24-Mile Bike Ride From Crystal Lake to Azusa

13/Feb/2010 and 13/Feb/2010, AllSmallEngines and I spend a night at Crystal Lake Recreation Area doing a few things for a friend or two before roping our sleeping bags on to our handlebars and heading down the mountain.

Lots of snow is still up there, as you can see, however the melt is underway and I would expect that it will almost all be gone in one week except for patches that are in the shade most of the day.

We take a look at the open air ampitheature to see what the condition of the electric distribution system is and found that it appears to be mostly in however there's still one leg that appears to need installing. The actual ampitheature itself had some maintenance performed this past year so it looks great.

On the way down we paused at Cedar Canyon Trail which is probably the most genetically diverse canyons in the area with maple, pine, cedar, spruce, and various other species of trees growing in the canyon which has much shade all year around and which also has water flowing all year around.

Stopping at Coldbrook Campground about 10 miles below we drove through the heavily running water to check out the camp. Supposedly drinkable water is available in there now however I don't think everything is fixed yet since several of the water outlets at camp sites are still broken.

In all we took about 90 minutes to ride and walk the 24 miles back down to the city below.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• crystal
• lake
• recreation
• area
• angeles
• national
• forest
• san
• gabriel
• mountains
• coldbook
• campground
• bicycle
• hike
• ride
• trail
• snow

[mobiltec]

Is there nothing that you will not attempt to ride your bike through? First mud and now snow... LOL... How about a cow pasture?

[NotSoOldHippy]

I will *not* attempt to ride through cactus.

I *have* ridden my bike through KKK rallies in Baldwin Park, though.

[mobiltec]

@NotSoOldHippy "That I know of"

[NotSoOldHippy]

Ha! Stupid Boy Scouts should have known better. That's Desertphile's orange/yellow backpack that I always carry. I sewed it back up but had to abandon the tent. We returned a week later and collected the tent and threw it away. Some of the Scouts also left stuff behind -- we packed up in the middle of the night while surrounded by bears and fled down the mountain.

[Vogter2100]

Cool :)

[NotSoOldHippy]

Instead my hand found the small frying pan that I carried with me back then so I started slamming that against the picnic table. The bear stopped and paced back and forth looking at me.

While that was going on, the other two adults were also being charged by a bear and they stomped their feet and waved their arms and yelled and the bear stopped and slowly walked away.

It was written about in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

[NotSoOldHippy]

Yes, it did. Some years ago I was asked to stay up there will a bunch of Boy Scouts over night after a work day since I had a radio and a borrowed key to Caltrans' gate. The Scouts boiled hot dogs and brought every bear for 5 miles. They were extremly aggressive and could not be driven off and one entered my tent ripping it up and got Desertphile's backpack and also ripped it up. It charged me so I jumped on a table and thought about taking off my shoe to hit it.

[Vogter2100]

@NotSoOldHippy hehehe.. does it work then?

[NotSoOldHippy]

}:-} We're told not to drink the water up there but I have drunk from every stream and pond for the past 20 years and never had any problem. That I know of. }:-}

[NotSoOldHippy]

Ha! When bears attack I jump on to the nearest picnic table and pound it with a frying pan. (The table, not the bear.)