Continued...
Matt Yaussi, a Sierra Challenge participant and good friend who had joined me
on numerous desert trips over the past few years, had died in a canyoneering
accident several weeks ago. His memorial service in Glendale was scheduled for
today at 1p, which was one of the reasons I had returned to Southern California
so soon after my last visit. The other reason was a nephew's wedding in
Temecula at 4p, an event where most of my family would be in attendance, a
rarity these days. With the 1.5hr drive between venues, I would be hard-pressed
to make both events. Since I wouldn't be able to meet Matt's family after the
memorial, they were kind enough to meet with me the previous evening at their
home for about an hour. I had met Matt's sister at the Sierra Challenge last
August - he was so proud to show her off to everyone - and had heard much about
his parents from Matt with whom he was very close. They were as wonderful in
person as I might have imagined, grieving for the loss of their only son, yet so
thankful that he had found something he loved so, something he would talk about
constantly and gave him so much joy. It was clear that his mom enjoyed the
outdoors as much as Matt did - she was as familiar with the mountains, valleys
and trails of the Sierra and other parts of the state as much as any seasoned
mountaineer, having visited a mumber of these places with Matt over the past
years and read up on many, many more. I left their home that night thinking
Matt had one of the most supportive families I had ever met, such a blessing,
and such a sad time for all of them, and those who had the priviledge to know
Matt and be his friend.
It had been arranged that a group of his climbing friends would get together at
10a for breakfast before the memorial service. I was up early to visit a couple
of summits in the area beforehand, something I'm sure Matt could have
appreciated. It gave me a chance to get lost in my thoughts and ruminations
regarding Matt, his accident, his life and, indeed, my own.
Angels Point/Peak 810ft
These two summits are part of Elysian Park, just a few miles north of downtown
Los Angeles. The area is most known for being the site of
. The
stadium was completed in 1962 before I had turned 2yrs of age, and for a
number of my teenage years I was an ardent fan. Oddly, it didn't rekindle many
memories or revive a lost love for the team - I had only visited the stadium a
few times but had listened to hundreds of games on the radio with Vin Scully
doing the play-by-play. There was no game and hardly a soul in the park when I
visited early on a Saturday morning around 6:30a. I didn't figure out parking
ahead of time and had some trouble, but in hindsight I think the easiest way is
to park off Angels Point Rd northeast of Angels Point and hike both of them from
there. The ultra lazy can move their car to the Little League parking lot
adjacent to Peak 810ft. I ended up parking in the large
northwest of Angels Point and walking a few miles.
I headed towards Dodger Stadium, then gained access to the Angels Point Trail
in a park at the intersection just before entering the stadium parking lot. A
short hike gets one to where a modern sculpture can be
found covered in graffiti, a bit neglected. The newest and cleanest thing there
is the
No Graffiti sign. There is a nice view of the
, as
urban as it gets in Los Angeles. Ten more minutes' walking saw me to the
highpoint of Elysian Park, unnamed . There is a
(more
graffiti) atop the point, but no maintained trails or other developments. I
found descending the NW side of the summit, which made for a
convenient shortcut to return to below where I'd parked.
I spotted
on the trail just before reaching the road below. It had a radio collar
around its neck, so it must be know to the authorities here. A guy with a
large, unleashed dog was just starting up the trail when I was exiting - I told
him about the coyote hoping he would take his dog elsewhere or put it on a
leash. He did neither after replying "ok". Ten seconds later there was loud
barking as the dog bolted off, the guy yelling after it to no avail. Really? He
couldn't see that coming?
Mt. Washington
Mt. Washington sits a few miles northeast of Elysian Park across Interstate 5
and the LA River, in . The summit has a pair
of water tanks and some ,
all surrounded by a formidable fence. One has
either to climb the fence directly in view of several neighbors, or content
oneself with casing the periphery. I didn't find much value in climbing the
fence as there didn't seem to be anything much higher than what could be found
outside it. No views that I found, either.
Monterey No 2 BM/Peak 710ft
These last two are found in the neighborhood of Monterey Park, south of
Interstate 10 (or "The 10") and east of Interstate 710, one on either side of
Monterey Pass Rd, both in residential neighborhoods. The highpoint of
Monterey No 2 BM appears to be ,
nothing of interest enough to even bother getting out of the car for.
has a large water tank , fenced, of course.
One can scale this fence with some effort, or just climb up to
outside the fence which seemed equally fair.
Continued...