The GeekHiker

Sometimes the hike you end up on isn’t the hike you’d planned.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my years of hiking in the Los Angeles area: flexibility is key. That’s not always a bad thing, mind you.

So the hike I’d planned today in the newly-reopened Angeles with spectacular views got put aside when I woke up to cloud filled skies and misty rain. I love to hike in the rain, but saying “this hike has great views” then posting pictures of fog, well, that makes for some pretty dull blogging.

Rain hikes beg for smaller locations and a slower pace, a hike where the details come out. Nicholas Flat is a small area in the Santa Monica Mountains that I often go to when it rains: it’s amazingly quiet and peaceful.

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Growing up in Sacramento, I was constantly reminded of it’s history, specifically that of the Gold Rush and railroads.

Los Angeles is a town that has a tendency to constantly tear down it’s history in favor of building something new. Preservationists in this town have a devil of a time saving old, often quite beautiful structures from the wrecking ball.

While the structures on San Vicente Mountain are far from what one would define as beautiful (well, I suppose that all depends on your personal taste), the hike is a trip back in time to the Cold War and how Los Angeles prepared itself for imminent attacks at the time.

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(Did this hike two weeks ago, the day before the Malibu Fires. While the fires were burning, I held off posting since, well, to be frank, I didn’t want to jinx things since the fires were burning east towards Topanga State Park.

Luckily the fire didn’t burn that far east, so here’s the hike.)

The Eagle Rock loop was one of the first hikes I ever did when I first moved to the LA area. It’s a good introduction to the mixed chaparral and oak woodlands that cover the Santa Monica Mountains, and is only about a twenty minute drive outside of Santa Monica.

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