Hume Lake Campground

This review is for Hume Lake Campground in Sequoia National Park. The sites are spacious and private, and you have a couple of sections to choose from. Ours was in an area with some sequoias and cedars, ferns, wildflowers, and wild strawberries. There were a ton of Stellar Jays all over the place and we saw a very tame mule deer clearly very accustomed to humans. I believe there are 75 campsites and a few have a view of the lake. Hume Lake is a man made lake in Sequoia National Park about 6 miles from King's Canyon which can be seen from the dam and on the hill on the west shore of the lake (there is no trail, it is about two miles to get to the top). It used to be a logging camp. Imagine that: this forest was once clear cut because it had commercial value. I am sure glad that I don't have any commercial value and that nobody wants to chop me down. This is an excellent place to consume mushrooms. I would recommend the Liberty Cap variety and suggest about 3 grams for an optimal dose at this place. Watch Hume Lake turn very quickly into Shroom Lake and fortify your soul in the forest. In the evening, there was a layer of steam on the surface of the lake that was particularly cool. It was as if there was a wheat field on the surface of the lake. On the first day we were there, a lady named Dianne gave a presentation on the birds of prey in the parks and showed us a Red Tailed Hawk, a Great Horned Owl, and a Barn Owl. I had never been that close to a hawk before, and I felt like I should have been wearing a tie or something, it was so special. You can walk around the lake (3 miles) and head up a very cool canyon of a fork of the King's River. You should not try and swim in the river as you could easily drown trying to get out on the mossy rocks, but it is safe to swim in the lake. Across the lake is a Christian Camp where you can get gas and buy goods in their general store if needed. Many nice people that look like Ned Flanders wander around this side of the lake thanking the lord for such beautiful scenery. The campsites are $20 a night, admission to the park is an additional $20 for a trip you will never forget. This is a great campground for children. People thought this was:

Ice House Canyon Trail

The other day, I took the Chapman Trail, which was entirely new to me. You have to walk up the Ice House Canyon Trail for approximately a mile, and then you will see it on the left hand side marked by a sign. I found it to be almost empty, in contrast to the dozens, if not hundreds of people on the Ice House Canyon Trail to the South. The Chapman Trail offers some beautiful scenery as you traverse moderate switchbacks through chaparral, oak, cedar groves, unspoiled meadows, towering yucca with giant white flowers across a background of blue sky. Eventually winding up at Ice House Saddle, I can hardly wait to go back here. In fact, I think I will tell them I am sick later this afternoon so I can get out of the office and back on that trail. Healthy rodent population, trees look green and healthy for the most part, plenty of birds but I didn't see any raptors at all. You are going to arrive at the wilderness boundary at the 3 mile mark, after which you will need a permit(Baldy Ranger Station). Get an adventure pass to park(Big5). This is a really sacred place, and whatever little words I put on the internet don't do it much justice. Spring is an absolutely stellar time to come out to either of these trails. The scenery includes red, white, pink, blue and purple wildflowers, a billion shades of green, endless blue skies, all backed up with a chorus of that babbling brook off to the side of the trail. There is some damage here caused by the bark beetle, but it is not too extensive. When I arrived yesterday, the parking lot was full, but I had no problem getting a permit from the Ranger Station and made it to the top in a leisurely two hours. When you get to the top of the saddle, there are several other trails to continue on if you so desire. I posted some photos so you could see what I am talking about. The trail goes uphill for about 4 miles, following a creek for the first half of the hike. There are several areas where the freezing cold water is deep enough to take a swim and several places where you could just spend the whole day taking in the greenery and the scenery with a picnic basket. There is a lot of shade, but you will still need some sunscreen. You are going to see a ton of squirrels, birds, and chipmunks on this trail. There are also bear and deer so if you decide to camp here, get a bear can and don't bring chapstick or lotion into your tent. You are also going to see a ton of people, but nothing compared to the trails in Griffith Park or Runyon Canyon and the flash mobs that suddenly appear there at 7AM. The Cucamonga Wilderness which you pass through about midway up the trail is stunning. These mountains are majestic and almost impassable. You are going to belvedere yourself when you see the views as you are climbing through this wilderness. You need a wilderness permit to hike past this boundary and can obtain it at the ranger station. Keep in mind they are not open every day. Call in advance. As you get towards the saddle, the trail narrows a bit, and the chutes are probably a hundred feet down or so. Tell your children to be careful here.

