We're excited to bring you anther epic ride in our own backyard in Southern California. In this ride, we share history and check out spots like Crystal Lake Cafe, The Bridge to Nowhere, Azusa Canyon, E Fork Road, and Glendora Ridge Rd on the way to Mount Baldy Village.

Starting out at home base in Canoga Park, CA we hit the road on CA118 making our way to I210 to Azusa where we take CA State Route 39 all of the way up to Crystal Lake Cafe.

State Route 39 is full of hairpins and sweepers with lots of changes in scenery and elevation along the way. Officially, the highway is broken into pieces, but it runs from Huntington Beach to the San Gabriel mountains but the last few miles of the route, including the connection to SR 2, are closed to public highway traffic, as the roadbed has been closed since 1978, due to major rock slides that year and again in 2005 which damaged more of the remaining roadbed.

"A replacement of the section north of East Fork Road, in the next canyon to the east, was partly built in 1936 and 1961, but was never completed. The section includes one bridge and two tunnels; it was never used by automobile or truck traffic. In one local hiking guide the section is identified as the "Road to Nowhere" and the "Convict Road", although the official name is the Shoemaker Road and was planned to be an escape route in times of nuclear warfare. A ca. 1967 replacement, much closer to the existing alignment, was also stopped prematurely, and so the middle of the segment between East Fork Road and the closure gate, with its many hairpin curves, still exists."

Crystal Lake Cafe is an historic Cafe and Trading post in the San Gabriel Mountains within the Angeles National Forest and offers homemade food to its visitors as well as supplies to the nearby Crystal Lake Campground. It also serves as a supply store for hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail which passes by a little bit over 2 miles away.

From Crystal Lake Cafe, we retraced our steps back down CA39 and took E Fork Road to Glendora Ridge Road, a narrow scenic route winding along the ridge line which leads right into Mount Baldy Village. The road is not painted, so keep to your right and keep an eye out for oncoming traffic.

Mt Baldy Village is a popular destinations for tourists and outdoorsman and has some great restaurants and outdoor recreation like hiking, skiing, and snowboarding. We didn't make it off the bikes long enough for any of the above, but we did check out the Mt Baldy Lodge restaurant for a quick cup of chili before riding back home!

Eats:

-Crystal Lake Cafe (Breakfast)

-Mt. Baldy Lodge Restaurant (Lunch)

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