The Schabarum Trail, previously known as the Skyline Trail, extends along the ridge of the Puente Hills. These pictures are from a walk in February 2009 from the western end at Rio Hondo College's Police Academy approximately 1.5 miles to the top of Nike Hill. This provided grand views of the Los Angeles basin in every direction.
The banner image above is a wide-angle view of the San Gabriel Mountains taken from Nike Hill. At the far left, the range in the foreground (without snow) leads up to Mt. Wilson, just outside of the picture. Left of center and heavily snow-clad is Mt. Baden-Powell. In the middle of the right-hand half of the image is Mt. Baldy, the highest peak in the San Gabriels. The four smaller peaks at the far right are, from right to left, Cucamonga Peak, Ontario Peak, Telegraph Peak, and Thunder Peak.
As shown in the pictures, the walk goes by a land-fill area, where there is a small power station that is the the largest Gas-to-Energy plant in the U.S., generating 46.5 Megawatts of electricity. It is powered by the gases coming from decomposing organic matter within the land fill. Typically these gases are 50% methane.
Nike Hill is the site of a missile battery that was operational during the cold war of the 1960s.
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San Gabriel Mountains to the north
Towards Mt. Piños, 8,831 ft
Across the Whittier Narrows
Monterey Park area
Tooking towards Pasadena
Downtown Los Angeles
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)
California bush sunflower (Encelia californica)
Saltbush (Atriplex lentiformis)
Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
Vasey's prickly pear (Opuntia vaseyi)
Vasey's prickly pear (Opuntia vaseyi)
Laurel sumac (Malosma laurina)
Leafy california buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum subsp. fasciculatum)
Red tailed hawk
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum)
Poison hemlock (Conium maculatum)
Arroyo lupine (Lupinus succulentus)
Arroyo lupine (Lupinus succulentus)
Land fill area
Power station
Looking east from Nike Hill
Plaque in memory of the missle battery
Moss
Enlargement of previous moss
Another sample of moss
Enlargement of previous moss
Yet another moss
Enlargement of previous moss
Thanks to Jane Strong for assistance in identificaiton of plants and flowers.
A chapter of the California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite I, Sacramento, California 95816-5113
CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter, 1750 North Altadena Drive, Pasadena, California 91107-1046
All text on this page is Copyright © 2010-2022 CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter unless otherwise indicated. All photos are Copyright by the authors.
