Angeles Forest Highway
Encyclopedia
The Angeles Forest Highway traverses the Angeles National Forest
and connects the Los Angeles basin
to the Antelope Valley
by going up and over the San Gabriel Mountains
. The highway is variously known as County Road N-3 or FH-59 or the Palmdale cutoff. It is about 25 miles (40.2 km) long. The Angeles Forest Highway is maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
.
The first road across the San Gabriels in this direction was built by the Edison Company
to service their powerlines in the 1920s. The pole line road went from Eagle Rock
to Vincent (1, p. 198). In 1928, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
approved a plan for construction of the Angeles Forest Highway. It was not completed until 1941 (1, p. 202).
The first section of the Palmdale cutoff north from Los Angeles is the beginning of the Angeles Crest Highway
, which follows the Arroyo Seco
and powerlines from La Cañada
. At Dark Canyon, the powerlines diverge over the ridge while the paved highway follows the canyon to Georges Gap, just past the Clear Creek Vista.
If you stop and park at the Info Center, you can see the trace of the San Gabriel Fault by looking east up the Arroyo Seco toward Red Box. This alignment of features is a result of erosion of the rocks softened by movement along the fault. The gap also separates the watershed of the Arroyo Seco from that of Clear Creek which flows into Big Tujunga Creek
.
The road continues to follow the Clear Creek drainage while contouring around the southwestern slope of Mt. Josephine. Josephine is sometimes referred to as Mt. Josephine and at other times, Josephine Peak. It used to have a fire lookout tower
that was visible from the valley floor, but now hosts the Pines Picnic Area, looking out over the fault trace northwest through Clear Creek. The highway then leaves Clear Creek and enters the Big Tujunga Creek drainage as it crosses the Josephine ridge and turns northeastward.
. (2, p. 109)
After crossing the Big Tujunga Narrows Bridge, originally named the Armstrong Bridge (1, p. 202), which rises 275' above the canyon bottom, there is a large turnout on the east side of the road. Floods periodically scour the canyon and debris fills the reservoir behind the dam lower down. The vegetation was recently destroyed by fire.
Next the road passes through a tunnel, sometimes marked on maps as the Singing Springs Tunnel. At the tunnel's south entrance are rocks of banded gneiss, 1,700 million years old, some of the oldest rock found in the San Gabriel mountains (2, p. 110). The road cuts through a ridge separating the Big Tujunga from its tributary, Mill Creek. From this point, the Angeles Forest Highway follows the west side of Mill Creek.
, and yucca
but the vegetation as well as the Hidden Springs Cafe were destroyed by the 2009 Station Fire.
Monte Cristo Station (Named after the Monte Cristo Gold Mine
is a stop on the Big Tujunga Canyon Auto Tour. Gold mining equipment used for hard rock and streamside mining is displayed here. One building survived the Station Fire.
At the westside turnout of Baughman Spring's, is an exposure of white-colored anorthosite, a rock 1220 million years old, which is also found on the lunar highlands (2, p. 111). Rabbitbrush, a late bloomer, begins to be seen as the road rises.
At Mill Creek Summit, 4,910', the highest elevation on the Angeles Forest Highway, was once another convenient rest stop with shade, restrooms and picnic tables. All were destroyed by the Station Fire.
On the west side is a Edison Company substation, the goal of the original pole line road. Power is brought in from sources north and east of the mountain range and transferred on into the Los Angeles basin.
On its final leg approaching Vincent Junction, the Angeles Forest Highway crosses the wide Soledad Pass, 3,142', also used by the railroad and the freeway. Drainage on the other side of the pass goes to Little Rock Creek and then out to the interior basin of the Mojave Desert. One geologist suggested that the headwaters of the Santa Clara River may eventually cut through to the desert here (2, p. 113).
VIDEO RIDE down the Angeles Forest Highway towards the Angeles Crest Highway
Angeles National Forest
The Angeles National Forest of the U.S. National Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains of Los Angeles County, southern California. It was established on July 1, 1908, incorporating the first San Bernardino National Forest and parts of the former Santa Barbara and San Gabriel...
and connects the Los Angeles basin
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...
to the Antelope Valley
Antelope Valley
The Antelope Valley in California, United States, is located in northern Los Angeles County and the southeastern portion of Kern County, California, and constitutes the western tip of the Mojave Desert...
by going up and over the San Gabriel Mountains
San Gabriel Mountains
The San Gabriel Mountains Range is located in northern Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range lies between the Los Angeles Basin and the Mojave Desert, with Interstate 5 to the west and Interstate 15 to the east...
