Lunch at the San Antonio Falls

Mount Baldy is one of my favorite hikes near Los Angeles not only because reaching the summit of this prestigious landmark is a serious workout but it also offers a fun wet canyon to explore if you're into canyoneering: San Antonio Falls. It doesn't hurt that on a normal day (or very early in the morning) it takes about an hour and a half from the Airport and about an hour from Pasadena to get to the trailhead, which makes it a strenuous day trip. 

Even though we had a late start for this kind of adventure I still decided to pack my bag with all my canyoneering gear and my portable kitchen hoping that I could make a quick meal after the ascent to the drop off point while my friend set up the first rappel. To top it off, I decided to take my favorite hiking buddy (A.K.A my dog) along with me for the ride since he had already gone on a canyoneering trip with me and seemed to love it. The water flow was low but decent enough to get wet and dirty while making our way down the canyon. 

But the adventure didn't go as planned and the puppy was not feeling well that day after trying to eat an ice pack that was left on the kitchen counter earlier in the day (I only found out about this when I returned home later in the day). It was the one and only time that I had to pull him on the leash instead of the other way around. Needless to say, I was worried about him and after ascending for a while on the trail leading to the top of the waterfalls, we decided to turn around and take it easy. 

So I did get a chance to cook the meal that I had brought along. It was nothing too fancy since I was supposed to carry all that gear and the ingredients up a steep trail and down a wet canyon but it ended up tasting delicious.

I had previously mixed olive oil with minced garlic, black pepper and 24 herbs and spices seasoning in a mini water bottle (10 oz) before leaving my apartment and poured a small amount of Vegan bacon bits in a small container. I also grabbed a pack of pre-cooked polenta from Trader Joe's, a few cornichons and some Tomato Jam made by Bare Republic Preserves.

We set up the cooking station near the waterfalls and after frying the slices of polenta for a few minutes in the seasoned olive oil we added all the toppings and enjoyed a quick meal with a beautiful view.

 

The puppy also enjoyed my cooking and when we came back home that night he was back to his normal self again and seeing him drink and eat again was a great way to end the day.

Testing the Gosun Stove in Griffith Park

Hiking is a term loosely used in L.A

Some people feel like the mere idea of walking instead of driving to go to the liquor store down the street is "Hiking" while others will run up and down the Malibu trails without breaking a sweat. I'm somewhere in the middle....

I recently purchased a fun toy called the Gosun Solar oven that first appeared as a Kickstarter campaign, and I decided to finally give it a try after a few weeks of staring at it in the middle of my living-room. 

My first impression is that it was a bit heavier than I expected which meant that I was probably never going to take it on longer hikes but it is a great item to have in the trunk of the car when going camping or going on road trips.

I decided to take it to the top of Griffith park where a few tables welcome hikers with a 360 degree view of Los Angeles. I met some friends at the trailhead and we were all surprised by the parking signs along the road that shortened our hiking time since we had to be back before 1pm or our cars would get towed.

After debating if we were going to go hike somewhere else we decided to make it a short day and started heading up the gruesome trail. It's a fairly steep ascent to the top especially with a backpack filled with a solar oven. I was worried about the results of my first experiment with the Gosun since....there was no sun and the manual clearly said that on a cloudy day cooking time is at least an hour. But it did not deter me.

After picking a table and unpacking all my gear I geared up to make some easy but yummy vegan Tacos with previously cut red and yellow peppers, minced garlic, basil, mushrooms, olive oil and seasoning. I had packed too much food to fit in the relatively small tube of the oven and had so little time to cook my meal that I decided to not add the pack of seasoned Jackfruit I brought along. A bit of a disappointment.

After waiting around for about forty minutes and guzzling one beer it was time to wrap up the experiment because I did not want to eat the most expensive Tacos in the world (the price of recovering a towed car in L,A is not cheap). The packed oven made enough filling for three tacos which was a good thing since there were three of us but it was definitely a light lunch. The end result was decent but it could have used another half hour in the sun because the peppers were still quite crunchy. 

We packed everything in a rush and raced down the mountain to our cars before enjoying a few more beers at a local tavern to celebrate our short hike.

I can't wait to try it again next and hopefully the sun will join us on our next adventure.

You can get your own Gosun stove on their website: http://www.gosunstove.com/