It was a beautiful Sunday to spend a night in Idyllwild. As we drove up the 243 early Sunday morning, the fog hung heavy over the mountain. Our first stop was Lake Fulmor where I did a little bird watching. This was a much different experience then when we were here on New Year’s day. On that day we couldn’t even get near the lake because there were so many people. This time we had the whole place to ourselves, and it was wonderful! It was so quiet and the fog rolling over the lake was eerily beautiful. I saw a beautiful Red-wing Blackbirds singing in the cattails; a new species to add to my life list! After about an hour or more enjoying the lake, we headed to the Ranger Station to drop off our permit for the Deer Springs Trail. My husband brought along his video camera, and I had both my Nikon birding camera and my Lumix. We took our time and mostly played around with the cameras taking photos and video and not worrying too much about covering any set amount of mileage. The forecast was calling for rain turning into snow later in the afternoon/evening, so we had to keep an eye on the weather. When we reached the junction for Suicide Rock it was clouding up quite a bit, but we decided to push on since it was only one more mile. The forest was very quiet and as we approached Suicide Rock, we started to see some light snow flurries. The clouds were thickening and looming over the mountain and the sky was turning darker and gray. It was so pretty and so peaceful. As we hiked down we passed through a couple of light hail storms. It wasn’t a long hike back — only about four miles. I was thoroughly enjoying the mountain weather and the peace and quiet of the wilderness. We got back to the trailhead around 4:30 pm. By that time I was tired and I was looking forwards to a nice, warm dinner and spending the night by a cozy fire back at our cabin in Idyllwild. It was a beautiful hike. I love it when the weather is gray and chilly. After dinner we snuggled up by the fire and fell asleep. I kept waking up every once in a while to look out the window to see if it had started to snow. The wind was blowing strong and I could see the pine trees being rocked back and forth. It was nice to be snuggled up in a nice warm cabin and I enjoyed listening to the wind in the trees. The next morning there was a light dusting of snow on the car. We got the fireplace going and my husband went to pick up some breakfast while I waited inside. It was snowing and hailing off and on all morning. We enjoyed the lovely fire, a delicious pancake breakfast and the warmth of the cabin before heading back to Los Angeles.

I was super excited to explore a new part of the Angeles National Forest this past Sunday! One of the first hiking books I’d ever purchased was “Trails of the Angeles” by the late John W. Robinson. This hike is hike #1 in his book. In addition, Casey Schreiner of ModernHiker.com, recently posted a trail report about this hike, making it sound even more appealing.

The trailhead is about an hour and 20 minute drive from our home and is in the northwestern section of the Angeles NF. It starts off on the PCT, and we did pass a number of thru hikers headed to the Sierras as we ascended the mountain southbound.

The first part of the trail took us up switchbacks that were surrounded by blooming ceanothus (wild lilac) as well as patches of yerba santa. As we made our way up, we had wonderful views of the Antelope Valley, the Ventura mountain ranges, the San Andres rift zone and the Tehachapis. It’s a very interesting contrast considering the mountain we were hiking on was so lush and green.

As we continued, we passed through an incredibly beautiful pine grove filled with purple lupines. Various wildflowers were numerous along the entire route. As we climbed upward, Liebre mountain turned into a sprawling oak savanna and the clouds began to roll over us as they made their way across the mountaintop. We reached a junction where the PCT headed east, but continued along the trail (which was now more of a fire road then a single track) to reach the highest point of Liebre Mountain. To find the high point which is marked with a wooden stake and a pile of large rocks, we had to leave the road and do a little searching. We stopped here to relax, have a snack and enjoy the scenery. We also did a some exploring around the top of the mountain before making our way back taking our time as we did. As we descended, the temperatures had warmed up a bit and there was more wildlife activity; lizards warming themselves in the sun and insects enjoying the wildflower blooms. I stopped for a while to get some photos of a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth nectaring on the yerba santa at about 4,300’. It was quite a sight! I’d never seen one of these before! This was a lovely hike and another great day to be in the mountains!