Posted on 12/10/2004 9:34:01 PM PST by goldstategop
To avoid the congested Antelope Valley Freeway, commuters drive about 25 miles of Angeles Forest Highway to reach the even steeper and more treacherous Angeles Crest, which takes them the last 10 miles to the flatlands.
The roads were built in the 1930s and '40s, and provide access to Angeles National Forest campgrounds, hiking trails and ski slopes. They were never intended for heavy commuting.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Now, in 1977 I drove the Al-Can highway from Fairbanks to Seattle in a Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Bought a new front-end in Seattle!
Last year I drove thru Crater Lake Nat'l Park with my family in a rental Intrepid. The high part of the Park road heading north into the Village is hairy enough, but the erosion damage to the northbound lane in many places made it treacherous.
Hopefully the road has been repaired by now?
SSW of the Sequoia/Kings Canyon Parks is a highway where there is a multiple curves sign labeled "Next 33 miles." Not a dangerous road, but not as much fun as you might think...especially with a car-sick passenger on board. The "hog trail" curves & bends are packed incredibly close, with few straights as long as .1 mile. It takes about forever to snake through the section. The locals advise taking an improved gravel bypass instead.
If you are smiling as you read this, you probably know the "33 miles" I'm talking about.
That route was very interesting. I would go out to Lancaster on the weekends from San Gabriel to see my sister and mother. I would leave around 10 a.m. or so from Duarte Road. The start of the trip is straight up into the mountains behind JPL. Switchbacks all the way to the top amidst some awesome mountain scenery. You then come to your "first fork in the road"...left to Palmdale or straight on to distant Wrightwood which is trip for sure.
I would take the left of course to Palmdale. This is were the road got interesting. After a few more miles of having to watch your speed on tight turns, the road opens to two lanes up the hill near a camp ground. This was where you could speed it up going up the hill. It was fun coming up on someone going slower because you knew exactly were you could pass them. Once you came to the top of this valley and started down the other side it was down hill to the Antelope Valley Freeway. You could really get moving here. Especially the last part, the road is straight for long distances down the hill. At night I would leave around 10 p.m. and make it a game to see how fast I could get back home. I'd get back on the Antelope Valley freeway south at Avenue J and get off at the top of the hill and head back up those straight stretches of road. I never encountered any animals at night but some large rocks and wierd drivers on occasion. One night, I thought I was motoring pretty fast down the hill when I noticed far off headlights coming into view. I said to myself...self, speed it up the game is on. Not fast mind you...just enough to cut the boredom. As fast as I thought I was going, this car was on me in no time and caught up to me at the tunnel. He passed me going over the bridge and my fun was over for the night. You could get going only so fast on that road but it sure saved a long drive up through the North San Fernando Valley and Newhall....
I've never driven that route, but my perspective on mountain driving comes from my experiences in Colorado.
I literally almost get motion sickness, no matter where I used to drive in CO. I remember driving to Estes Park at night, alone, and I didn't think I was going to make it!
Now, driving on I-90 through Montana on a clear, cold winter night is fantastic :-)
Out of curiosity...has anyone hiked the trail to the bridge to nowhere in the San Gabrial Mountains north of Azusa?
Does route 39 still only go to just past Crystal Lake?. I remember driving that road when it was open to Angeles Crest Highway. That small stretch of road always had rocks in it. The big slide wiped it out and they never rebuilt it.
I don't think they ever did. I do know driving through wildnerness can be fun. I used to take Ortega Hwy past Lake Elsinore to shorten a route to UCR in Riverside by going to the 15 rather than taking the 91. The best advice is to make sure your car's had the maintenance done and have a full tank of gas. Mountain driving reminds people more than anything else the conveniences of civilization aren't always close at hand. You face the same problem of being stranded between L.A and Las Vegas with an overheated engine in the desert while on a commute through the I-15 past Barstow.
Yes, it is very dangerous. Not so much for the road itself, but for the dangerous wild SUVs that hide in the bushes and trees, just waiting to ambush people in Uugos, SAABs, and other defenseless automobiles.
