tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post7429001333667784956..comments2023-11-11T05:50:15.023-08:00Comments on Enrique Freeque's Forum: The Southern Sierras of California by Charles Francis SaundersAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13736768855641666746noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-74542326717136680832012-05-04T10:55:21.089-07:002012-05-04T10:55:21.089-07:00Sounds like you'd make a fine trail guide with...Sounds like you'd make a fine trail guide with your "dorky" observations & knowledge of these mountains!<br /><br />Thank you for those videos! How cool is that. Next best thing to being there.<br /><br />Hope you're good too. Perhaps our paths will cross sometime out on the trails ...<br /><br />Meant to mention that last book I had at work ... it's called <i>The Angeles Was Our Home</i>: Recollections of Life on the Angeles National Forest by Norma Meacham Rowley.<br /><br />Take care,<br /><br />BrentAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13736768855641666746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-22147394304043280412012-05-02T07:49:59.462-07:002012-05-02T07:49:59.462-07:00It's been a few weeks and a few turns of the p...It's been a few weeks and a few turns of the page. Thank you for your advice on possible choices, I ended up going with the San Gabriels: So Cal Mountain Country for the first purchase along with the Saunders book I found used at a good price. They have both exceeded my expectation with only reading a portion so far! Particularly glad I got the Saunders book.<br /><br />It is interesting to read them simultaneously b/c one is about the history of the mountains, while the other is an actual account of the very time and place. A bit too dorky for some of my friends when we hike, while others will smile at the stories I can tell them now.<br /><br />Lastly, there is a forum of great information on the San Gabriels, but I mainly wanted to share these two video that star John Robinson & are quite informative and entertaining. Both of them can be found here http://sangabrielmnts.myfreeforum.org/ftopic1225-0-asc-40.php<br /><br />Hope all is well & enjoy the outdoors.JDBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447962747027582575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-62368636549475892832012-04-19T19:57:44.134-07:002012-04-19T19:57:44.134-07:00I totally agree about how a knowledge of the histo...I totally agree about how a knowledge of the history of these mountains makes venturing out into them a much more compelling pursuit. <br /><br /><i>Trails of the Angeles</i> was my main intro into the local mountains. Great guidebook, as I'm sure you know. Before that, I read John McKinney's column that used to appear in the L.A. Times every week. His column on Trail Canyon Trail and Condor Peak was my first hike way back when. <br /><br />Yeah, we're still local hereabouts, just a hop skip and a jump south of Mt. Baldy. I don't hike nearly as much as you anymore, but did make it out to the Devil's Punchbowl a couple weekends back. Beautiful country.<br /><br />You know I've had my eyes on that Will Thrall book but have never bitten on it for whatever reasons. It sounds great. I have that Call of the Mountains you mention, and I wouldn't recommend it at all if it's history you're after, as it's just a coffee table book with nice pictures. I will say it has a nice photo of Day Canyon, one of the canyons that drains the south face of Cucamonga Peak, that's interesting as it remains for me the most alluring, trail-less canyon left to explore in the range.<br /><br />The $$ you spend on the Robinson are indeed worth it. Just phenomenal amount of information you can't get anywhere else. Wouldn't it have been great to have been around during the Great Hiking Era? I had the good fortune of arriving at Sturtevant Camp one time when the grounds keeper was the only one around and he took me on an impromptu tour of the place. Said there used to be a road that went all the way up to the camp, and that he'd hiked it, bushwhacked it all the way, just because. That must've been 15 years ago. I've no idea how to access that old road or if it's still passable or not.<br /><br />Great talking to you! I've got another book at work I'll reference here soon. The name escapes me at the moment.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13736768855641666746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-51235995648761656902012-04-17T03:16:26.048-07:002012-04-17T03:16:26.048-07:00Forgot to mention, I also found that excerpt of Mu...Forgot to mention, I also found that excerpt of Muir writing you mentioned on a Yosemite page a while back, that was one of the original wirtings that got me researching further into the history. It was so fascinating to read about an account from his point of view.... if only there were more!JDBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447962747027582575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-86850991656635907162012-04-17T02:51:46.417-07:002012-04-17T02:51:46.417-07:00Cheers sir! Thank you for the insight into some di...Cheers sir! Thank you for the insight into some different sources for mountain history. As much fun as it can be to wander the hills, I find knowledge of the history makes the outdoors much more enjoyable.<br /><br />I had been looking into a couple of those San Gabriel books and I had missed the San Jacinto one somehow. I felt strongly that these were some of the core history sources after reading some of the reviews. John Robison really has done a great job dividing and researching the mountains. I often am using his trails book to help find new adventures as well.