Messenger Flats

Mike and I camped at Messenger Flats last night, in Angeles Forest. MF is about 22 miles off of Angeles Forest Highway, and I'm sure on wet days you need a 4x4 to get there. But this is the desert, so odds are that it will be dry, and we made it in the Honda Civic. There are 10 tent sites at MF. Last weekend when we visited, only one was occupied. This weekend: 6 (including us). Everyone was quiet, though, so it was a nice getaway.

We hiked some of the Pacific Crest Trail. There were some really amazing views, although the day was hazy. (It was clear this morning, and I swear you could see across the entire state.) We have been using a guidebook which reports some questionable facts and figures. In this case, the guidebook said the Pacific Crest Trail is one mile. I *think* that the printer left off a couple of zeroes. After hiking for quite a while, it became apparent that the trail likely goes over the tops of all the mountains in Angeles Forest. We decided we didn't want to spend several hours looking like the VonTrapp family, so we turned around and went back.

We found lots of fun stuff in the forest. First, there's a lot of oak trees which of course make acorns. Mike picked up an acorn hat and made a whistle out of it. He leaned out over the canyon and whistled loud. He said the look on my face said this: "No! That's too loud, you're going to bother someb....hey, cool echo!" Which I had to admit is exactly what went through my head. And how could we possibly bother anyone? I couldn't find a single person through my binoculars.


We also found the most ginormous pinecones I've ever seen. They are bigger than footballs, bigger than my head. We brought one back to the campsite and used it as a fire log. True story! Here is a picture of the big pine cone next to a regular pine cone!