Perseid Meteor Shower 2011

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Every year we have a chance to stay up a little bit late & are guaranteed one of mother nature's wonder. Just about 16 miles into the Angeles National Forest on Hwy 2 we found a wonderful private turn out to set up camp in.

 

There was intention behind our antics though. Closing in on 1am, we had come to view the Perseid Meteor Shower in it's full glory. Parked on the side of the road, perched on the hood of a warm car we starred at the sky to behold a universal wonder.

Before leaving we were able to capture a photo of the guys, but with some interesting results. After a 15 second exposure & a closure look at the results we were all astonished. 

There is still debate if I had captured a meteor flaring up in the background of the photo. With a large white robust head object & what looks like green gases trailing off... it could be?! We believe the red & white horizontal dots were a plane of some nature flying by as well. Lot's of fun things to see. Click photos to enlarge.

What do you think?

Horse Flats - BBQ Mission

Bit of a late post, but fun to look back all the same. Last month my friend Andrew had the supplies for a beach bonfire, but no pit. So what do we do? Take it to the mountains. Barley hitting an hour outside of LA, we found ourselves backing into a campground at Horse Flats for what was going to be a wonderful bbq dinner amongst the trees.



Hours passed & a wonderful sunset bathed us with light at 6,500ft. Food was devoured & a few good adult sodas were enjoyed. With no intention of staying the night, we said our goodbyes to mother nature & head back down the windy Angeles Crest Hwy to Los Angeles. All around a successful evening mission.

Horse Flats Camping - First Days of Summer

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After the adventure Georgette & I had in Big Sur, we decided to try for a one night camping trip into the hills outside Los Angeles.



With a loose plan of traversing Angeles Crest Highway & stopping in at several campgrounds to see what options we had as far as availability. Hwy 2, recently reopened after 2008's Station Fire, wanders through Angeles National Forest to absolute solitude from any semblance of city life.



Eventually deciding on Horse Flats Campground, which is at the mid point of a nice 5 mile one lane paved road winding off Hwy2, helping to get us out into the wilderness more so than before. Setting up camp to a totally empty surrounds was unreal. We had no neighbors & no people, the entire time Georgette & I were camping, hiking or exploring. Total seclusion.



After a great afternoon hike to Hollyer Peak (spelling?), we build a fire & kept warm to the best of our ability. This adventure brought a bit different type of cold in our direction than previously in Big Sur. This was an alpine cold, sleeping at 5,600 feet, waking to crunchy frost covered meadows & a fine layer of snow/ice on everything.



Alas, this was indeed a new & great adventure with a determined co-pilot all throughout the journey.

Only four days later I found myself setting up camp at the same place with a different adventure. NEW POST SOON.


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