May Sunset Hikes to Mt. Thom

Twice weekly sunset 'conditioning' hikes are the order of the day for the month of May. The Monday Brand Library to Mt. Thom 'scramble' has proven a worthy alternative to the Vital Link workout and we'll continuing with regular weekly ascents through the rest of the month (excluding Memorial Day). Since this 'scramble' is so demanding we're also following up with a weekly easy-to-moderate Thursday trek up the Las Flores motorway (aka 'fire road') to Mt. Thom.

The final scramble just below the fire road

• Mondays: Brand Library to Mt. Thom, 5:30-7:30 PM | Google Map
• Thursdays: Las Flores Motorway to Mt. Thom, 5:30-7:30 PM | Google Map

Atop Mt. Thom with Glendale & Eagle Rock in the background
We're in the planning stage for a Monday Memorial Day hike - nothing too wild, and also looking at a return to Mt. Baldy in June.

Brand Sunset Scramble & 'Doddering'

An 8-strong contingent of the Brand Ramblers returned to the ridge trails behind the Brand Library (in Brand Park, Glendale) for a leisurely sunset hillwalk and scramble. Unfortunately not all were able to complete the 1.5 mile /1500 ft. change-in-elevation circuit but it was still a pleasant outing as weather was mild and the hillsides were green and bright with blooming flowers.

Noteworthy was the chaparral dodder aka cuscuta californica the wirey vine that dotted the landscape with its tangle of bright orange and yellow stems.

"California dodder is a leafless, parasitic, viney plant with slender orange to yellowy stems which are each fastened to their host organism by means of a knobby root-like structure called a haustoria, which allows it to draw its nourishment from the host. If any leaves are present, they are minute and scale-like. The flowers are small, white, squat, urn-shaped, and arranged in loose cymose or paniculate clusters... Species californica, seems to be mostly partial to the buckwheats, sages, deerweed and Haplopappus. California dodder inhabits many plant communities from sea level to 8200' in most of cismontane California and occasionally on the deserts, and blooms from May to July"

- Source: Wildflowers and Other Plants of Southern California

Stay tuned for details of this Sunday's (April 13) Verdugo Traverse hike!