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 grow up with the LA attitude. It was in us, but we were right up against 3500+’ Oat Mountain.
There were orange groves as big as three 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 Chatsworth Fire Department was the command center and the Fire Trucks were parked along the street.
So, me and my 2 fiends had brought a football to play catch with us, and the next thing we know were playing 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 lives that has been brought up every once in a while, over the years.
Creeks out of the mountains.
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.
Limekiln Canyon 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 most every day.
Also, when I was there, the 2 local high schools had 2 brothers who taught Horticulture at the schools. One at one and the other at the 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 slopes.
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 pine trees covering the flat area and gave it a park feel.
As a matter of fact, when I first saw The Lord of 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 in Limekiln Canyon.
Then you could walk between the Pine Trees. It is different now, but this is a good natural story, because they let go back to natural.
Limekiln Canyon Back to Natural
When we got to Limekiln Canyon, Limekiln Canyon State Park, the first thing I noticed was that the flat area with the Pine trees was gone. I really couldn’t 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 its natural and it was awesome, really. The creek ran through the growth of new plants along the river, and was mostly grass. Every so often, there was an oak tree with some limbs crossing the creek where they fell.
This is the natural state for these little canyon creeks. Even when I was young, if you went beyond the “Tne Flats”, the canyon was free flowing or trickling, usually by summer. Of course, one reason I took my friend now was that we had a pretty good winter, and the creek was running solid.
My friend was surprised completely. Although he and his wife have been in many places 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 babbling brook, not enough to be a waterfall.
On the other creek, which goes up by De Soto street, there is an actual 10+ covered waterfall. The type where, when you approach a little “doorstep” 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. Yes, it was a defensive maneuver and bloody awesome
And Horse owners have some sway in Chatsworth and much of the northern part of the San Fernando Valley. But even without the fence, it is a hike more than I am taking at this age,
Limekiln Canyon 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.
Limekiln Canyon State Park
But the nice thing at Limekiln Canyon State Park 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