Wednesday, August 26, 2015

DEVIL'S PUNCHBOWL – 4 to 6 HOURS OF CAVES, ARCHES AND WATERFALLS-2 hikes

This Hike comes in 2 parts. Each takes about three hours

NOT THE USUAL DEVIL'S PUNCHBOWL HIKE (the 1-mile loop everyone else does....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.) 


instead: WE'RE DOING 6 HOURS OF ROCKS, CAVES, ARCHES AND WATERFALLS EXPLORATION. The hike route itself is not off-trail or exploratory. It's just not an any official maps. 




OUR HIKE ROUTE:
PART 1 OF HIKE: We will go straight south of the parking lot and climb down into Punchbowl canyon.   If you arrive late, take the trail on the map below to the 4th stone bench and on the left (east) of the bench is a trail that drops down about 50 feet to a low rocky ridge.  DO NOT CONTINUE ON THE WIDER TRAIL WHICH HAS SOME WOODEN STAIRS JUST PAST THE BENCH. We will have lunch on the ridge, then continue south to the rocks at the south end of this canyon (in photo above), then loop back via the creek and climb down 6 waterfalls (4 to 6 feet high). Then we will return by going up the low rocky ridge to the nature center.

http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/e/a/highres_436143050.jpeg



PART 2 OF HIKE: Then we will head back to the nature center and go north to Sandrock canyon to explore the arches and caves
Our hike will take us to arches #6 to 12 on this photo



http://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/1/f/highres_436683359.jpeg



Difficulty: MODERATE, but nothing too crazy. BRING HIKING SHOES THAT YOU CAN GET WET!!!! (although I just did the falls myself and did not get wet.)
DISTANCE:  only 5 miles or so, cause climbing up and around rocks and waterfalls is SLOW!
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GEOLOGY: http://devils-punchbowl.com/pages/nhistory/geology/geology.pdf



CURRENT WILDFLOWER PHOTOS:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10206748128368825.1073741875.1443226944&type=1&l=2c0495d396

PICTURES FROM OUR LAST HIKE HERE:
http://www.meetup.com/santamonicahikingclub/photos/all_photos/?photoAlbumId=26035852
and the previous one....
http://www.meetup.com/santamonicahikingclub/photos/all_photos/?photoAlbumId=25951461
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10206456020466310.1073741867.1443226944&type=1&l=d528972b30

 Elevation is around 4600 feet

WEATHER: http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/l/USCA0847:1:US
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BELOW: the lower falls














PRINTABLE TRAIL MAP OF OUR HIKE ROUTES: (CLICK ON LINK)
http://photos3.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/b/1/2/highres_436142834.jpeg



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HANDY GOOGLE MAP WITH DIRECTIONS:
DRIVE IS ABOUT 80 MILES NORTH OF DOWNTOWN L.A.. No obnoxious twisty roads!
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Culver+City,+CA/Devil%27s+Punchbowl+Natural+Area,+28000+Devils+Punchbowl+Rd,+Pearblossom,+CA+93553/@34.2894979,-118.1701219,9z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x80c2ba1edb77739d:0x3185e9d14beb59fe!2m2!1d-118.3964665!2d34.0211224!1m5!1m1!1s0x80c31c62205f8af7:0x1ce1004f77c8390f!2m2!1d-117.85292!2d34.413737!3e0

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for posting this! Extremely helpful and very informative 👏

    ReplyDelete