Hiked Moon Canyon and Heidelberg Park
Several weeks ago, I visited another NELA hilltop - a pair of parks kitty-corner to one another around a Mount Washington intersection. Moon Canyon, to the southeast, was at the time a gorgeous glade full of wild radish. Heidelberg Park, to the northeast, was an impassible mud slope. I walked through both.
The radish glade in Moon Canyon was really incredible. Radishes are invasive here, but they are covered in flowers, very green, and can grow chest-high. There was a real fairytale quality to the whole place.
In particular I was excited to see radish flowers in colors I don't normally observe, like yellow and red:
At one point a couple showed up with some enormous dogs who cavorted amongst the radishes. However, the radishes were way too tall for me to see the dogs, so it seemed like some kind of radish-navigating land-shark had invaded the canyon.
The canyon is also home to some wild Southern California Walnut trees. These walnuts are considered threatened and pretty much only grow right around here. Here's the iNat map:
And here's the dangling inflorescences to look out for if you want to know whether you're looking at a walnut tree:
After strolling through Moon Canyon, we attempted to walk down into Heidelberg Park, which is just across the street. The road between the two parks is at the crest of a hill, and each park slopes down into its own canyon. Heidelberg is way the fuck steeper, though. And it had rained only three or so days previously, so the slopes were pretty treacherous. Here's a view over the top of the park from the road above:
We did not last very long in this park. We were foolishly not wearing hiking boots, and the ground was just too slippery and muddy. We spent about thirty minutes carefully lowering ourselves less than a hundred yards downhill... then about five minutes walking back up the way we came.
But the trail here absolutely ruled. It was basically a tunnel through the bottom side of a walnut grove, and chilicothe was growing everywhere. We were completely shaded under a canopy of the stuff a lot of the time.
I do want to come back with proper footwear! It was so damp and dark down here that we found big old mushrooms and pools of standing water. I wonder how late in the year this vibe will persist in the canyon...
Anyway, strongly recommend these two Mount Washington parks for anyone who wants a couple hours of outdoor time. Moon Canyon can take you 15 minutes to walk through, but Heidelberg Park feels a lot more challenging!