<br /><br />The thin copies of the "Mining" books by Robinson are very intersting, but don't hold quite as much entertaining value. More facts taken from newspapers of the time about mining reports & how much has been taken out of the earth. Though interesting, not quite the fevered gold rush stories that come from first had prospectors. Combined with a good hiking book this makes for fun hunts through the mountains for the old mines.<br /><br />You may find the bio about Will Thrall entertaining. It gives amazing history about one mans particular connection to the San Gabriels and how he managed to open the LA community up to the mountains starting before 1900. Also being the founder of Trails magazine & a huge influcen in the "Great Hiking Era". The book at times is a little long winded, overly worded to fill parahraphs I felt, but still entirely engaging. Fun to read about his inertatctions with early settlers & being hired to record the census in the mountains.<br /><br />Have you looked into or read this book below that seems to cover all the so cal mountains, Call of the Moutain? The reviews seem to lean more towards coffee table photo book first, then detailed info about the past more so?<br /><br />Call of the Mountains: The Beauty and Legacy of Southern California's San Jacinto, San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains by Ann & Farley Olander<br /><br />Lastly, I heeded your advice and did some more searching for the Sauders book. I was able to find an old library copy that was used on the internet. Though not having the beautiful cover that is pictured on the net, it still holds all the terrific stories for about $20. Not too shabby. <br /><br />It looks like im going to be forking over about $20 to $30 for the other Robinson books, but I know it will be worth it once they are on the bookshelf at home. Thanks agian & thank you for the kind words on my blog. We get out quite often, so there will be more soon. <br /><br />Not sure if you & your family are still in the LA area, but about a year ago I recieved as a gift, one of the best books I ever got about the outdoors. It's called Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles. These are neighborhood 'hikes' and walks with historical, architectural & just all around wonders of the LA city & hidden neihborhoods most citizens never knew existed. Some challenging and some relaxing, this has proven to be one of the most used, most bought by friends & touted among my others who I meet while out walking.JDBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447962747027582575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-19429122921035340662012-04-14T17:14:46.584-07:002012-04-14T17:14:46.584-07:00What a delightful comment you left, JDB!
First,...What a delightful comment you left, JDB! <br /><br />First, before forking over boo-koo bucks for the Saunders book, be sure and check if its being sold in our local national forest visitor centers, which is where I grabbed my paperback reprint for only $8, though granted that was back in the mid-'90s.<br /><br />What a charmed life to be in your 20s and exploring our mountains and their history!<br /><br />John Robinson, whom you mention, is by far the finest contemporary historian of our local, Southern California mountains. Nobody else comes close. Besides <i>The Mines of the San Gabriels</i> and other similar, slim volumes he's authored on the East Fork and Mount Wilson, his best works are the three beautiful coffee table sized books he's published:<br /><br />1. <i>The San Bernardinos</i>: The Mountain Country from Cajon Pass to Oak Glen; Two Centuries of Changing Use (1989)<br /><br />2. <i>The San Gabriels: The Mountain Country from Soledad Canyon to Lytle Creek</i> (1991)<br /><br />3. <i>The San Jacintos</i>: The Mountain Country from Banning to Borrego Valley (1993), co-authored with Bruce D. Risher and Elna Bakker. <br /><br />Those three, replete with their century-old photographs and histories of practically every relevant place name in our mountains, are musts.<br /><br />John Muir wrote a chapter in <i>The Mountains of California</i> of his excursion to Eaton Canyon Falls, right around the turn of the century, that is essential local reading too.<br /><br />If you ever run across anything by Walt Wheelock also, I suggest grabbing it. The name of the author who wrote a book titled something to the effect of "Railway to the Clouds" on the history of the development of Rubio Canyon/Echo Mountain incline & the Mt. Lowe Railroad, is also a must-have. I'm sure there's more but those are the ones I think of right off the bat.<br /><br />Your photography looks great, btw. I will spend some time on your blog for sure.<br /><br />Best to you!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13736768855641666746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4578527808639052137.post-68144936359317311842012-04-14T01:56:41.964-07:002012-04-14T01:56:41.964-07:00Thanks so much for this review. I am almost the ex...Thanks so much for this review. I am almost the excact description of the person you are speaking of in your youth. Although not growing up in LA, I have made it my home and nearing my late 20s have fallen in love with the history of the trails I hike avidly. I was on the fence about this book b/c there was little description online,until I found your review. I think Im going to go ahead of fork over the extra dough for this older book. Sounds really interesting. Any other books on so cal moutain history you can recommend?!?!?! Ive been reading Mines of the San Gabriels and other John Robinson books that are quite good. As well as the Will Thrall biography. Any more would be great though?JDBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04447962747027582575noreply@blogger.com