. The highway is variously known as County Road N-3 or FH-59 or the Palmdale cutoff. It is about 25 miles (40.2 km) long. The Angeles Forest Highway is maintained by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
Los Angeles County Department of Public Works
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Works is responsible for the construction and operation of Los Angeles County's roads, building safety, sewerage, and flood control...
.
The first road across the San Gabriels in this direction was built by the Edison Company
Edison International
Edison International is a public utility holding company based in Rosemead, California. Its subsidiaries include Southern California Edison, and un-regulated non-utility assets Edison Mission Energy and Midwest Generation, power producers, and Edison Capital...
to service their powerlines in the 1920s. The pole line road went from Eagle Rock
Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California
In 1909, Hill Avenue, now Hill Drive, was one of Eagle Rock's most beautiful streets. Other streets were Royal Drive , Acacia Street , Kenilworth Avenue , Highland Avenue , and Fairmont Avenue...
to Vincent (1, p. 198). In 1928, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is the five-member nonpartisan governing board of Los Angeles County, California. Members of the board of supervisors are elected by district. They were as of December 2, 2008:*District 1: Gloria Molina...
approved a plan for construction of the Angeles Forest Highway. It was not completed until 1941 (1, p. 202).
The first section of the Palmdale cutoff north from Los Angeles is the beginning of the Angeles Crest Highway
Angeles Crest Highway
The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane segment of California State Route 2 in the United States. The road is in length, with its western terminus at the intersection at Foothill Boulevard in La Cañada Flintridge and its eastern terminus at State Route 138 northeast of Wrightwood...
, which follows the Arroyo Seco
Arroyo Seco (Los Angeles County)
The Arroyo Seco, meaning "dry stream" in Spanish, is a seasonal river, canyon, watershed, and cultural area in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The Arroyo Seco has been called the most celebrated canyon in Southern California.-River course:...
and powerlines from La Cañada
La Cañada Flintridge, California
La Cañada Flintridge is a small and affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States whose population at the 2010 census was 20,246, down from 20,318 at the 2000 census. According to Forbes, as of 2010, La Cañada Flintridge ranks as the 143rd most expensive U.S...
. At Dark Canyon, the powerlines diverge over the ridge while the paved highway follows the canyon to Georges Gap, just past the Clear Creek Vista.
Clear Creek Segment
The Angeles Forest Highway begins its journey north at Clear Creek Junction, 0.9 miles (1.4 km) past Georges Gap, while the Angeles Crest Highway continues on east toward Red Box. At this junction are the Clear Creek Information Center on the right, the Clear Creek Station of the Forest Service on the left, and the fire road which is the trailhead for Mt. Josephine across the street from the station. There is also a trail leading to Switzer Picnic Area which begins here.If you stop and park at the Info Center, you can see the trace of the San Gabriel Fault by looking east up the Arroyo Seco toward Red Box. This alignment of features is a result of erosion of the rocks softened by movement along the fault. The gap also separates the watershed of the Arroyo Seco from that of Clear Creek which flows into Big Tujunga Creek
Tujunga Wash
Tujunga Wash is a stream in Los Angeles County, California. It is a tributary of the Los Angeles River, providing about a fifth of its flow, and drains about...
.
The road continues to follow the Clear Creek drainage while contouring around the southwestern slope of Mt. Josephine. Josephine is sometimes referred to as Mt. Josephine and at other times, Josephine Peak. It used to have a fire lookout tower
Fire lookout tower
A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a "fire lookout" whose duty it is to search for wildfires in the wilderness...
that was visible from the valley floor, but now hosts the Pines Picnic Area, looking out over the fault trace northwest through Clear Creek. The highway then leaves Clear Creek and enters the Big Tujunga Creek drainage as it crosses the Josephine ridge and turns northeastward.
Big Tujunga Creek Segment
Once the highway meets the Big Tujunga Road, its character changes. This section between the junction and the bridge over the Narrows is the most precipitous, is the most prone to rock slides, has the most rescues from people climbing down its slopes to the waterholes, and features more wildflowers than other sections along the route, such as the Spanish broom. The roadcuts show off the light-colored Mt. Josephine granodioriteGranodiorite
Granodiorite is an intrusive igneous rock similar to granite, but containing more plagioclase than orthoclase-type feldspar. Officially, it is defined as a phaneritic igneous rock with greater than 20% quartz by volume where at least 65% of the feldspar is plagioclase. It usually contains abundant...
