Led by Nancy Beverly and Gina Masequesmay
By Jeff Johnson
Bird pictures from Grace Wang
For years I’ve been driving up route 2 between I-5 and I-210, looking up at the hills on the eastern side of the road and wondering what is up there. On this hike, we found out that it’s Cherry Canyon Park up there.
A group of about 20 GLS hikers met at the Cherry Canyon Trail trailhead next to Descanso Gardens in La Cañada Flintridge on this slightly overcast Saturday morning. The trail starts by climbing right up to the ridge inside the park. There had been questions about the trail there after recent heavy rains, but Nancy had checked ahead of time and it was still good. Once up on the ridge, the trail mostly stays up there, so we had nice views from this advantageous perspective for most of the 5 miles of the hike.
Of course one of the things we expected to see from the trail was roaring route 2 just below us to the west, and there it was. One thing we did not expect was the sound of gunfire from the Glendale Police Department firing range just below the ridge.
February is a little early for wildflowers but we were on the lookout. Some hikers spotted wild peonies, some just barely in bloom. Some golden currants and other Ribes varieties were also almost in bloom. One plant at peak bloom all over was white-flowered buck brush, Ceanothus cuneatus.
Our first destination along the trail was “The Ultimate Destination” — we knew that’s what it was because a sign there said so. Another day, it would be a nice place to sit at the picnic table there and look up at the San Gabriels to the north. It even has a water fountain! But we continued south to another peak, at the top of Sugarloaf Drive. A complex of radio towers is on this peak today. One of the hikers who grew up in the area told us about the siren that used to be there, and how the neighbors used to hear it sounding off. From there, we returned to the cars the way we came.
This was a nice friendly GLS start to springtime hiking above L.A. I look forward to coming back another time.
Grace’s bird pictures
One of the hikers on February 28 was Grace Wang. She brought her good camera and a long lens for taking good pictures of birds we saw along the way. Here are a few of her pictures from the hike, with her notes about the birds.