Damn those SUVs, they are effecting everyone's lives!
Ever been on Independence Pass in Colorado?
Here's some comments I saw on a site while looking for photo to post :
"This is the scariest road I've ever been on. Switchbacks and no guardrails. Some places it is a single lane with blind curves and you can't see who or what is coming from the other direction. You may meet up with an RV trying to negotiate the sharp curve. Very dangerous. Will not be making this trip again."
"Just went over this last week in the dark, late at night. As a flatlander from Florida, this was very scary. Almost hit several deer on the way down west side. This road is not for faint of heart. My wife was very terrified. The narrow single lane part was very scary with cars coming the other way. There are no road signs on 82. We turned around after a while then had to drive it again. It is not marked that you are on the right road. You may suggest to DOT that they need lines and/or reflectors. This could help immensely."
Photos to follow, hopefully
Investigators Determine Why Driver Plunged Off Independence Pass
Boulder Man's Remains Found 2 Years After Fatal Accident POSTED: 9:28 am MDT September 30, 2004
A Boulder, Colo., man whose skeletal remains were found around his wrecked car on Independence Pass two years after his fatal accident was going too fast on a hairpin curve, investigators said Wednesday. Terry Johnson remains were found along with his his wrecked Mazda Miata, at the bottom of a cliff just below the final hairpin curve at the top of the east side of the pass between Aspen and Twin Lakes. Lake County investigators said Johnson was traveling too fast as he went into the curve and lost control, going off a cliff and down the mountainside, out of view of passing motorists. He was ejected from his car during the crash and his car came to rest next to another car from a previous wreck
Terry Johnson's body decomposed for two years near the top of Independence Pass as thousands of motorists drove by unaware just a few hundred yards away. A hunter found the car and remains and notified authorities on Sept. 17. Johnson's car was hauled back up the cliff Sunday. The hairpin curve has a posted speed limit of 10 mph, but investigators said Johnson was likely traveling faster than 30 mph when he lost control and went off the road. It was also raining the day he disappeared. What is still not clear is why Johnson was on Independence Pass in the first place. He was last seen in Boulder at a shopping center dropping off videos the morning of Sept. 25, 2002. He failed to pick up his son from football practice that same day and was reported missing. Johnson's jaw was sent to a lab in Jefferson County to confirm his identity with dental records. A memorial service for Johnson is schedule for Friday at Littleton Methodist Church.
NOT for the faint of heart:-)
It has to be the most dangerous albeit GORGEOUS mountain pass in the U.S.
Well the difference between the Rockies and the Sierras -- Rockies are big, old, round mountains with long sloping grades and foothills. Sierras. Steep, sharp new mountains formed from extruded granite of plate tectonics.Instead of Julie Andrews dancing through a meadow, think hanging from a rope on El Capitan. Now that you've got the picture I wish I had one since I'll be called a liar! OK. So I'm finally going to breakdown and buy the digital camera for myself.
Check out Henness Pass Road, Rubicon Trail. That's the kind of terrain I'm talking about.
"I remember driving to Estes Park at night, alone, and I didn't think I was going to make it!"
Drove that stretch and back one night a couple of weeks ago on my bike. What a rush! Not much room for mistakes though. I found it kind of difficult to lay a 1500 Kawasaki Mean Streak down on some of the curves, the foot pegs tend to scrape (guess that's why they're hinged). The greatest danger is the morons in their SUVS that think they are invulnerable.
There's a little dirt road near Boulder that's rated the most dangerous four wheel drive in America. Goes back to an old ghost town.
"You face the same problem of being stranded between L.A and Las Vegas with an overheated engine in the desert"
I had a breakdown about 40 miles west of Needles on I-40 about 11:00am in late August one year.
There were three of us, one guy hitched a ride to Needles and was coming back with the tow. After 1/2 hour it was so damn hot you couldn't stay in the truck. We ended up pushing the truck up hills and riding down hills for 3 miles or so to an overpass so we could get into some shade.
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