User talk:Fpo/Sandbox

Sun Valley
I think the N.W. end goes into Sun Valley and La Tuna Canyon. I may be wrong on this, but isn't it Gabrieliño? fpo
 * It has a number of variants. I think the most common is actually Gabrielino and I was thinking of changing to that. Gabrieleño is parallel to Fernandeño and Barbareño, in the custom of naming local tribes after the nearby missions. However, a book I have about the Los Angeles River uses Fernandeño with Gabrielino. ... you're right about Sun Valley and La Tuna Canyon, although I think the hills on the north side of La Tuna are still considered the end of the Verdugos, or at least foothills. I was going to add a bit more to Geography. Mike Dillon 04:09, August 30, 2005 (UTC)

Protected areas/hiking to merge?
I'm thinking that we may want to merge the Protected areas and Hiking sections into a single Parks and recreation section, since most of the protected areas are also recreational areas. Let's see once the two have more content. Mike Dillon 14:33, September 1, 2005 (UTC)
 * At this time, good idea --fpo 23:56, September 1, 2005 (UTC)

La Tuna Canyon
Is La Tuna Canyon Park the official name? I seem to remember a parking lot for the mountain bikers/hikers, but not an official name. The only entrance in LTC area is La Tuna Canyon Road at the 210 --fpo 16:14, September 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * The LAMountains.com site run by the SMMC lists the park as "La Tuna Canyon Park". I've seen it referenced as a Conservancy-maintained park. I know that it has well-maintained trails, but I'm not sure whose doing that maintenance. I thought it was a City of L.A. park, but since I only found two oblique references to "La Tuna Canyon Park" under the la.ca.us domain, that seems doubtful. P.S. how about moving this Talk section to the actual User talk:Fpo/Sandbox page and using indents instead of lists? Mike Dillon 16:30, September 3, 2005 (UTC)

Pictures
My wife and I went out today and took some Verdugo pictures. It's pretty hazy, but that's about all we can get until it rains in a few months. They can be seen here. I'd like to include a view from the south (probably the second Adams Hill picture) and from the Crescenta Valley (probably one of the YMCA pictures). The picture of the Whiting Woods Mountainway switchback and Verdugo Peak (I think) could be good for the hiking/recreation section, along with the trailhead of the La Tuna Foot Trail. Mike Dillon 19:41, September 4, 2005 (UTC)
 * I feel bad not getting pictures, as this would be a very easy assignment. However, with the moving process we've had, we haven't been hiking in a while. And when we get back, we'll take the La Tuna Canyon trail, and, with any luck, the air will cooperate. By the way, yours take a while on a cable modem. --fpo 21:53, September 4, 2005 (UTC)
 * Those are the full size images from the camera. I would adjust and probably scale them before putting them in the article. The main reason they take a long time is that they are on my machine at home and I only have a 128kbps uplink (it isn't the cable modem side, in other words). Mike Dillon 22:46, September 4, 2005 (UTC)

Possible redirects
For Verdugo Mountains, the following should be redirects: Indiviudual mountains, such as: --fpo 23:59, September 4, 2005 (UTC)
 * Verdugo Mountain
 * Verdugo
 * Verdugos
 * Verdugo Hills (?)
 * Verdugo Peak
 * Mt. La Tuna and Mount La Tuna

Here's my take on each: Indiviudual mountains:
 * Verdugo Mountain - yes
 * Verdugo - should either redirect to Verdugo (disambiguation) or be a disambig page. It would include a mention of a Verdugo family with a link to the yet-to-be written José María Verdugo (linked from around a half-dozen places). If there were ever a Verdugo Hills Hospital it would be listed there too.
 * Verdugos - same as Verdugo, since it could be the family.
 * Verdugo Hills (?) - this could also be the hospital, but I could see it as a redirect, since the hospital article likely will not be written.
 * Verdugo Peak - sure, this probably will never have an article of its own, and isn't an official name anyway.
 * Mt. La Tuna and Mount La Tuna - sure, since it probably won't get an article.

I'm not sure I know which peak is Mount La Tuna. I'm not familiar with it and I haven't seen elevation numbers or a lat/long for it. Mike Dillon 00:55, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

In retrospect, yours are better. At bike stores there is a topo map of the SGV and hills, I believe it shows the names of some of the mountains/hills of the Verdugo Mountains.
 * I think I have the map you are talking about. The one I have is the 2001 Tom Harrison map Angeles Front Country Trail Map, including the entire Verdugo Mountains. It has names for nearly all the fire roads, only one trail (La Tuna Canyon Trail), and many of the larger canyons. It shows a few different peaks, all without elevations, but the only peak it names is Verdugo Peak. It shows the "Village School Trail", but it doesn't name it. The La Tuna Foot Trail was built after 2001, I believe, so it is not shown. I think that Tongva Peak was named in 2004 or 2005, so it wouldn't be on this map. I think that Mount La Tuna could either be the peak at the top of the Village School Trail, or the one at the top of the Stough Canyon fire road. One cool thing is that I saw that Tom Harrison will be publishing a new map in 2006 covering just the Verdugo Mountains. Mike Dillon 03:02, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

I found a map that shows Mount La Tuna on the Verdugo Hills Community Hike site. It is the peak at the top of the trail that LATrails.com calls the "Village School Trail", but the community hike map calls "Mt. La Tuna" trail (starting at the end of Village Avenue). Mike Dillon 18:12, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

Additional flora/fauna
I used to hike the Verdugos nearly every weekend in the mid-90's. Additional flora/fauna I've seen up there:

- Holly (don't know sub-species) - Small cacti - Small lizards - I actually ran across a coyote up above Burbank once.

Also, not flora or fauna, but is the "M*A*S*H*" style sign and park bench still up on the little saddle juncture of the trails to Brand Park, Verdugo Park and Burbank? Kind of a neat addition if so. 208.8.57.2 19:42, 30 June 2006 (UTC)dschmidt