The fourth and final access point to the Hillside Wilderness Preserve will finally be open to residents, nearly 16 years after voters adopted two measures to save the hillsides from development. But before access can be granted, the city will need to spend $350,000 to purchase two easements from private property owners to access the trail, which City Council authorized last week, along with allocating an additional $100,000 for capital improvements in the area.

“It’s been a community priority for many years to resolve this particular issue and we think this is a sensible way to bring closure to the matter,” City Manager Oliver Chi said.

The 1,416 acres of wilderness offers several trails that give hikers and bikers a breathtaking view of Los Angeles and look directly upon Arcadia and Monrovia. The area is home to rare, native species and wildlife and — on a clear day — offers views straight to Santa Catalina Island.

Read Courtney Tompkins full article in The Pasadena Star-News HERE.

Nestled between Benedict and Coldwater Canyons on 605 acres of land is a hidden oasis of natural beauty: Franklin Canyon Park. This charming and idyllic spot offers a unique sense of seclusion that cannot be found at Tree People/Cold Water Canyon Park just a short distance away, or at the larger Griffith Park, overrun as it is with tourists scrambling to see the Hollywood Sign, hike to the Observatory or ride the Carousel. In fact, wandering the path around Franklin Lake or relaxing on the grassy field of Franklin Canyon Ranch, it is easy to forget that you are mere minutes from the hustle and bustle of Greater Metropolitan Los Angeles. That’s not to say there are no people in the park, it’s just that they seem to move at a slower, more relaxed pace. It also helps that there are fewer of them. This is due in part to the fact the park can be difficult to find if you don’t know where it is. No signage exists on the northern approach, and the southern entrance offers only one sign. As a result, parking is seldom a problem, even on weekends.

The bottom of the canyon is a rich, dense riparian landscape irrigated by a steady flow of water from Franklin Lake. Several underground springs also add to the watershed, creating a lush landscape year round. As you work your way up the slopes of the canyon, the canopy of oak, walnut and sycamore gives way to the more common chaparral of Southern California. The park is also a birdwatcher’s paradise being home to eagles, horned owls and seven different species of hawks. Franklin Lake and Heavenly Pond are nesting grounds for both Mandarin and Wood Ducks. 

Though not officially designated as parkland until 1981, the origins of the park as we know it today began in 1914. By the turn of the 20th Century, Los Angeles was already a thirsty town and Mayor Fred Eaton sought to quench that thirst by acquiring water rights from the Owens Valley to the east of the city. That these rights may not have been secured through strictly legal means remains a bitter controversy in many parts outside of the metropolitan area t this day. Whether legal or not, the rights were acquired and a 223-mile aqueduct was completed in 1913. The following year William Mulholland and the DWP (Department of Water and Power) began construction on two reservoirs in the upper reaches of the canyon to store and distribute water diverted from the Owens Valley. So much was water was diverted from Owens Valley by Mulholland’s aqueduct that farming became unsustainable by the early 20s and by 1926, just 13 years after the aqueduct opened, Owens Lake was completely dry.

Though the Owens Valley began to blow dust, Franklin Canyon, thanks to a steady supply of water from both the new reservoirs and a series of underground springs, began to bloom setting the stage for the unique ecological environment that exists today. But it wasn’t only Mulholland and the DWP that had a hand in shaping Franklin Canyon. Around the same time as Mulholland was constructing his reservoir, the family of oil magnate Edward L. Doheny purchased the land in the lower canyon for watering and grazing cattle. In 1935, the Doheny’s expanded their presence in the canyon by builing a modest Spanish Adobe style home as a summer retreat. The house still stands today as the Franklin Canyon Ranch and houses park personnel. So well before the US entered WWII, the basic building blocks of today’s park were already in place, and they remained untouched for nearly 40 years until the Sylmar Earthquake of 1971.

The earthquake, measuring 6.7 on the Richter Scale, occurred at 6 A.M. on February 9 in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley. The massive trembler caused extensive damage throughout the valley including the near collapse of Lower Van Norman Dam. As a result, the city and the DWP began a system wide survey of its dams and reservoirs. The Franklin Canyon Reservoirs were deemed at high risk for failure. The lower reservoir was emptied completely and the upper reservoir level was lowered by 15’. A new, modern reservoir and surge dam were constructed below the Doheny Ranch as a replacement. With the upper reservoirs decommissioned and the Doheny Ranch properties slated for sale, the once protected Franklin Canyon was now open for development. Fortunately, Sooky Goldman, a political organizer and conservationist, had other plans. She had a vision for the canyon that included not only preserving the natural state of the canyon, but creating an education center that would enable inner city children to connect with California’s natural resources.

