7 a.m. on a Saturday morning found 16 hikers enjoying breakfast at Lloyds of La Cañada. 8 a.m. on this fine January morning found 48 hikers assembled at La Cañada for our 12th Annual ascent of "Sister Elsie," aka Mt Lukens. Our hike was listed in the newsletter of the Los Angeles Environmental Affairs Dept.
We caravaned to the Grizzly Flats road 8 miles up Angeles Crest Hwy, where we would end the hike. There, we left most of the cars and drove the rest to the beginning of the hike - the Dark Canyon Trail - at mile marker 30.02 on Angeles Crest Highway.
9 a.m. found us ascending this shady trail, through a forestry plantation to the Grizzly Flats Road. Then we followed fire roads to the top of Mt. Lukens, arriving about noon. The views from the top over Los Angeles were quite cruddy, but we could see Catalina sticking its twin peaks - Blackjack and Orizaba - through the cloud cover.
There is currently a register at the benchmark "Sister Elsie" on the high point, and an older one (10 years) on a high point listed in the peak guide about 1/4mile east of the benchmark on another high point with great views of the Angeles Forest and San Gabriels. Here we spent a leisurely hour napping and eating under the mid-winter sun and sharing the goodies and stories we had brought with us.
At about 1 p.m. we headed back down the easterly ridges of Sister Elsie, through her soft shoulders and dangerous curves, often following deer and "Bobcat" trails, past Grizzly Flats and back to our cars. One hiker was sick and opted for a shorter route back to the Dark Canyon trailhead with Stag & Nami. Back at the cars by 2:30 p.m., some of us headed for Frisbee Golf at Oak Grove Park in La Cañada while others headed home. Thanks to Stag for his usual great leadership and assistance over our past 120 led Sierra Club Hikes and to all the 48 participants for making this a great day.
