Canyons

Cary Michel huffed and puffed Saturday morning all the way back down from Fire Warden’s Grove, a 3.6-mile hike one way. It was the Glendale resident’s first time hiking in the Verdugo Hills, and after Saturday’s hike, she couldn’t explain why. She only knew she’d be back soon. “It was great,” Michel said in between heavy breaths near the bottom of the fire road off La Tuna Canyon Road. “So beautiful . . . and everyone on the trail was great.

Plant invaders were the target Sunday for Yeva Mirzakhanyan, who was roaming the trails of Stough Canyon armed with a hand-held satellite mapping system and a list of species. The 16-year-old junior at Clark Magnet High School is part of a team of students who have been using global-positioning-system coordinates to mark the locations of invasive plants — species that are not native to the region and hurt local ecosystems, her teacher, Dominique Evans-Bye, said. “This is Spanish broom,” said Yeva, pointing out a green shrub of pointy stems after having already identified several mustard plants and tobacco trees, which are also invasive plants.

BURBANK — Plant invaders were the target Sunday for Yeva Mirzakhanyan, who was roaming the trails of Stough Canyon armed with a hand-held satellite mapping system and a list of species. The 16-year-old junior at Clark Magnet High School is part of a team of students who have been using global-positioning-system coordinates to mark the locations of invasive plants — species that are not native to the region and hurt local ecosystems, her teacher, Dominique Evans-Bye, said.

CANYON COUNTRY — It took the Burbank High boys’ basketball team 13 years to get back to the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section playoffs. If the Bulldogs hoped to erase an even longer drought and somehow advance to the semifinals for the first time in more than four decades, they would have to beat a talented Canyon Country Canyon team on the road. Burbank was able to battle back from a poor first-half Tuesday to defeat the Cowboys, 65-59, in a Division IIAA quarterfinal contest.

BELLARMINE-JEFFESRON HIGH — The Bellarmine- Jefferson High girls’ basketball team found itself in an unfamiliar situation Tuesday in the CIF State Basketball Division V Championships. The Guards, who haven’t played many games in which they had such a slim lead so late, had just a one-point advantage going into the fourth quarter against Sierra Canyon, something the team hadn’t experienced throughout the postseason. However, a big run to begin the fourth quarter and a huge effort from Margeaux Gupilan helped the Guards earn a 79-65 victory at home.

BURBANK — Not even the hot summer days could cool off the members of the Burbank Major Softball All-Star team. Playing in temperatures that reached close to 100 degrees, Burbank did its best work when needed en route to winning the Section 2 Tournament at Parkview Little League Field in Lancaster. Burbank, which captured the District 16 crown, wrapped up the championship Sunday with a 14-0 win against District 40 champion Canyon Country. The game was called in the middle of the fifth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule.

BURBANK — City leaders and Burbank Water and Power officials waited anxiously this week for news on the well-being of six coal workers trapped inside a collapsed Utah mine. Burbank, and several other Southern California cities, rely on coal-driven plants for some of their energy needs. The city has an investment in Utah-based Intermountain Power, which purchases coal from Crandall Canyon, where underground rescue operations were underway during most of last week. Participants in the Intermountain Power Project — which also includes Los Angeles, Pasadena and Riverside — acquired an interest in the Crandall mine to hedge coal prices as a protection against rising energy costs, said Ron Davis, general manager of Burbank Water and Power.

Bob Fisher wanted something to occupy his time after retirement — little did he know that his new hobby would send him back to the books. Fisher picked up woodcarving two years ago and took his skills to a whole new level when he joined the Smokey Hollow Wood Carvers in May. Avid carver George Smith formed the club to give locals a chance to learn the craft. Since then, up to 16 adults, seniors and college students have showed up on Wednesday afternoons at the Stough Nature Center to try their hand at transforming pieces of wood.

From a crawling display of regional reptiles to an electrical safety demonstration, parents and children were treated to a hair-raising array of Earth-first workshops at the Stough Canyon Nature Center on Saturday. Tucked high up in the canyon and surrounded by walls of rugged hillside, the center provided a natural classroom for the city's celebration of the 37th annual Earth Day, which was on Sunday. A reptile and amphibian exhibit provided by the Southwestern Herpetologist Society drew the gaze of many.