI.

Non-3M N95 masks can be purchased at Amazon, but not by the general public.

So, in sum:

I try to stay away from other people as much as possible, farther than 6’ if possible. (When we could eat at restaurants outdoors, I ate by myself and only at places with really well-spaced tables or plastic dividers. I have been brainwashed into believing that the air conditioning systems in airplanes can be safe; unfortunately it’s the person sitting next who can get you if they don’t keep their mask on.)

I use cloth masks outdoors. If there is no one else around, I usually don’t wear a mask, but have one at the ready. I don’t tell people to wear masks since I don’t want to get killed.

If I have to go indoors, such as Costco or Home Depot, I wear the best mask I can get away with. If a venue looks too crowded for my tastes, I don’t go in. 

I still go out to parks for walks if they are not crowded. There are a lot of parks in LA and OC that most people don’t seem to visit. There’s a blog for that coming up. 

A side benefit of being paranoid is that I haven’t caught the usual colds or sinus infections that I normally get in the fall and winter. 

Unfortunately, since I don’t have access to testing methods, I will only be able to tell if my measures were effective if I don’t catch anything nasty. It’s a shame the government hasn’t done more research into what are the variables that affect infection. 

Triumph Tiger 800XRX after 11,000 miles plus

At over 11,000 miles I am still riding on the original tires, and they still have miles left. However, not all components did that well. From the start I had noticed some clunking up front when braking. The dealer said nothing was wrong. Around 9,000 miles after a ride to Big Bear, the clunking was becoming more pronounced so I put the bike up on the centerstand. I was going to get out my Mitutoyo dial indicator, but as I rotated the front wheel, I could see the left brake caliper deflecting. No need for a dial indicator after all. I had a severely warped front brake rotor. 

This wasn’t my first experience with a warped rotor. I had gone through the same thing with my Suzuki GSX-650F, but in that case I did need a dial indicator to measure the deflection. As with the Suzuki, I decided to replace the stock rotors with EBC rotors. No point installing genuine Triumph rotors whose quality I question. After I ordered new rotors and made arrangements to have them installed (I am too decrepit these days to install them myself, as I did with the Suzuki) I noticed that the rear brake rotor pads were totally gone and digging into the metal. So, I had to order an EBC rear rotor, too. My bad for not noticing, but I wasn’t expecting the pads to go out so quickly. I checked the forums and my experience wasn’t unusual.

After about $900 for new rotors, pads, and labor, finally got it all straightened out. At least the EBC rotors look pretty sharp, and the braking is smooth now. 

On the same ride I also noticed the engine was a little rough. Previously I hadn’t been riding much so I was changing the oil based on time instead of miles. Now, exploring the Covid world, I was putting on more miles than ever before. I checked the oil and it was way down. After filling the oil and more riding and filling, I estimated the bike was burning a quart every 3,000 miles. My BMW R90/6 used to burn oil, but not as much as this. Never had a Suzuki, Honda, or Yamaha burn oil. There is no touring in my future, so I’ll just pretend that I have a total loss oiling system, like a 2-stroke. I guess the bike wanted to prove that it’s a Triumph. No leaks from the cases and no noticeable smoke out the exhaust.

On the plus side, the cruise control works well, which can be vital with my arthritic hands. The seat does get a little warm from the engine as some have complained, but nothing like my Yamaha FZ-8. You can still sit on the Triumph saddle during the Los Angeles summer. Nothing else has broken on its own. Dropping the bike took out a turn signal and lever.

The best thing I’ve added to the bike is a Scott Oiler. Wish I’d had one of these on my long trips to Alaska and Newfoundland. It’s like having a shaft drive bike again. It sometimes drips a little, which I like since it lets me know the chain is getting wet. I had to fabricate (hacksaw and file) an adapter for my swingarm and it seems to be holding up. The vendor who sold me the system doesn’t seem to sell the lubricant refill anymore, but I’ve read that you can use chainsaw bar oil as a substitute. 

Second best addition are Doubletake mirrors. These are pricey, but can be adjusted easily and stay in position. They do flex enough to survive drops, as I have proved. 

My Mosko Nomax tankbag was perhaps a little too complex, but I don’t have to worry about it anymore since someone stole it in spite of it being locked down. They just cut it free. I replaced it with a genuine Triumph tankbag. It seemed kind of clumsy at first but you get used to it. It was missing a mounting strap, but I rigged up my own mounting system, using part of the Mosko mounting system that was left behind. 

So the bike is good enough for riding around town, but I’d wonder about taking it on a long trip. The warped rotor was a major quality issue that the dealer didn’t want to deal with. The oil consumption is very annoying and potentially bad for the engine if you don’t keep an eye on it. Since I’m at the end of my riding career, I’ll just put up with the problems unless something else big pops up. The bike does handle and ride well. Looking forward to that Honda Super Cub in a few years.