Well since we had three days off for Memorial weekend we chose to do a little exploring in the Jeep. We headed off to the mountains above LA. It was close to home and a good time to take the Jeep since we knew we didn't have to spend the night on the trail. Our good buddy Pete let us crash it his place several nights and we headed out from there. Pete lives in Green Valley above Santa Clarita and it's a nice mountain town away from the city. The location was perfect because it became central base camp for the exploration in the area.
Our first stop on our list was some old missile launch pads up above LA on the Santa Clara Divide.
Here's a quick Documentary on the LA-98 site.
Thanks to Jcmegabyte for taking the time to create this great piece. You can visit his youtube page here
It's purpose along with other sites was to protect 4,000 miles of Southern California in the Cold War era from 1954-1969. The area was the original Magic Mountain. There were total of 16 different sites in the greater Los Angeles area forming a circular pattern.
Dixie enjoying the view.
Looking up from down below where the exhaust area.
Everything was welded shut and sealed.
Luckily the gate was wide open, we parked on top of the silos. I don't recommend this to anyone. The 50 year old concrete isn't all that safe.
Shot of the water towers and the Jeep for comparison.
The view was stunning.
Looking from the launch pad back up at the water towers.
Yosh enjoying the view.
Dixie ready to head to our next stop.
We headed down the ridge to Soledad Canyon. John had known about an old mine and wanted to show it to us. On the way we ran into a couple hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The PCT runs from Mexico to Canada and covers 2600+ miles. It's insane. Someday i'd like to be able to be in great enough shape to accomplish something like that.
The couple were very nice and happy to talk with us. They started months ago and still had several months left on their journey. They carried SPOT and all the gear needed for such a trek. Even had a solar panel for their cellphone. If you want to read more about their trip, visit their blog here
If you guys are reading this, good luck with your travels and we'll check your site for updates. It was good meeting you.
After a quick chat we headed on our way to the old mine.
The view of the Vasquez Rocks was awesome.
Making our way down into the Santa Clara river, we crossed the wash and found the mine.
Apparently it's called the Bear Canyon Mine. It goes in straight for 176 feet and there's a couple shallow exploratory digs in the area. Unfortunately i cannot find any other information or history on this mine. The other unfortunate thing is that this is the only photo captured. Oh well, there wasn't much to see anyhow.
On our way back to Petes we stopped off at the old St. Francis dam, in San Francisquito Canyon or what's left of it. There wasn't much to see since it was destroyed. However if you look just to the west of the road you can see a few pieces of the dam that was swept away.
The damn failed in 1928 and killed 450 people. The water was said to have traveled all the way out to the sea. It was the greatest American civil engineering failure in the Twentieth Century.
For the whole entire story click here
While talking to John and going our separate ways, mention of a old brothel from the 1950's came up. It was on our way back to Pete's place so i figured, what the heck. So we stopped by. It was not far from the dam.
Driving into the property (there's no gate, no trespassing signs, it's all abandoned).
Think someone forgot to check the mail...
I couldn't find any information on this site. Apparently it was some type of resort with a fancy pool, outside grills and a pool house?
We found blood spots on one of the walkways so we decided to go. It was pretty creepy actually.
Of course every blog we do about a trip we have to talk about the food... this time is no exception....once back at the house it was time for some good grub. Pete made home made Pizza.. it was amazing.
This one was going to be a Pesto chicken pizza.
I grilled some chicken on the grill.
Dixie waited patiently and didn't take her eyes off the food.
It came out killer and tasted even better than it looked.
Pete also made a BBQ pizza with half chicken and half sausage... it was good eats for sure.
The next morning we were to head home, but quickly before doing so i wanted to explore a bit more. So we headed up on Grass Mountain. It's 4,619 feet above sea level and is only minutes from Green Valley. The views were stunning. Too bad it was clearer, you normally can see the ocean.
Panoramic view of the area
They don't call it grass mountain for no reason.
There's a weather station up on top.
And snakes too!...
Heading back to the house we took an alternate route and found the Pacific Crest Trail again.
And what looked to be a water tower for wildland fires.
Anyone want some sand ladders?
After making our way back to the house we packed up and headed for home. We hit a little Holiday traffic but it wasn't too bad. Thanks to Pete for having us over on Memorial Weekend. It was nice exploring locally and taking the Jeeps out.