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Antelope Buttes/Godde Hill
The Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve
is very popular this time of year
when the poppies are near their maximum bloom. Laura Molnar had been through
here during the weekend and gave it glowing reviews, so I thought I would stop
by on my way south to Los Angeles. I had slept a few miles east of the preserve
so that it could be my first start of the day. This is not really the best time
to see them since they are in the early morning until the sun
has had a few hours to warm them. On the plus side, the place isn't very busy
at this time (though there were already more than a dozen cars when I arrived
on a mid-week morning) and there's no one to collect fees at the entrance kiosk.
I wandered the trails around the park for almost two hours. Cross-country travel
is prohibited though some visitors can't seem to help wandering into the poppy
fields for selfies and close-ups. I hiked to the
in the park (Antelope Buttes) at the east end as well as
to the lesser on the west side. The majority of blooms were
taking place in the of the park, some quite dense. To the
northwest and outside the park, had its own display of
yellow and gold that was quite impressive from a distance. The trails were
occupied by that carried far more
expensive camera gear than my own. Only a few were strolling about without a
camera in hand.
Lake BM/Portal BM
On the southwest edge of Antelope Valley lies the 13-mile long Portal Ridge.
It is separated from the main body of the Liebre Range by the Leona Valley and
Pine Canyon, an unusually straight alignment of hills and depressions that make
more sense when one realizes the San Andreas Rift Zone runs right down the
crease of it all. The two summits are located on either side of Munz Ranch Rd
which connects Antelope Valley on one side of Portal Ridge with Lake Elizabeth
on the other. Lake BM is named for this natural lake, a sag-pond on the famous
earthquake fault that is usually perennial except in drought years. I drove a
short distance up dirt on the north side of Lake Elizabeth
to access Lake BM. A high-clearance vehicle can drive to the
if the gate, about half a mile from the pavement,
is open. Rather than follow the dirt road, I took a more direct route along an
older, no longer used track
to reach the crest of Portal Ridge. From there it was a short distance west to
the highpoint, a little more than a mile from where I started. There is a fine
view overlooking with the dense poppy blooms in vivid
displays of orange. I took an alternate route down, some cross-country through
tall grass, passing by for a 25yr-old
who passed a year earlier. The descent slopes had their own
brilliant displays.
I next drove east past the main junction of Elizabeth Lake Rd and Johnson Rd,
to a small development on the south slopes of Portal Ridge. at
of Masonhill Rd, I used a dirt utility road going up to the crest and then
west to at Portal BM. The views here are similar to
those on Lake BM, overlooking the Antelope Valley to and the
San Andreas Rift Zone to the south. Neither summit had any signs forbidding
trespassing or fences to block access.
Leona Divide
The big outing of the day was a collection of five summits along the crest of
the Liebre Range between San Francisquito and Bouquet Canyons.
runs along that can be utilized by
motorcycle or foot traffic, while the
Leona Divide Truck Trail traverses just below the crest itself on the southwest
side. Further down the same side can be found the PCT which makes a much longer
path as it circuitously weaves in and out of the many side canyons that populate
the lower elevations. I used a combination of the truck trail and
to reach the first four summits on my outbound journey from
of San Francisquito Canyon Rd where I parked to the highest
point at . On the return I took as a change
of pace before tackling the last summit near the end. Overall the PCT was a
much slower route because of all the meandering the trail does, but I was glad
to have added a new section of this National Trail to my collection. I had
originally planned a 10-mile outing that didn't include Granite BM which can be
more easily reached from the southeast starting at Lincoln Crest, the summit of
Bouquet Canyon Rd. I found the going along
the crest of the range so enjoyable that I sort of let it morph into a much
longer 17-mile outing that absorbed the rest of the afternoon. I accessed the
PCT at a low saddle between Spunky Canyon and Lost Valley, finding a rough
connecting the truck trail to the PCT. While plying the PCT
I wondered why it traversed so low along the crest rather than the shorter,
more scenic route along the crest, eventually concluding it might be to provide
access to the small springs that down a few of the side
canyons. On the southeast side of the last summit, Peak 4,067ft, I found a
steep
heading up from the PCT to a saddle. Rebar had been pounded into the earth on
the trail and old tattered ropes used as handlines to aid up this steep
class 2-3 section. I found just having the brush cleared was sufficient. At
the saddle I picked up a better use trail along an old firebreak leading to
, removing any need for bushwhacking along the entire route.
Back at the saddle I went up to the truck trail which I took
to San Francisquito Canyon Rd, passing by that had
closed the road to vehicles even though several had found it relatively minor
to work around it.
It was after 5p by the time I finished up. There was no need to find a place
to shower since I was a short distance from my sister's home in Santa Clarita
where I went next to join the family for dinner. Later that evening I
drove out to the Santa Suzana Pass between the San Fernando and Simi Valleys
where I planned to hike the next morning. The Ronald Reagan Freeway runs
through the pass here so it was not nearly as nice as the quieter spots I'd
found the past few nights, but it would do...
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