Mission: MASH

Mission: MASH
Yesterday, a tribute was held in Malibu Creek State Park to the old TV Series MASH. The site was where all the outdoor filming was done for the show. LA Times covered the tribute in where a few of the original stars were in attendance.
I grew up watching that show in the early 70's. Then, I had no idea as to what the Korean War was about. All I knew was that Hawkeye was hilarious, Radar was cool in a weird way, that Klinger made an ugly woman and Loretta Swit was "Hot Lips".
I knew I had to take a picture of and with the sign post in the middle of the camp where everyone in the MASH unit had their hometowns represented with arrows. According to the article, it was a "gentle" 2-mile hike from the parking area to the site. So, the plan was go to the park around noon, take the "gentle" hike, then head to the Griffiths Observatory to take more pictures there. *insert the laughter here*
James called as I was planning the day. I told him the plan and told him I would wait for him if he wanted to come along... *more laughter*

Once we got to the park and got our bearings, we headed out.

Did that sign say 2.3 miles?!

At least it was paved...


But then it became hard-packed dirt path but at least it was level...


The weather cleared up too.


Around the hills it was a little overcast but the sun was shining pretty bright.




Then the path was starting to get wet from the water run-off from the hills.


Then the hill... The path made a turn and up. The path got a bit rougher and the steeper. It didn't really bother me too much, in fact I was really enjoying it. I've been walking and exercising more these days and found some of the stamina that I've not had in ages. The only thing was that James and I was not prepared for this type of terrain... our footwear was not suited for this kind of walking. The path got muddier and steeper, footing was starting to become a concern.


The mud was like clay (heck for all I know it just may have been clay!). It stuck to our shoes and weighed our feet down.


Sure, we were rewarded with some great views...




At this point, a light drizzle started. It was more an annoyance because of our cameras. I am still debating what was worse, going up or going down the hill.


Now the path had gotten much narrower.


After a few turns, we were stopped.


The trail was underwater! We walked a little further on the area to the left of the path hoping to see higher ground to continue but we ended up surrounded by water and it was pretty deep. There were hikers that had passed us earlier and they had not passed us going back so they must have found another way. We doubled back to see if there was a trail we missed.
After a while, we decided that this "sucked"!
We started walking back and just as we were starting to go up that hill, one fo the hikers that passed us earlier came walking back. I asked him if he made it to the MASH site. He said no, that he actually waded into the water (went up to his calves) and when he got to the scenic bridge (look at the map at the end), he lost the trail. Not much of a consolation but if this guy couldn't get to it (he was Mr. Hiker - he sped walked up that hill and the mud didn't even slow him down) there was no way James and I was going to make it either.

So we headed back. That's when I realized how badly suited our footwear choices were for this terrain. The back of each heel was being rubbed raw by my shoes and I was sure that at the very least I was going to have a couple of blisters the size of quarters!
Back on the other side, looking back at the pass we came from.


From the bridge to the Visitor's Center.


We'll be back when it is dryer...


Map


I'm not very good at distances but James says we walked a good 3+ miles. It felt like more but I'm sure the hill had a lot to do with that perception. The MASH sign post will have to wait.