FIELD TRIP TO THE WEST FORK OF BEAR CANYON

The West Fork of Bear Creek is a nearly pristine riparian area near Mount Baldy Village. There is a second Bear Canyon in the Angeles National Forest which is located near San Gabriel Canyon. The trails in the Bear Canyon near San Gabriel Canyon have been closed for public safety. To reach the Baldy Bear Canyon one goes along the Baldy Trail, the original miners’ trail to the summit of Mount San Antonio, until Bear Flat, a small meadow. From Bear Flat we shall follow an unmaintained trail that leads to our study site. This trail originally led to a USFS lookout on Lookout Mountain where Nobel Laureate Albert Michelson made his best measurements of the speed of light. The trail does not appear on current USGS topographical maps and has been mapped by the instructor. His field notes provide the basis for the map which we shall use. He remapped the area in June, 2008 with a Garmin GPS and mapped the route in UTM coordinates and a profile of the route. Using ArcView, the premier GIS software, he has generated two additional maps. Each map has 4 layers: the trail located by GPS (red, from the village to Bear Flat; magenta, from Bear Flat upward [We won’t take this.]; orange, from Bear Flat to the west fork), the hydrology, the 7.5’ topographical map or a satellite image, and the earthquake faults in the area (shown as solid black lines).

The field trip is scheduled for Saturday, 20 September and will last most of the day. Lunches will be provided. You should wear comfortable hiking boots and bring a day pack with the 10 essentials. You also want to bring writing materials and a camera.

last revised, 29 August 2008