Limekiln Canyon a little surprise in the middle of the North Ridge of the San Fernando Valley. I had told my friend from the Boston area that although I grew up in Los Angeles I really did not grownup with the LA attitude. It was in us but we were right up against a 3949′ Oat Mountain. There were orange groves as big as three square future housing projects. In Spring Orange and Eucalyptus filled the air. We were also close enough to the wild fire areas In 196, I believe could have been 70, the orange grove burn rig to 4 houses away from my home
One cool thing on that day me and two of my friends walked up to te grocery store. On the way when we got to a corner the roads were closed because Chartwork Fire Department was the command center and the Fire Trucks were parked along the street So me and my 2 fiends had brough a football to play catch with us and the next thing we know were play run and catch with Firemen in the middle of a closed intersection. Pretty awesome, Groovy and Cool for 9- to 12-year-old boys believe me. Been a memory all our life that has been brought up every once in a while over the years.
Creeks out of the mountain.
Now I’m sure there were many areas along the mountains of Southern California have creeks flowing into their neighborhoods before joining our storm control system But we were actually inside the city limits. Now take this Limekiln Canyon in what is now Porter Ramch and was back then a Housing Project. It runs along Tampa Street but it is a small canyon, so you do not see it from the road. When I got my first car i was here or another small canyon creek every day. Also when I was there the 2 local high schools had 2 brothers that taught Horticulture at the schools. One at one and the other at he other. For sometime they had tree planting extra credit days in Limekiln canyon/ They took kids and planted pine trees in the canyon and on the canyon slops.
This was nice but it is not natural to the area. The north valley was a few creeks with Oak trees every so often. Back when I was going to limekiln there was a flat area with pines trees covering the flat area and gave it a park feel. As a matter of fact when I first saw Lord if the Rings when Arwyn was riding the horse with Frodo and dodging the Black Riders in between I thought right away of this flat area with the Pine Trees you could travel between. It is different now, but this is a good natural story.
Back to Natural
When we got here the first thing I noticed was the flat area with the Pine trees was gone. I really could even be sure where it had even been exactly. What had happened was obvious and not a bad thing. The powers in charge had let the canyon go back to natural and it was awesome really. The creek ran thru the growth of new plants along the river and were mostly grass. Every so often there was an oak tree with some limbs crossing the creek where they fell.
This s the natural state for these little canyon creeks. Even when I was young if you went beyond the “ine Flats” the canyon was free flowing or trickling usually by summer. Of course, one reason I took my friend now was because we had a pretty good winter, and the creek was running solid. My friend was surprised completely. Although His wife and He have been many placed since they came to California, he had not known that these places were in LA.
So we took a walk and found a couple of places where the water trickled down over rocks, like a babblings brook, not enough to be a waterfall. On the other creek, which goes up by De Soto street there is an actual 10+ plus covered waterfall. The type where when you approach a little “door step” was formed and the middle was open to the sky. Where the river had cut back through to form this awesome waterfall
Owl protecting It’s Home
The time I was there an owl flew and hovered over us with the sun directly behind it. Awesome until the owl tried to get us with some release of body function. No it was not a Pigeon, lol. No it was a defensive maneuver and bloody awesome I will see if I can fine a picture since it is a private area now Gorse Owners. And Horse owners have some sway in Chatsworth and much of the norther rom of the San Fernando Valley. But even without the fence it is a hike more than I am taking at this age,
This is one of a few local pages I want to write since the General Plan is for this 4th Generation Californian to leave this once great state they have completely ruined but I’m not railing against the size and use of the Federal Government because I’ll be here forever. But the nice thing at Limekiln it shows that somewhere, “Power that be” CAN do SOMETHING right. That’s my political rant. But once again I plan a few pages of my favorite areas around LA and Ventura counties before I leave. Hope you enjoyed and thank you for stopping by and visiting my site