I’ve know about the Nike lookout tower for years, I’ve even gotten close to it when hiking up on dirt Mulholland, but never actually got there.
Until this week, when our walking group went up the back way, so instead of a two mile hike, it was less than that round trip. Yup, I am getting lazier.
This is also the first time I’ve driven on Paved Mulholland all the way to where the dirt section begins.
It was a great day for a walk, not so much for pictures. Here we are, looking down at the Encino reservoir. in the haze beyond it is the vast spread of the valley, but its’ hidden today.
Not a great image either, but you can see both a cell tower and to the left, the Nike station.
Aside from being a military installation during WWII, I love how it is now called the gateway to the Big Wild. One of the wonders of Los Angeles is the fact that we are a huge urban metropolitan area and yet, within the boundaries of the city are these amazing wild areas. Of course all around the city there are plenty more, thank to Mulholland himself, this is in the city. Had he not brought the water through the aqueduct to LA, San Fernando Valley never would have become part of the city.
The old guard house and the lookout tower. I am happy to say, there is no graffiti, the rest of the state is being covered with it, even tree, stone and rock. That is what happens when you tell people that destroying property is art. I guess that maybe the military still has some say here, I don’t know. I’m just grateful for no graffiti.
I love how they have updated these signs. So the missiles were in the Sepulveda Basin, today there is a lake, a water reclamation plant, golf course as well as the Army Armory and the Airforce Armory. So I’m not surprised to learn that they could launch missiles from there.
Walking up the staircase. Once again, I love the textures and the mixture of shapes one sees here.
I love how informative these signs are. I’ll be honest, I took the pictures and read them later.
Reaching the top.
Here are the views, not great because of the fog. Next time I go, will probably be very sunny and very different, so I’m enjoying this atmosphere.
That is dirt Mulholland heading towards Reseda Blvd, the way I have always come up.
They have created a nice picnic area down there as well as bathrooms. The real thing, not just Porta-Potties. It is beginning to clear a little, but it didn’t completely clear until hours later.
I have one of those plant identifying apps. Very nice. So this plant, that looks strange but is all over these mountains is the Castor Bean plant! The source of castor bean oil, which is used in cosmetics and industry. It isn’t used as cooking oil because it has ricin – which is very toxic. Over 20 years ago there were ricin attacks on the subway in Japan – it killed people instantly. So this just goes to show you, good and bad go hand in hand in most everything. Especially in plants.
Leah