Devil's Chair Photo Essay

Perhaps my favorite hike in all of Southern California is the Devil's Chair hike outside of Pearblossom, California. The hike has it all, through pine trees with vistas of high desert and drop-dead-beautiful scenery at every turn.

There is a lot of scrub brush at lower elevations by the ranger station.

It has been super hot in California the last few years so hiking during the morning become imperative. Hiking that early does have its positives...

The Devil's Chair hike is about 7.5 miles round trip. The Devil's Punchbowl is only 1 miles round trip but the scenery is outrageous.

Part of the DC trail is shared with the PCT which leads to my claim that I have hiked a portion of it.

I am always amazed by trail crews, being able to wrangle a small bit of trail out of a harshly sloping landscape.

Fall (such as it is) makes a few appearances on the DC Trail.

The stark beauty of the trail, scree in shadow juxtaposed with sunrise desert.

The earth folds over itself several times on the way to the chair and this shot might fully capture the geography at play.

The finale of the hike is the chair, just a spit of rock out in the middle of the madness of all the other rock. It is breathtaking and worth the effort.

For more about the Devil's Chair check out the link:  http://parks.lacounty.gov/wps/portal/dpr/Parks/Devils_Punchbowl_Natural_Area