Maestro's Steak House

I wish that many people in my life were equipped with a switch located on the back of their heads where I could shut them down or power them back up at my leisure. I would for sure flip the off switch on anyone who tried to get me to come back to Mastro's Steakhouse. After dinner here last night, I concluded that I am sick of this overpriced and under flavored high end steakhouse horseshit and Mastro's is the last pile of dung that I care to step in. Finished, I tell you. I got a nice bone in filet, which was well aged and cooked a proper medium rare all served on a sizzling platter. Also, some very decent brussel sprouts, sauteed spinach, scalloped potatoes, and a chopped salad. And some oysters Rockerfeller to start out. But I could have bailed out of jail for less money. More than 50 bucks for a steak like this was more like aggravated sodomy than it was highway robbery. The vegetables were good, but very very salty. I felt this meal had so much salt in it that I was being cured like a country ham from the inside. The potatoes as well. I did not know that cheese was the star topping on oysters Rockerfeller. I thought it was supposed to be Hollandaise sauce. The chopped salad was tasty and served in a cold bowl, but it was really a Greek Salad and should have been labeled as such. But I want to point out the highlights of this meal. The pretzel bread, and all the breads for that matter were out of this world good. I mean fantastic. The chopped salad was worth every cent of the 12 bucks that it cost. Also, I felt that the busboys and runners were very friendly, kind and professional. Our server was too, but the busboy and the runners attitudes were really impressive. When I was eating my filet, I kept thinking "COLD ROAST BEEF" as in a Stephen King short story. This hunk of beef was just a waste of a great steak. I kept wondering how this thing would have tasted if I had ordered the same cut at Park's BBQ, Solwoon Galbi, or Soot Bull Jeep. I am sure that the Koreans would have converted the filet into something well seasoned, tasty, satisfying and worthy. Grilled over charcoal, of course. American steakhouses need to take their un-imaginative preparations of beef served in mammoth portions and ram it up their snouts. This steak was so anti climactic that I almost felt like I needed to jerk off when I got home.

Clearman's North Woods Inn

On the way back from a magnificent hike up the sacred Mount Baldy this afternoon, the hunger pangs set in once we headed down the hill. My wife grew up in Mexico, and therefore has deep admiration and fascination with foods such as cheese toast and mushroom gravy and places like Damon's, Taylors, the North Woods Inn and the Dal Rae. Her mother never made macaroni and cheese, salisbury steak, or cream of mushroom soup. There were no steak and potatoes over there. The North Woods Inn is the type of place that my wife fantasized about eating as she sat there with a tortilla rolled up in her little hand over a bowl of pozole. It was really fun to see her having so much fun at this place and contributes generously to my 3 star rating. I had been here on one previous occasion with my dad and Uncle Bill, back around the Bicentennial, and it was probably this very same location. It still looks like a dark cabin complete with deer hoof gun racks and snowshoes mounted on the walls. On my first visit as a kid I ordered a chili dog. My uncle chain-smoked Pall Malls at the dinner table and ordered several giant beers before he drove us all home drunk in his Ford LTD. Those were the good old days. Little, it seems, has changed save the no smoking policy and the trebling of the prices. The cabbage slaw and bleu cheese iceberg salad were very good. The lettuce was crispy and cold and the red slaw tossed in a nice oil and vinegar dressing was quite tasty. They also make a mean cheese toast here. It would have been prudent to stop at this point, but we both continued to eat until we contracted a severe case of butter poisoning. And the entrees were more or less what you might get at a place like the Sizzler if you paid an additional twenty bucks. I noticed that they had a taxidermy bear in a glass case in the lobby. I don't approve of using bears for decoration, but the deer hoof gun racks are more or less acceptable.

Marouch Restaurant

My best friend is Tracy and we met in the Summer of 84 at a bus stop on Wilshire Blvd. on the way to the 321 Club in Santa Monica. Fifty years and several hundred hits of acid later, we are still hanging out. She has been a vegetarian since as long as I can remember and convinced my brother Paul to become a lifelong vegetarian in 1985. Eating dinner with old friends is one of the best things about the human species. The last time she was in town, we went to Shojin, which I regard as the finest vegetarian place in the entire City of Los Angeles. This time around, we went to Marouch and ordered the Meza for 4 ($75.00). They were happy to make everything vegetarian and every single dish was fantastic. Every single item could not possibly have been improved upon. My very favorites this time were the perfect, crispy falafels with tahini and the fattoush salad. A great place to eat with your best friends, especially if they are vegetarians!

Soowon Galbi Korean BBQ Restaurant

Every time I come here I am just astonished by the outstanding quality of the short ribs, beautiful marinated sliced rib eye, the banchan, the outstanding, flawless service, the bargain price and everything else. Since I live in Koreatown, I wake up and go to bed smelling broiling beef in the air, but there are only a few BBQ places that are worthy. The other ones are Chosun, Parks, and Soot Bull Jeep. I do not patronize all you can eat places. Soowon is a FF (Fucking Flawless) Korean BBQ place. The delicious banchan, the perfectly marbled beef, the soup and (flawless) service will leave you in a state of utter happiness. I came in here at 3PM on a Saturday, so there were only a couple of other parties eating here. I was surprised at how attentive the servers were and how I did have to ask for anything at all. The price that you pay is pretty low considering that this is one of the very best pieces of meat available for any price in Los Angeles. I'm truly impressed. 've been back a couple of times since my original visit. I have never been disappointed and the food remained mind blowing good. The team service here is perfect. Your servers will make sure that you are well taken care of. Prime Korean BBQ, some quality time with your grown children, and the afternoon off of work....life does not get much sweeter than this!

Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest

One of those places that exceeds the splendor of anything and everything manmade. People thought this was: