Made it to LA Mountain, Finally (Shallow Thoughts)

Made it to LA Mountain, Finally

30 Day Map Challenge Day 5: A Journey

Last year for the #OpenStreetMap day of the 30 Day Map Challenge, I wrote about a hike that went a little wrong, when we lost our way on the Mitchell Trail and ended up going partway up the trail to LA Mountain.

LA Mountain is so named because Los Alamos High School kids have, for many years, maintained a big "LA" on the mountain that was visible from town. I say "was" because the LA is very hard to see now, and I've been told (but haven't been able to confirm) that's because the Forest Service, which owns the land, said the kids had to stop updating it. I'd seen it from below and always wondered how to get there, so last year, when I realized that was the trail we were on, I vowed to go back soon and go all the way up.

And then, of course, I promptly forgot all about it, until a few days ago when I was reviewing last year's 30 Day Map Challenge projects.

Happily, the weather happened to be beautiful and we didn't have anything important scheduled. I was nursing a bad knee that had shown up on a hike a couple days earlier, but it seemed better so I chanced it.

The hike is beautiful. We started out on the Mitchell Trail, diverted left to go to the left of the water tower (where we'd made our mistake last year) along a loop that's apparently called "Berm City". I don't know why, since we saw nothing that could reasonably be labeled a berm at any point along the trail (we even looked up berm on the way home to see if we misunderstood its meaning). Then we took the spur up to the summit of LA Mountain.

A little below the summit, a trail goes off to the west along the ridge. I thought I was seeing that trail on OsmAnd — in fact, I had noticed it on the map and was looking for it — but now when I view the route in desktop and browser mapping apps, and even with OpenStreetMap's Identify tool, I see no sign of a trail there. Apparently the OsmAnd style I'm using has changed so that it now shows ridges as a black line that looks like a road or trail. I need to figure out how to fix that. But meanwhile, we need to go back and take that trail and see if it really connects to Pipeline Rd, which would enable a nice (if long) loop hike. Then, of course, add it on OpenStreetMap.

The upper part of the trail to the peak is a bit pebbly, so you have to be cautious of your footing, especially on the way down, but it isn't particularly long or steep. At the top there's a bench (a big metal one that made us marvel at whoever originally carried it up there). The views from the top are panoramic and spectacular.

On the way back we took the other half of the Berm City loop, down into the canyon below Yucca St. and back up. It was a very enjoyable hike, and only just over 3 miles round-trip.

Arriving back at the Mitchell trailhead, we spotted an occupant on the bench near the trail kiosk whom we hadn't noticed on the way up. I'm sure there's a story there, but I don't know what it is.