Messenger Flats and Lightning Point
The Mt. Gleason road branches from the Angeles Forest Highway and follows a ridge all the way to Mt. Gleason (6,500 feet). Beyond thatMt. Gleason the road becomes a single lane, with few places to pass. The primary destinations are the campgrounds at Lightning Point and Messenger Flats. Lightning Point has a Group Campground behind a locked gate, about 10 miles from Mill Creek Summit, and requires Group Campground reservations to be made with the Forest Service. We walked in to Lightning Point, where there is a good wildflower trail extending out along the ridge.
A further mile of narrow, dirt road reaches Messenger Flats. The road extends for a further 20 miles through to the Santa Clarita area, but is narrow and windy, best for high-clearance vehicles only.
Click on the thumbnails to see higher-resolution images, 720 x 480 pixels.
A. MESSENGER FLATS
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Beyond Mt. Gleason, the road traverses hillsides covered in chaparral whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis), here in at its peak in May |
View towards the Los Angeles area. |
Mountain violet |
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Messenger Flats campground |
Near the campground |
Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum) with Pale Swallowtail butterfly |
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Probably var. johnstonii (Johnston's bush lupine) or maybe var. austromontanus (Southern mountain lupine) at Messenger Flats |
Spearleaf mountain dandelion (Agoseris retrorsa) at Messenger Flats, both the flower (L) and the seed (R) at Mesenger Flats |
Scarlet bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius) |
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Tall trees arouind the campground |
Mt. Gleason Paintbrush (Castilleja gleasonii) |
Golden yarrow (Eriophyllum confertiflorum) |
The last mile of the road to Messinger Flats |
South from the road near Messinger Flats |
B. LIGHTNING POINT
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Chaparral whitethorn (C. leucodermis) dominates the scene while walking in to Lightning Point |
Martin's paintbrush (Casilleja applegatei ssp. martinii) |
WIldflowers along the trail at Lightning Point |
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Veatch's blazing star (Mentzelia veatchiana) |
Spearleaf mountain dandelion (Agoseris retrorsa) |
Prickly phlox (Leptodactylon californicum) |
View from Lightning Point towards the coast |
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Morning glory (Calystegia sp.) |
A manzanita (Arctostaphylos sp.) |
Davidson's phacelia (Phacelia davidsonii). Notice the white flower in the picture at the right. |
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Blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) |
Davidson's Sierra Nevada lotus (Lotus nevadensis var. davidsonii) |
A lupine (Lupinus sp.), at Lightning Point |
A forest road beyond LIghtning Point |
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Deerbush (C. intergerrimus) |
Indian milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa) |
Chaparral Yucca (Yucca whipplei) |
Ceanothus hillsides near Lightning Point |
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ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Images copyright © 2009 Graham Bothwell
Thanks to Jane Strong for assistance in identification of plants and flowers.
