hiking the east fork san gabriel river

I had expected this to be one of those highly frequented hikes due to the popular bungee jumping spot towards the end of the hike. But, as it turns out, more than half of the hike is on trails that are no longer maintained. There were a few rather precarious spots where rock slides had caused the narrow trail to disappear leaving very little path to step on alongside a straight, slippery slope of the mountain with small rocks and nothing to grab on and high above the ground. I would skip those parts next time for sure. I checked modern hiker's post again when I got back and he described those parts as unnecessarily dangerous and I totally agree. I would much rather walk along the river with the Super Mario like obstacle course with pointy, prickly Spanish Bayonets.

We skipped the mile or so that was after the bridge. Despite being an 8 mile hike, it takes a long time due to all the river crossing that needs to be done over tree bridges and very slippery stones. We found sturdy tree branches to use as sticks for support while crossing the river. And the predominantly rocky path makes it a much harder and painful 8 miles than usual. It really was a fun hike though due to all those reasons and next time I would take more trail photos. Though, in all reality the trail is along the river and across it so these photos are a somewhat apt depiction.

saturday night/sunday

The best way to end a super fun birthday party with delicious food and cakes? Decadent hot chocolate and good conversation with friends at a late night diner is the perfect way to top that off.

trails cafe on film

I love sitting at Trails Cafe with a good book, sipping coffee and eating one of their delicious homemade pies. I've taken many photos in Griffith Park with the other camera and some polaroids but these photos to me really capture that place better than all others. It's one of my favorite places to go near where we live.

SF - Golden Gate Park

see mr. squirrel larger?

SF

The last time I used my old SLR was for these photos taken on a trip to the Grand Canyon. I tried using it once since and the lever was stuck. I finally decided to take it to the shop and really all that was wrong was one little bad battery. I never bothered checking as I figured it would be more complicated since it's such an old camera. I was taking a photography class back in 2000 at a junior college in Aptos, a small town near Santa Cruz. And I bought the camera at a used camera store for very cheap. It was nice shooting film again and that too in color.

halloween '09

The west hollywood halloween parade was crazy and fun and full of overwhelming sights, costumes, creative people. I dressed as "space".