Enlisting the help of Congressman Howard Berman, Ms Goldman convinced the National Park Service to acquire the Doheny holdings as part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and the DWP to donate the upper reservoir property as parkland. The new Franklin Canyon Park, combining both properties, was opened to the public in 1981. Improvements to the property included the construction of the Sooky Goldman Nature Center, the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom and the Heavenly Pond. Activities at the park include native arts and crafts, photography and moonlight hikes and natural resources education, all presented free of charge. But man is not the only force working to restructure the park, nature is playing a hand as well. With the lowering of the water level in Franklin Lake (the former upper reservoir), grassy reeds have taken root on the northern perimeter of the lake, creating a marshy area that has become a waterfowl habitat. The reeds are currently encroaching on the southern end of the lake around the dam. As the grasses die off each season, the decaying vegetation is silting up the bottom of the lake. If this cycle continues unabated, the lake will eventually dry up and the ecology of the canyon will change once more, albeit to the more natural state that existed prior to the construction of the reservoir. The decision to be made will be whether to let nature take its course or let man preserve the idyllic oasis he inadvertently created.

For more information on Franklin Canyon Park and its scheduled activities, visit Franklin Canyon Park or Franklin Canyon NPS.

The City of Los Angeles recently opened a section of Mount Hollywood Drive that has been closed to traffic since 1991for a feasibility study on relieving traffic congestion around the Griffith Observatory. Part of the reason for the increase in traffic is due in part by the city trying to relieve traffic congestion (and soothe angry neighbors) in the Beachwood Canyon area. With Los Angeles seeing an uptick in tourism, out-of-towners have flooded the canyon to snap pictures of the fabled Hollywood Sign. City planners means of handling the situation was to simply redirect traffic to the eastern side of Griffith Park and anger homeowners in the Vermont Avenue Ferndell Avenue areas. Vermont Avenue already sees it fair share of traffic with access to both the observatory and the Greek Theatre. Shifting additional traffic there seems little more than a poke in the eye to the neighborhood residents. As a result, the city decided to turn 1.1 miles of the formerly closed Mount Hollywood Drive into a temporary parking lot. This has the double result of inviting more cars to enter the park through Vermont and Ferndell Avenues while reducing the 'wilderness' area of the nation's largest urban wilderness park. While the city is calling this a temporary decision and a feasibility study, outdoor enthusiasts are already rallying to prevent the situation from becoming permanent. A petition is already circulating on change.org asking for a ban on cars and trams on Mount Hollywood Drive. You can find the petition here. Sandi Hemmerlein has also written an informative article on the situation for KCET as shown below.

High on promontory above the town of Altadena, CA, there once was a dazzling Victorian resort known as The White City in the Sky. This ‘city’ was comprised of a 40-room chalet, astronomical observatory, zoo, dormitories, dance hall, bowling alley, tennis courts, picnic areas, machine shops and, the jewel of the city, the palatial 70-room Echo Mountain House. The entire complex of buildings was painted a brilliant white to reflect the southern California sun. Situated as it was at the tip of Echo Mountain, the resort could be seen glowing against the backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountains (then called the Sierra Madre Mountains) from downtown Los Angeles, some 13 miles distant. The resort was part of a series of hotels and taverns built to service the Mount Lowe Railway.

In 1900, a kitchen fire destroyed the Echo Mountain House, leaving only the foundation in its wake. The building had not been properly insured and thus was never rebuilt. In 1905, a second fire destroyed all the remaining buildings with the exception of the observatory. The incline railway powerhouse was rebuilt in 1906, but the rest of the property on Echo Mountain was left in ruins. In 1909, a flash flood destroyed the Rubio Pavilion hotel at the bottom of the funicular incline railway. The observatory held on until 1928 when a particularly strong Santa Ana wind blew the building down. The curator managed to escape moments before the collapse, taking the expensive telescope with him. Despite the catastrophes, the railway continued to operate under various owners, hauling passengers to the Mount Lowe Tavern (the renamed Ye Alpine Tavern) at Mount Lowe until 1936 when the tavern also succumbed to fire. The railway was now a line without a destination. As such, the railroad’s booster club organized one final excursion, and in December of 1937, the Mount Lowe Railway made its last public trek past the remains of the White City to the burnt ruins of the Mount Lowe Tavern. In March of the following year, a three-day thunderstorm washed the railroad itself from the mountain. What little remained of the buildings that once graced the promontory of Echo Mountain was declared a hazardous nuisance and blasted into history with dynamite by the US Forest Service between 1959 and 1962.

