Uncle John with his 4WD pickup

Here's tough, rugged Uncle John with his tough, rugged off-road vehicle.  This was actually his third four-wheel-drive Toyota pickup truck; the previous two were stolen!  For decades, Uncle John logged thousands of off-road miles exploring the mountains of southern California, gathering material for his history books and hiking every trail in sight.  His trail guides were perennial best-sellers.  When I lived in California, I made a habit of checking the book rack of any sporting-goods store I went into; as I remember, they all had at least one of his titles.  Now in his seventies, Uncle John has scaled back his hiking a little; he's gradually passing the torch to others to keep his trail guides up-to-date.  To my dismay, he's also traded in his four-wheel-drive for a plain old family sedan.  I suppose it doesn't really matter; nowadays he always hikes with friends, who have their own off-road vehicles.  But the thought of Uncle John without an off-road vehicle is like the thought of Roald Amundsen without snowshoes.    It's just a coincidence that Uncle John shares his name with former USC football coach John Robinson.  It is quite a coincidence, though, seeing as how Uncle John graduated from USC, and his father (my grandfather) played on the football team there.    Uncle John's writings include: 1967: Camping and Climbing in Baja 1969: Jose Joaquin Arrillaga: Diary of his Surveys of the Frontier, 1796 (co-author) 1973: Mines of the San Gabriels          The Mount Wilson Story 1974: Mt. Pinchot (High Sierra Hiking Guide) 1976: San Gorgonio Mountain: The Early Years 1977: Los Angeles in Civil War Days, 1860-65          San Gorgonio Mountain: Preserving a Wilderness          The San Gabriels: Southern California Mountain Country 1978: Southern California's First Railroad: The Los Angeles and San Pedro Railroad, 1869-1873 1979: High Sierra Hiking Guide to Kern Peak-Olancha (co-author) 1980: Mines of the East Fork 1983: The San Gabriels II: The Mountains from Monrovia Canyon to Lytle Creek 1985: Mines of the San Bernardinos (co-author) 1986: Mt. Goddard (High Sierra Hiking Guide) (co-author) 1990: The San Bernardinos 1991: San Gorgonio: A Wilderness Preserved 1993: The San Jacintos 1997: Mines of the San Gabriels 1998: Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels  (7th edition) 2001: The San Bernardinos: The Mountain Country from Cajon Pass to Oak Glen -- Two Centuries of Changing Use 2003: San Bernardino Mountain Trails: 100 Hikes in Southern California  (5th edition)          Sierra Madre's Old Mount Wilson Trail 2004: Will Thrall and the San Gabriels: A Man To Match The Mountains (co-author) Uncle John's 3 daughters are also go-getters; two of them climbed Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2004.

Uncle John and I at a family reunion in 1990.

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