. (2, p. 109)
After crossing the Big Tujunga Narrows Bridge, originally named the Armstrong Bridge (1, p. 202), which rises 275' above the canyon bottom, there is a large turnout on the east side of the road. Floods periodically scour the canyon and debris fills the reservoir behind the dam lower down. The vegetation was recently destroyed by fire.
Next the road passes through a tunnel, sometimes marked on maps as the Singing Springs Tunnel. At the tunnel's south entrance are rocks of banded gneiss, 1,700 million years old, some of the oldest rock found in the San Gabriel mountains (2, p. 110). The road cuts through a ridge separating the Big Tujunga from its tributary, Mill Creek. From this point, the Angeles Forest Highway follows the west side of Mill Creek.
Mill Creek Segment
Immediately on the other side of the tunnel on the west side of the highway is the Hidden Springs Picnic Ground, a rest stop with overlooks and use trails. The trailhead for the Fall Creek Trail is 500' up the road also on the west side. It is marked with a brown hiking sign, but offers no parking. The hillsides once were covered with chamise, manzanitaManzanita
Manzanita is a common name for many species of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees present in the chaparral biome of western North America, where they occur from southern British Columbia, Washington to California, Arizona and New Mexico in the United States, and...
, and yucca
Yucca
Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North...
but the vegetation as well as the Hidden Springs Cafe were destroyed by the 2009 Station Fire.
Monte Cristo Station (Named after the Monte Cristo Gold Mine
Monte Cristo Gold Mine
The Monte Cristo Gold Mine is a gold mine in the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles, California, USA....
is a stop on the Big Tujunga Canyon Auto Tour. Gold mining equipment used for hard rock and streamside mining is displayed here. One building survived the Station Fire.
At the westside turnout of Baughman Spring's, is an exposure of white-colored anorthosite, a rock 1220 million years old, which is also found on the lunar highlands (2, p. 111). Rabbitbrush, a late bloomer, begins to be seen as the road rises.
At Mill Creek Summit, 4,910', the highest elevation on the Angeles Forest Highway, was once another convenient rest stop with shade, restrooms and picnic tables. All were destroyed by the Station Fire.
Aliso Canyon Segment
After Mill Creek Summit, the Angeles Forest Highway crosses a drainage divide. From here on all the water goes into Aliso Creek, the headwaters of the Santa Clara River. Alisos is Spanish for sycamores. The road now follows the east side of Aliso Canyon. At Aliso Springs Picnic Ground, there are no sycamores, only canyon oaks. After the Picnic Ground, there is a gorgeous road cut showing the banded Lowe granodiorite (2, p. 112). It is best seen when driving south up the grade where, in this case, it would be before the picnic area.Kentucky Springs Canyon Segment
After the junction with Aliso Canyon Road, the highway leaves Aliso Creek and crosses a ridge to Kentucky Springs Canyon. The straight-away section on alluvium, approaching the Mt. Emma Road and the Angeles National Forest boundary, goes through pinyon pine and California juniper woodland. In the springtime, flannelbush and goldenbush bloom in this area. After the boundary sign, the pinyon pines disappear and Great Basin sagebrush becomes more dominant.On the west side is a Edison Company substation, the goal of the original pole line road. Power is brought in from sources north and east of the mountain range and transferred on into the Los Angeles basin.
On its final leg approaching Vincent Junction, the Angeles Forest Highway crosses the wide Soledad Pass, 3,142', also used by the railroad and the freeway. Drainage on the other side of the pass goes to Little Rock Creek and then out to the interior basin of the Mojave Desert. One geologist suggested that the headwaters of the Santa Clara River may eventually cut through to the desert here (2, p. 113).
Sources
- Robinson, John W., The San Gabriels: Mountain Country, (1977), ISBN 0-87095-061-4
- Sharp, Robert P., Geology Field Guide to Southern California , (1972), ISBN 0-697-05030-0
More information
Field Guide to the San Gabriel Mountains website by Jane Strong and Tom Chester.VIDEO RIDE down the Angeles Forest Highway towards the Angeles Crest Highway