Mill Creek Jumpoff to Vivian Creek Trail, 11-Jun-2010

Discuss SoCal ranges other than the San Gabriels.
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Tim
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Post by Tim »

Remember a couple of years ago this hiker went missing on San Gorgonio? After a couple of days, they found her in Raywood Flats, which is way south of San G. I've always wondered how she got there from the Vivian Creek Trail, so I checked out to see if the MCJO could be linked up to the top of ridge above High Camp.
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HikeUp
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Post by HikeUp »

Yes!
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Taco
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Post by Taco »

Very nice movie, Tim! What camera did you use?
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Dave G
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Post by Dave G »

Nice! Are you holding the camera in your hand? I'm thinking you must have long arms or some sort of extension mast thingie? :?
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cougarmagic
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Post by cougarmagic »

Very interesting trip, and the video is great! That slope gave me vertigo!
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lilbitmo
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Post by lilbitmo »

Indiana"Tim"Jones :D

Tim, where exactly is Raywood Flats?
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hvydrt
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Post by hvydrt »

Awesome Tim. I was up Galena a few weeks ago and looking at possible routes. I want to try that route next winter or spring.
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Tim
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Post by Tim »

Thanks all!

HU: Roger that!

TDR: Camera is just a small Canon SD880IS. The video mode is actually kinda crappy but it has a nice wide lens. Need to upgrade to HD for my next production!

DG: Haha, my arms are not very long. In some shots I rigged the camera to my trekking pole and in others I just held it while it was on a mini tripod. I also used the trekking pole as a crude Steadicam by holding it in a certain way to balance it.

CM: Yeah, I saw so many interesting things on this trip. Those snow bridges holding up thousands of pounds of rocks was crazy!

LB: Here's RF: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=34.04601,-11 ... ntain%20CA

HD: I was thinking about the same thing regarding winter routes. So many possibilities!

It's so cool that we can have real, genuine adventures out here just like Indy and most of the population doesn't even know about it!
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RyanB
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Post by RyanB »

That map shows a trail to San G summit via East Fork Cabin/Middle Fork Jumpoff. Its not on my Tom Harrison map from 2000. Does that trail still exist?
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Taco
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Post by Taco »

That's amazing quality for a "crappy" camera! If you don't mind me asking, what do you plan on upgrading to?
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He219
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Post by He219 »

Tim, outstanding job!
Well done ..
:D
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EManBevHills
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Post by EManBevHills »

That was a pleasure to watch. Nice job, Tim!
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lilbitmo
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Post by lilbitmo »

Tim,

If that hiker actauly went from Vivian Creek Trail all the way to "Raywood Flats" before she was picked up that's way out of the way, that must have been a crazy ordeal?
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Ze Hiker
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Post by Ze Hiker »

awesome Tim! so that gully looked like it had brush, but how bad was it? did you go all the way up to intersect the VC trail?

as for that lost girl, i remember her claiming she felt like "she was on a trail, then it got steeper and steeper on some dirt ground." very descriptive!
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Tim
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Post by Tim »

Ryan: Not sure about that trail. Hardly anyone ever goes back there and it's pretty brushy so I assume everything is overgrown now. In John Robinson's book, Hike #61 does describe a trail from Millard Canyon Rd to Raywood Flat and then on to Silverwood Falls, but even he admits it's overgrown.

TDR: The crappy part is when the camera sees anything white or really bright (like snow), the sensor gets overloaded or something and it gets these annoying pink vertical streaks. Not sure yet on which camera. The new Canon SD4000 is pretty good, but expensive. They're all kinda meh.

HE/EBH: Thanks again!

LB: She was out there for a couple of nights and even weathered a thunderstorm. At one point she said she saw a monkey. Ironically Moe the chimp had escaped from a compound a few days before (but that was way west of her location so it seems unlikely it was Moe). I can see how she ended up in RF, because there is a small creek on the other side of the MCJO and she said she kept following a stream. I contacted her on Facebook but she didn't seem to remember much or want to talk about it. Probably everything looked all the same to her anyway.

Ze: The gully starts to get brushy about halfway up, then it just gets more and more dense. The best path was to exit the gully and start headed up either side of the gully. At first I went towards the east flank because it's really rocky over there with some pretty fun looking Class 3, but getting to the rocks through the brush proved difficult, so I went back and headed up the west flank, which was a safer bet. From there, it was pretty easy to weave through the manzanita and gain the ridge to the VC trail.
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Taco
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Post by Taco »

Same thing happens with several digicams I've used.
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Johnny Bronson
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Post by Johnny Bronson »

Really well edited video!
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