Mount Mooney and Vetter Mountain

Overview

NOTE: This area was badly burned by the 2009 Station Fire. The historic Vetter Mountain Fire Lookout was destroyed and the landscape will likely differ from this description, although plans are in effect to reconstruct the fire lookout to its historic specifications. For now, the region is open to hikers although all the trails themselves may not be open. To read about a dependable fire road hike to the Vetter Mountain Lookout Site, head here. The marine layer was heavy and it was gray the entire drive up to La Canada Flintridge, where I actually started driving through the clouds. It started raining, and visibility dropped to nearly nothing – so the trip to the trailhead took a bit longer than usual. I pulled over at one of the ranger stations to snap a few pictures … and to give my knuckles a rest from gripping the steering wheel so tightly. After a few more miles, I finally broke through the clouds and into the pure blue California skies that were hidden from the entire population of Los Angeles. Suckers. I reached the Charlton Flats turnoff, parked on the road, and crossed the street to the rather inauspicious start of the fire / jeep road to Mount Mooney. The pavement at the start of the Mooney Trail soon gave way to dirt road, and I would have wandered up it had a plaque sitting out in the middle of a grove not caught my eye. As a history junkie, I’m not one to pass by a plaque of any kind without reading it – so I hopped off the trail and into the grove. Kneeling down on the carpet of pine needles, the text of plaque came into view: As I stood up to get back on the proper trail, I heard some thumping from a ridge above me. Looking up, I saw a pair of deer walking through the brush. As I stopped, they turned around to look at me. These were the first deer I’d seen in a long time, so I stopped in my tracks and remained silent while they checked me out to make sure I wasn’t a threat. After a moment, they went about their business and wandered back into the woods while I got back on the trail. The actual fir

Trail Stats

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