Angeles National Forest Exploring

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.

Lucerne Valley Exploration

Well, a friend of ours we haven't seen in a couple years wanted to celebrate his birthday out camping. He recently picked up a Toyota truck and has shared interest in getting into overlanding. So I figured what better time to head out and explore some desert country close to home. Lucerne Valley is located in the Mojave Desert only about 2 hours from LA and is 20 miles north of Big Bear on the backside of the mountains. Lucerne was settled in the early 1900s by James Goulding and his family who used the area to raise alfalfa. Lucerne is another name for Alfalfa. I've lived in SoCal my whole life and have visited Lucerne and surrounding areas many times, but i never knew that. I guess what they say is true, you do learn something new every day.

Our first day arrival to the desert would be a warm one. We planned to camp in Calico (Yermo Ca) and then head over across the valley to explore Lucerne via dirt roads. The temps were close to 100 degrees while crossing through the Mojave desert and the I-15. We arrived to setup basecamp around 5pm. Thank goodness the temps dropped down to about 65 at night.


The view from camp was breath taking as always. The hills of Calico are rich with different minerals and make for amazing colors.

Dixie didn't care too much for the heat. Her favorite spot was under the truck and away from the sun.

The lizard was the opposite and soaked up all he could get on the nearby rocks.


After getting camp setup, we all met at the campfire to relax and enjoy the company.


We toasted Will's birthday with an ice cold beer.



After a bit it was time to fire up the grill and get to cooking. This trip i wanted to do something totally different. I wanted to grill pizza. Yes, grill pizza. You read that right. I guess i just wanted to see if i could do it.


You have to keep the heat pretty low with the coals and make sure you cover the pizza to let the toppings melt, but in the end it was really good. It took about an hour, but it was well worth it. After all , pizza is my favorite.


Bryan grilled some cream cheese stuffed peppers that were amazing.

The heat seemed to have little effect on James.


After the good eats we sat around the campfire. The moon was full and it was very bright. There was no need for a flashlight or a head lamp.




The next morning we all made a quick breakfast and headed out for a day of exploring.
Dropping down into Mule canyon from camp near Kraemer Arch.


Yosh waiting for the group to catch up in whatever shade she can find in Mule canyon. It's a beautiful area.


On our way out near the highway we found a sports car that had high centered on its front bumper. We tried to figure out why the guy was even driving off road, but he kind of beat around the bush about it.

Who takes a car like this out on a dirt trail?

Needless to say he was happy to see us pull up and lend assistance. Thank goodness he had a tow hook in the rear of the chassis that we could pull him backwards with. Otherwise if we pulled him forward the front end would have been ripped to shreds and none of us wanted to see that happen.


The girls watched safely from across the highway.



Justin looking way to happy to winch the motorist out.


After safely recovering the sports car, we headed on our way. Our first stop would be about 40+ miles out on dirt road. Later on i'd find out that the GPS waypoint was harder to get to than expected. Sometimes trails can disappear and no longer be found. We had to Tread Lightly so we had to take an alternative route to get to our first destination near the Fry Mountains.

We finally arrived at our destination


UPPER JOHNSON VALLEY YUCCA RINGS



The Yucca Rings are said to be created by a single bush thousands of years ago. The group is considered one plant unlike the group of plants they appear to be. The rings are composed of as many as 130 stalks and can grow upwards of 20 feet in diameter. These groups of Yuccas are thought to be at least 2,100 years old.



They are extremely rare and need to be protected and respected. There's a fence around them to protect them.




Dry lake in the distance.


With the blistering heat nearly reaching 100 early in the day we hopped back in the trucks and headed on our way to our next stop. It would be a quick jaunt over the valley via dirt but we all appreciated the air conditioning seat time.

After a short while we came up on the GPS waypoint and i had to scout for our next point of interest. We were close.


TEXAS ROCK QUARRY



Back in the 1930's was the last time this quarry was mostly worked. They brought large slabs of granite out to Los Angeles and La Jolla for construction of building faces and monuments. Even the University of California used some of the granite from this location. The quarry was somewhat used off and on till the 1950's.




The blocks are huge. They're 20 feet long and had to be trucked out to the finishing location in LA. What you see today is the same as the way they left it. There's still blocks sitting awaiting to be shipped.


The mountain of rubble is all bad pieces. It's incredible the size.


It's an amazing thing to see in person. You really understand how much work they had to go through to get the blocks out.





Once again it was time to go. Justin took the quick way down.


We continued East through the Lucerne Valley.

Our next stop was a special one. Something you'd not even notice if you drove right past it. For some reason this one spot was the one i was excited to see.

WORLD WAR II BOMBING TARGETS



To the untrained eye or someone that hasn't done their research it looks to be an old side walk or paved road. In reality this is a huge bullseye on the ground to drop practice bombs from the sky. During WWII, the Mojave desert was used for training and this location served that purpose. At the time Lucerne was chosen because of it's remoteness, today there's homes nearby and a road that travels right through the middle of the bullseye. The rings are made from black asphalt and had a pile of white rock in the center.




If you look at google earth you can see the rings from the sky.


There's still bomb fragments laying around the area. We did not remove anything.






At this point the heat was getting to the group so we decided to head back to camp for some shade. But not before we made a quick stop to air up and grab an ice cold soda at Slash X cafe.



It was nice to sit and take a break in the shade.



Slash X has been around forever. 1954 to be exact. I used to come to this place with my dad on our dirtbikes when we were kids. It's almost like an Oasis in the desert for off roaders.



We chose to air up at SlashX since we'd be back on the highway again for a while. It was worth suffering back up to camp with high pressure to be able to drive 65mph on the highway.

Once back at camp we deployed the awnings and took cover. It was hotter than heck and really windy. The conditions never eased up over night and made for a rough night sleep.




Shot of camp from up above. Beautiful area.


Dixie was feeling the heat. Her favorite place on this trip was under the trucks for sure.


The final night before heading home we did a Potluck. It was amazing like always. Pork tenderloin, Chicken with veggies, mushrooms and jack cheese, Garlic bread, Cesar Salad and even Smores for desert. Bryan even fired up some more peppers. It was too much food.




Doesn't get much better than this. Good times, good friends and good food.


It was a great trip and im glad my friend Will was able to spend his birthday exploring the Southwest. It was hotter than heck, but it was worth it. Thanks to all who joined us on this trip and too many more to come.

Photo Credits: Dave Druck/James Chatary