6/1/21 What was supposed to be a 14 mile, fairly easy hike turned into 20 miles and over 3,800' of gain on a warm day. And a very close encounter with a rattlesnake added to the adventure.
1 Getting ready to start the day at the Bear Canyon trailhead. Our goal was to take Bear Canyon to Verdugo and then down Lucas Canyon to find the spot from the other side where we lost the trail a few weeks ago.
2 Heading through Four Corners and onto the Verdugo trail.
3 Things start to get overgrown in places as we go further down Verdugo.
4 We initially missed the Lucas Canyon junction, and had to backtrack, adding almost a mile to our day.
5 Dropping down into Lucas Canyon. The majority of the elevation gain for the day was climbing back out of the canyon.
6 Almost down to the bottom of Lucas, and the trail is getting really nice. A little bit further, and I had what was unquestionably my closest rattlesnake encounter of all my miles on the trail. I stepped over a little bump in the trail and landed with my left foot directly alongside a brown rattler. It immediately coiled up underneath me and started rattling like crazy. My right foot froze just before stepping on it, and I hopped away thinking for sure I was going to get struck as I moved. But somehow I didn't. The snake went off into the brush rattling like crazy for a while. We definitely scared the heck out of each other. That was a close one. Whew!
7 We decided to call it a day at 10 miles in. I went a little bit further past our turnaround spot, and this is what the trail looked like. Definitely looks like we were getting very close to the other side of where we lost the trail a few weeks before. And I picked-up another tick this trip, probably from these deep leaves again.
8 It's a long, tough climb out of Lucas Canyon. We realize we'll probably be finishing in the dark.
9 Made it back to the highpoint on the Verdugo trail at around 2,900'.
10 Taking in the late afternoon view.
11 A nice sunset as we head back down to the Candy Store. It was fun trying to make it the whole way without using the headlamp.
12 Made it. End to a memorable day in the Santa Anas!
