Topatopa Recon, 07/27/2011

Okay, kids... all the griping I do about not having enough time to do the trails, peaks, and climbing, yeah. It's one of them summers. You may recall (though I hope don't care) that a couple months ago I was a busy boy...hammers, saws and other implements of destruction directed at my laundry room. That project is done, but it only got me a third of the way to the finish line. For the past month I've been tearing out my kitchen, floor to ceiling. New everything. Now we're down to about three weeks until installation of many thousands of dollars worth of new stuff. Very exciting, disruptive, expensive. I need this to end so I can get back to doing what I love.
Bear with me, I'll be dialing up the mountain stuff as we get into September. For now, I'm stealing away when I can. Today it was up the Suffer Machine (Topa Topa) for a brief recon.

I made it to the summit of Topa in my customary 3:15hrs. After a nice break up top I started ambling around the top of the bluffs. I was looking for an easy-ish route down the bluffs from the top. My purposes for doing this may develop into a substantial blog entry of it's own so I won't spill all the beans yet. I'll put it this way, I have a good reason for plotting and planning a trip to the base of the bluffs. It doesn't look like getting there will be all that difficult.

Interestingly, the front side of the bluffs is riddled with deer trails. In fact, it was a good day for wildlife. I saw 3 deer, 2 hawks, a fox , and many other smaller critters. I did not, however, see anyone else for the entire day.

Above:
Deer trails abound on the face of the Topa Topa Bluffs.
Below:
Hines Peak from the Topa Ridge

Below: Looking down a large gap in the Bluffs.

Below:
Further proof, if needed, that any time you might think you are on a road untravelled, you will encounter a beer can with a bullet hole in it.

Above: The Bluffs. I got plans.