To the top

There is nothing like a good hike to clear your head. After several weeks in LA, I was definitely ready to get out of dodge for a day. Granted I only had to drive 20 minutes to get to the Angeles National Forest, but you would never think that you were close to LA. The place was totally remote and was in the middle of the San Gabriel Mountains, so only occasionally I would see glimpses of Arcadia and LA County. Other than that I was in the wilderness with all the excitement and dangers that come with it. I had just recently gotten a hydration pack and I wanted to test it out as well, so it gave me a good excuse to go hiking (it worked great!).

So my roommate and I head to the pack station, which is about halfway up one of the mountains, park the car, and start hiking. We decided to do the full loop which brings us down into the canyon and then up and around the mountains surrounding the canyon. Once we got into the canyon, I felt like I had been transported back to the East Coast. With the streams running everywhere and all the green, I could've been in any forest and it seemed to really cleanse my thoughts and mind. The canyon seemed to calm the nerves and soul. At one point later on, Ben and I sat and relaxed on some rocks as we looked over the canyon and were silent. The quiet that descended seemed to just pull you into the unspoiled region we were in. All we could hear was the wind and the rustling of the trees. No cars, people, horns, or city life could be heard. That alone did wonders for both of us.

As we climbed out of the canyon we came to a fork and decided to reach the summit of Mount Zion and take a look into the canyon. While it was only a little over a mile to the top, it was definitely a grueling climb. We changed our elevation by about 1200 feet in that short span of distance. Granted, both of us haven't done any real hiking for a while so we were definitely pushing ourselves. However, the effort was worth it. The view from the summit was beautiful and we decided to rest there and eat our clif bars and trail mix. At 3575 feet in the air you can see a good distance, and the haze wasn't too horrible so we could see for a good while.

After a short break, we headed down (much easier!), and continued on the trail and ended taking circling the canyon from the mountains above. It was awesome to look down below and know that just a couple hours before we were at the bottom climbing our way up. Conversations would start and stop as Ben and I both would just be awed into silence and look at the world around us.
After about 5 hours of hiking we were back at the car and ready to get home and cook some burgers and rejoice in a good day.