Day 600: Pico Canyon - Mentryville - First Comercial Oil Well in California

 

Day #600 * Hike #703 * New Track #591

Saturday July 7, 2012

Pico Canyon - Stevenson Ranch

Mentryville - Johnson Park - Santa Clarita Woodlands Park

First Comercial Oil Well in California

My Tripometer: 2.5 Hours * 5.5 Miles * +1500 Feet

 

 

Named after Charles Alexander Mentry

First successful commercial oil well in 1876

Directions:

From the I-5 in Santa Clarita, take the Lyons Exit and head west.  Follow this for a little over a mile and turn right on Pico Canyon Road.  Stay on Pico and do not be fooled by the small Pico Park on the left.  Keep going another mile and vere left at the fork.  Continue following the road to the end.

 You are suppose to call for a tour: (818) 768-2302

Trailhead 1600 Feet

 Paid Parking is around the back, but Jess dropped me off

with no one around, it felt like the movie Thirst, stranded in the desert

 Superintendent's House - "Big House"

(Self Guided Tour)

 The Felton School

About quarter mile past town I found a bridge to the left

 This leads back and up and in

 Not Funny!  Someone through a picnick table down there

This is shame because these tables were knew.  Why do people do this?  The drop here is steep and the ground is loose.  I followed the single track back a bit further but the trail seems to dissappear after this.  Thus, I ventured back to the main road and continued higher.

Next turn off to the left, Johnson Park

 This was once a thriving oil town

This makes a great mountain biking route

With temperatures above 90, there were no takers back here

 The First Commercial Oil Well

The nicely paved road ends shortly after this spot.  However, the dirty rocky road continues and it is easy to follow.  That being said, the high temperatures evaporated my water more quickly than usual.

 Deer

 The road below

 Magic Mountain

 Views

 The backside of the mountain

 2800 Feet - No safe way to climb it

The road began going lower from here.  I turned around since I was nearly out of water and was scheduled to meet my wife in 1 hour; it took me about that long to reach this point.

Heading back, yu can see those hills from the 126 - neat!

Was this an oaisis?

How random to find a soda machine on a trail?  How very random of me to actually have cash in my pocket.  My wife was late returning from Ikea so I drowned myself with a Pepsi.  Twenty minutes later, I chugged a Mug Rootbeer.  At the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.  When my wife came, she brought me a large Dr. Peper from El Polo Loco, but no food.  So, I drank the 44 ounce soda because I was dehydrated.  The hike was ruff, hot, next to no shade to escape the sun.  But were my legs sore, no!  My stomach was from all the soda.  Bad idea, huh?  --ahh, just finished a 12 ounce can of Coke as I was writing this.  What's wrong with me, oh yeah, I hike ever day so I must be crazy...

 

Day #598 * Hike #700 * Duplicate Track

Thursday July 5, 2012

Buena 2-Mile Run

My Tripometer: 45 minutes * 2.5 Miles * +0 Feet

 

2.09.60

2.05.50

2.02.74

2.04.95  8.22.78

2.05.66

2.04.42

2.03.33

Jeremy Final Quarter: 1.45.03 -- 7.58.44 (2nd Mile) -- 16.21.22 (Two Mile Time)

Jessica Final Quarter: 1.58.18 -- 8.11.59 (2nd Mile) -- 16.34.37 (Two Mile Time)

 

**This was a good run for us.  We kept a decent pace and ran together around the quarter mile track.  We each gave a little bit of a push at the end to score our best laps.  There was a time where I ran this distance in 13 minutes.  Maybe I'll run myself back to those speeds again?

 

 

Day #599 * Hike #701 * Duplicate Track

Friday July 6, 2012

Arroyo Verde - Ventura, CA

My Tripometer: 1 Hour * 2.5 Miles * +350 Feet

 

Day #600 * Hike #702 * New Track #590

Saturday July 7, 2012

Newhall Comunity Pool - Newhall, CA

My Tripometer: 2.5 Hours * 1 Miles * +0 Feet

 

Diving Season is back in Session.  Ayden warms up in the Newhall Dive Meet in preparation to compete in the LA 84 later this summer.  Last year he placed 2nd in the invite only competition.  This year he has set his mind on Gold.

 

 Ayden Scores on his Back Dive

Dive Meets are long, especially with the intermission.  In between rounds I did my rounds arounds the park.  It was later morning and the temperature was approaching 90.  --As I write this blog today, the Santa Clarita area (which includes Newhall) reach temperatures of 109 today.  I'm so glad we did this when we did, especially with my Pico Canyon Hike after the meet...

The Park - Let's Explore...