Condor Peak and a Parasite

Yesterday I decided to make a go and hike the 16 miles roundtrip up to Condor Peak. It was a 3000 ft. elevation gain up to 5400 ft., roughly, so this was the most difficult hike I've yet achieved in one day. I was extra-special smart and loaded the wrong batteries into the camera, so these are images I've found on the web of the exact views I came across.

This was the most beautiful hike I've undertaken due to the incredible, near 360 degree panoramas I was subjected to almost the entire extent of the trail. The trail wrapped around various minor peaks and Fox Mountain, to the side of Condor Peak. Cruising up the trail early in the morning, I came across several coveys of quail and ice-cold streams pouring out of the rock face. What was astonishing was the extreme temperature difference between hot, sun-warmed rock faces and a few feet later, air currents flowing down the shaded culverts that felt like they flowed out of refigerated meat lockers.



I made it up to the western slope of Fox Mountain around 10:30 am, after leaving the hidden trailhead on Big Tujunga Canyon Road around 7:45 am. Seeing Condor Peak in front of me, I couldn't resist hiking the rest of the way. It proved deceptive, however, in that there was about 2 miles further to go, all straight uphill to the top.

I ate lunch at the top, then returned to the bottom. The sun was high in the sky, as I left for the bottom around 11:45 am. There's very little cover, making me wish I had taken the alternative route down through the Tom Lucas trail in the shade. I managed to make it down in just over 2 hours, reaching the highway just before 2 pm.



Later that evening, however, I found out that I had a passenger aboard from the hike. I was about to go to sleep when I noticed a black thing attached to my side hip. I took a closer look and saw that it was a big, black, nasty tick. I woke Edie up and she helped pull it out with a pair of tweezers and a needle. Now I get to go to the doctor and see if it was infected or worse. Fantastic. I swear, deer are worse than rats.