2008 Woodie Awards
Escaping OC
Mountaintop Experiences
David McKinley
Issue date: 10/8/08 Section: Local
The mountain, grand in appearance, indescribable in magnitude and enormous in height, has been utilized throughout time as a powerful symbol in everything from songwriting, to film and literature, to campfire storytelling. From the Bible and the binding of Isaac by Abraham, to Edgar Allan Poe's, "The Sphinx," the mountain, particularly its peak, is ever-present, even within Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile."
Climbing to the top of any rock face, whether it be Mount Everest or the biggest hill in the playground during elementary school, sitting and reflecting, can best be described as a spiritual experience. A mountain peak is a place to gaze introspectively, to the depths of one's soul, or as in the bible, to become closer to God. Whatever one's faith, a mountaintop forces solitude and limits observation of the outside world to a downward view of nature and everything that mankind has done to modify its mother earth.
Orange County just so happens to have its fill of mountaintops to experience, some of which are accessed more legally than others, but each provides the ideal vantage point to take in the surrounding landscape in panorama.
This leads to Vantage Point, which is in the slightly more illegal to enter category, since the gate leading to the incline is pocked with several do not enter signs, mostly due to the nearby water district facilities. By all accounts, trouble is rarely, if ever given to visitors; locals can be spotted walking their dogs up to the vista on any given day.
With a brief slip under the next fence, the top is just a short distance away, where one of the most interesting features of the incline, besides several graffiti covered and poorly demolished outbuildings, is revealed, a large concrete support column.
Vantage point was once Project Nike Missile Defense Site LA-29, one of a ring of projectile defense constructs, created to protect the Los Angeles area from any sudden rocket attacks. The column is the last remnant of the long since destroyed operation and it also provides the perfect location to absorb the view.
Climbing to the top of any rock face, whether it be Mount Everest or the biggest hill in the playground during elementary school, sitting and reflecting, can best be described as a spiritual experience. A mountain peak is a place to gaze introspectively, to the depths of one's soul, or as in the bible, to become closer to God. Whatever one's faith, a mountaintop forces solitude and limits observation of the outside world to a downward view of nature and everything that mankind has done to modify its mother earth.
Orange County just so happens to have its fill of mountaintops to experience, some of which are accessed more legally than others, but each provides the ideal vantage point to take in the surrounding landscape in panorama.
This leads to Vantage Point, which is in the slightly more illegal to enter category, since the gate leading to the incline is pocked with several do not enter signs, mostly due to the nearby water district facilities. By all accounts, trouble is rarely, if ever given to visitors; locals can be spotted walking their dogs up to the vista on any given day.
With a brief slip under the next fence, the top is just a short distance away, where one of the most interesting features of the incline, besides several graffiti covered and poorly demolished outbuildings, is revealed, a large concrete support column.
Vantage point was once Project Nike Missile Defense Site LA-29, one of a ring of projectile defense constructs, created to protect the Los Angeles area from any sudden rocket attacks. The column is the last remnant of the long since destroyed operation and it also provides the perfect location to absorb the view.
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