SaddleBack Butte State Park

Red Tape

This is the link for Saddleback Butte State Park.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=618

We dropped a fiver in the slot and trucked out on our merry way. They also have a camp ground as well.

The Trip

So it’s Christmas morning in Southern California and I was itching to keep my hiking streak alive. Well Grama’s house (where we spent the night) happened to be in Lake LA which 5 minutes down the road from this quiet and quaint little State park. I woke my wife Katie, my 5 year old Thomas, and of course our lil pup Maggie was already up. I think she knew where my thoughts were at because she was already at the door. Se we ended up getting off to a late start of course, that is what generally happens with kids!! I would’ve liked to see the sun rise over the Butte in the middle of the Mojave but it just wasn’t meant to be. We get to trailhead and they had a couple of different routes we decided to take the concrete one that lead to the right side of the path. It was a 2.5 mile hike out to the butte, which stands at approx 3600 ft. It really was smooth sailing the whole way, you basically trek out over flat desert sand surrounded by Joshua trees until you get to the base of the Butte. There is Little Butte about 1/4 of the way out. It’s a nice breaking spot for some photos and messing about on the rocks. Once ypu take off from there you make a B line to the bottom of Big Butte. Once you get there it’s straight up, no switchbacks at all. Thoams cried the whole time thinking he was going to fall and roll down the Butte. My lil pup however was a different story....she beasted out the whole time. She was in heaven!! never seen a mini daschund go all out like that before. From the top you get an amazing look at the whole Mojave High Desert. Every way you trun you can see a city far out in the distance, to the left it’s Lake LA and the Angeles Forest, to the right it’s Edwards AFB, and Rosamond, and straigth down you can see Lancaster and Palmdale. It really was a good hike. The weather was great for a xmas day, i believe it was in the mid 60’s. This was a fun time with some really cool views, i really loved seeing the hawks circling the desert air looking for food. If you are nearby this a must see.

Photos from the trip

Conclusion

If you have about 4-5 hours to spare and you don’t want to travel far at all i highly suggest this trip. It would be a great to catch a sunrise or sunset from the top of the Butte, i’m sure you could get many of the wonderful sun sets and rises of beautiful Southern California.

California Dreaming

These sunsets are why I love California

Images

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