M.A.S.H

Day 281

When your growing up, there are things in life you do or watch that seem to stick with as an adult. You develop fond memories around these childhood moments and every time you think, see or in my case watch, it acts like a mental teleportation back to the past. My particular time machine is the tv show M.A.S.H. 

I was still pretty young when the show was on the air (1972-1983) and remember mostly sitting in the room with my dad wondering why the one man was wearing a dress in the army. When I became a little older, the show was no longer in production, but I began to watch the reruns religiously before supper during the weekdays. To this day if I come across an episode of M.AS.H on tv, I will sit and watch it. 

I believe I was in my late 30’s when I learned the location of the filming site was in a California state park. Thinking that would be a hike I would love to do, I wondered if I would ever get there. Moving forward another 20 years (getting old 😱), when Lori and I began discussing this trip, I marked the state park down to be one of our stops on our journey. Today was the day to complete a twenty year ambition. 

The hike is classified as medium difficulty - distance 2.4 miles in. 

The country really is beautiful in California. 

After a short period the trail turns into a single path. 

Ape City from Planet of the Apes was constructed in the valley in 1968. The city was almost the length of a football field and created out of polyurethane foam with an iron rod frame. 

Ape City 

The storms that hit California a few weeks ago washed the trail away or covered in with debris. This make shift bridge was the worst obstacle on the trail. 

We had to climb over debris and exposed drain pipes as we made our way in. 

Washed out tail. We only knew we were headed in the right direction from the odd footprints in the sandy areas. 

We made it. 

During the show

Same view today. 

Road to the helipad 

The helipad 

Helipad during the show. 

A little energy snack before we hike back out. 

Almost home. 

Made it home with only minor scratches. It truly was an obstacle course from the storm.