Search helicopters have detected emergency locator beacons buried in the snow on Mount Rainer. Six climbers, two guides with four clients, were reported missing on Friday evening when they did not return as expected. The pings from the locators are registering in an area several thousand feet below the climber's last reported position. Park officials believe the expedition fell up to 3,300' in an avalanche prone area. Climbing gear was also spotted scattered across the section where the pings are coming from. Rescue and recovery efforts have been suspended at this time. Park Ranger Fawn Bauer told the AP News Service there was no viable chance of survival from such a fall. Falling rock and ice are currently preventing any recovery efforts. Bauer added, "In all honesty, we may never be able to get on the ground there." Names of the climbers are being withheld pending notification of the next of kin. More information can be found in this AP News story.

Hiking the wilderness areas surrounding Los Angeles provides intrepid trekers with sweeping mountain vistas, wildlife observation, quiet coves for personal reflection and a general escape from the hustle and bustle of big city living, though you may have to suffer through LA traffic in order to reach such nirvana. On occasion, you may also unexpectedly step into history. This recently occurred for me while making the climb up the wind swept grassy balds  of Oat Mountain. About halfway up the trail, the paved Browns Canyon Road, it passes through the remnants of an abandoned military facility constructed during the cold war, but with roots stretching back to World War II and the development of jet aircraft and nuclear weapons.

With the advent of jet fighters and bombers during the second world war, existing gun-based ant-aircraft batteries proved largely ineffective in combatting these new high speed, high altitude aircraft. In 1944, to counter this advance in weaponry, the US Army, in conjunction with Bell Laboratories, developed a line-of-sight anti-aircraft missile system called Project Nike (named after the Greek Goddess of Victory). The project’s goal was to acquire and track an incoming enemy plane should it evade Navy and Air Force resources and then launch and guide a defensive missile to the incoming target. This had never been attempted before and the complex Nike system required 3 separate yet integrated radar systems to achieve that result. Despite its promise, the system was largely considered a last ditch effort to prevent the enemy from delivering its payload as the initial effective range of the Nike Ajax missiles was only about 25 miles, but it marked the first time the US military attempted a strategic air defense of the country based on guided missiles, a safeguard that proactively sought out threats rather than one that simply threw up a barrage of projectiles hoping one would be lucky enough to intercept the target. The missiles later received an upgrade extending the range to about 100 miles and were given the designation Nike Hercules. Though the missiles were capable of carrying warheads of varying size in both conventional and nuclear explosives, the warheads on the US-based Nike missiles were almost entirely nuclear with an explosive rating of 20 Kilotons. By comparison, the bomb dropped over Hiroshima had an estimated explosive yield of only 16 KT.  Hiking the serene hills of Oat Mountain today, It is hard to imagine the fear and even paranoia that existed during the Cold War that would justify the detonation of a 20 KT nuclear weapon within 25 miles of Los Angeles, or any of the other 240 sites situated around the United States at the time for that matter, but it was the country's last line of defense for nearly 20 years. 

After a successful Nike test in November of 1951, the Army began deploy the system to defend strategic and tactical sites around the country. Sixteen such missile sites were established around Los Angeles to protect the city from Soviet attack beginning in 1956 and remained operational until the early 1970s. The Oat Mountain facility was part of this 'ring of defense' and was designated LA-88. Though LA-88 was closed in 1972, the site remained largely intact until a devastating wildfire swept through the area in 2008, destroying most of the buildings. What remains are mostly large concrete pads that once held barracks, mess halls and administrative offices and a large pad of pavement used as a basketball court. The launch area for the missiles is mostly bare, but the silo doors for the subterranean storage area for the missiles are still in place as is the substructure used to service the missiles.

What makes LA-88 unique is that the trail to the summit of Oat Mountain passes directly through the heart of the former missile complex, providing great views of the facility’s remains.  Though it is illegal to trespass on the grounds themselves, the open gates have invited many a hiker and more than a few ‘taggers’ to take a look around. There are a few outbuildings still standing on the southern side of the trail, including the guard shack and missile assembly building. On the north side of the trail, the base flagpole can be found still standing tall in a small garden. In more recent years, the site has been used by the LAPD for SWAT training exercises as evidenced by the shot up buses on the premises. On a recent visit, it was noted that an access panel to the missile storage area beneath the silo doors was open and metal rungs descended into the dark depths below.  

In 2006, Howard Rathbun, who served at LA-88, returned to his former base for a stroll down memory lane. He has written an interesting article with before and after pictures comparing the base’s operational phase with its derelict state that can be found here. Mr. Rathbun was fortunate to visit before the 2008 fire and found all the buildings to be intact at that time. The black and white photos you see here are courtesy of Mr. Rathbun and the Nike Historical Society.

The hike to Oat Mountain’s summit is worth it just for the views and the grassy, rolling hills, but the chance to literally walk through history makes this hike all the more interesting. Another Nike site has been partially preserved in the Santa Monica Mountains at San Vicente Park. Self-guided displays give visitors a look into the Nike Program and how it was used around the country and the still standing radar tower provides impressive views across the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles basin.

Learn more about Project Nike here.