Linda showing us that if you rub ceanothus flowers in your wet hands you get suds, because of the saponins in the plant
Led by Jeff Johnson and Beth Epstein
Photo above: At our lunch stop on Islip Ridge, standing in rainbow order.
By Jeff Johnson, story and photos
Our hike started at the familiar Windy Gap Trailhead parking lot in the Crystal Lake Recreation Area. The parking lot was already overflowing while we waited for our hikers to arrive. Apparently, with the Angeles Crest Highway now closed before Islip Saddle, many people who would have gone up that way into the mountains are now going up the San Gabriel Canyon Road instead.
Looking down on Crystal Lake from up on Islip Ridge. If you are familiar with the lake, you can see that the water level is much higher than in recent years.
Fortunately for us, the crowds were mostly heading up the Windy Gap Trail while we were going the other way, downhill to the Islip Ridge Trailhead by the far end of Crystal Lake. The Islip Ridge Trail winds up the narrow ridge that divides Pine Flat, where Crystal Lake is located, from rugged Bear Canyon to the west. All day long, we hardly saw any hikers on our route.
On Islip Ridge, looking north toward Islip Peak, with Mt. Williamson on the left behind trees and, on the right, the ridge with all the peaks named Hawkins
A section of the Islip Ridge Trail where the wooden boards in a retaining wall burned in the 2020 Bobcat Fire
This area burned in both the Curve Fire in 2002 and the Bobcat Fire in 2020. We saw many signs of past fires, such as dead, burned and singed trees, and also many signs of recovery from fire, such as the dreaded poodle dog bush and chaparral plants that had resprouted from the roots. You still see trail damage on the Islip Ridge Trail caused by the Bobcat Fire, but the trail is all walkable.
The trail sign at the turnoff point to start the descent on the Big Cienaga Trail
At a trail junction on the ridge, we turned to descend the Big Cienaga Trail across the mountain wall above Pine Flat, crossing the headwaters of Cedar Creek, and eventually joining the Windy Gap Trail. By the time we were back at the cars, we were pooped and the parking lot was half empty.
This is one of my favorite hikes. I look forward to coming back to do it again next year.
The view from near the top of the Big Cienaga Trail. Mt. Islip to the left, Windy Gap in the center, and Throop Peak in the distance, behind Windy Gap.
The trailhead sign for the Islip Ridge Trail, hard to find even if you know it’s there
Some plants and flowers seen on this hike
Snow plant (Sarcodes sanguinea), a parasitic native plant often seen in summer in pine forests in the San GabrielsRed-rayed hulsea (Hulsea heterochroma), a flower that none of us remembered seeing beforeBroomrape (Aphyllon sp.), another parasitic native plant
We saw three kinds of lupine in bloom on this hike, shown below.
This lupine was spindly and had grey leaves. This plant was in front of a tree singed in a recent fire.This kind of lupine was upright, with more leaves and larger flowersThis kind of lupine grew in mats on the ground and had tiny leavesA longhorn beetle in a lupine flowerA species of Leptosiphon, with tiny flowers, related to flax. Some Leptosiphon species are called whiskerbrush.Two kinds of Ceanothus by the trail, one pale blue and the other white
