Mountains

[nibot]

The first storm in months* hit Los Angeles on Friday, so the next morning Bree and I decided to go on some erosion tourism. We had hoped to find our city's river channels coursing with muddy water, carrying trees and boulders alike toward the ocean, but instead we found them pretty much dry. I guess the first day of rain just soaks the soil. We need a little more to start the debris flows.

Naturally, we headed up into the mountains, up CA-39 following the San Gabriel River. (Somewhere back in my mind I contemplated the various scenarios involving the road washing out behind us; the San Gabriels are littered with abandoned highways.) It's amazing how a little weather can make a place so much more dramatic. The wisps of cloud rising from the mountain tips would have me believe I was in the Peruvian Andes.

The above photo is of Glendora Ridge Road, a little-traveled road, just one lane for both traffic directions, that traverses the mountain ridge from CA-39 to Mount Baldy Road. We saw just two other cars.

We took refuge at the Mt Baldy Lodge. Outside the weather was crisp and the air smelled like Christmas, something about the fresh rain and the conifers. The lodge was the perfect place, snug and warm, and with delicious foods. We weren't the only ones who thought so; it was packed, for the first time all summer. Strangely, the storm brought people into the mountains. We dined on hot apple cider, prime rib with baked potato and salad, heffeweizen, chocolate cake, and irish coffee. Somebody said it was snowing near the summit, but we didn't believe him; today we look up at a snowy mountaintop.

It's amazing such a place is less than ten miles from the metropolis.

* LA receives on average about 14 inches of rain in a year. So far this year we've received only two.

Comments

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

It should be noted that the rain season goes July through July. Not counting this weekend's rain, we've only had 2 inches since LAST JULY, that's FOURTEEN months.

[diskothiq.livejournal.com]

glendora ridge road used to be my miata's playground when i lived out there