Mount Lukens

29 December 1990

By: David Eisenberg

Leaders: David Eisenberg, Charlie Knapke

When Charlie and I planned this trip, neither of us had any idea of where the Tujunga Canyon Road came into the Los Angeles Basin. We made a wild guess and decided to meet at the Sylmar Carpool point. This was a sad mistake. Faced with driving essentially South and East to the trailhead, only 2 of the 21 people who showed decided to carpool. We ended up with 18 cars heading for the picnic area at the start of the trail.

It was a cool brisk day. Clouds were somewhat threatening, but we weren't too worried about the possibility of rain. The trail had recently been reworked at the lower end, making it easy to follow and to hike. We took about 3 hours to reach the summit at a moderate pace. There was a white out at the summit which made it somewhat difficult to locate the register which is not kept at the high point. Luck was with us and the fog lifted slightly as we neared the small hill to the East containing the register. The wind calmed down enough for us to eat a relaxed lunch at the summit.

On the way back, we each stopped to stamp on the survey marker which was covered with a large white plastic 'X'. The last time I was on Lukens, there was lots of trash and debris. Fortunately, someone had cleaned it up and all we had to endure was the sound of icicles dropping off the radio towers and crashing down at the base.

We arrived back safely at the cars with plenty of daylight to spare.