Over the years, we have collected over 225 descriptions of local area hikes. Most of these have been derived from the many hiking books for this area, from hiking websites, from Sierra Club hikes, and our own hiker's research. In rotating the Hike Leader responsibility each week, each leader has injected his or her own personality into the description of the hike, and it is these documents that are presented here. With the advent of GPS devices, the routes of many of the hikes have been recorded. Where applicable, actual GPS mileage and maximum elevation change has been added to the description, and a link to a Google Earth photo showing the route(s) hiked is located at the bottom of those hike descriptions. The hike descriptions have been separated into areas: Islands, Mount Baldy, Orange County, South Bay, San Gabriel, Santa Monica, Santa Susana and Urban. A page with links to the hike descriptions has been established for each area. The columns on an area page list the area code, the hike title, an "X" (only if there is GPS data for that hike) and the hike number. Clicking on the hike title brings up the hike description. Clicking on the "X" will bring up the Google Earth photo. HOW TO USE THESE DESCRIPTIONS: The intent of these descriptions is to give Hike Leaders a framework for creating their own hike, preparing the text and submitting it to the Hike Coordinator for publication on the Schedule. Copying a hike description included here and pasting it into an e-mail will work but that requires further editing by the webmaster to eliminate the Google Earth photo and other links embedded in the text. This does not relieve the Hike Leader's total responsibility for the content. CAUTION: Some of the descriptions and GPS plots indicate that in the past we may have routed hikers over what could have been private property. It is not the policy of OTP Hikers to trespass on private property, and doing this is not sanctioned by the group. Here again, the Hike Leader is responsible for choosing a route that avoids private property. |