Arright, so I wanted to do an overnighter as a sorta shakedown on my mind for a longer ride I wanna do soon that would take me around SoCal on roads far from humans. Been planning that one for a few years. It will take lots of dirt roads, and I plan on having zero contact with others, carrying all my food with me, due to the whole corona thing. I’ll probably bitch out at the first sight of a del taco (their dollar menu is incredible), but I didn’t say that so you can’t get mad at me for increasing the possibility of disease transmission by a fraction of a percent, seeing as I go to the grocery store often enough and that would be like a Petri dish compared to this. Anywho...
So I figured I’d go up 39 to Crystal Lake, push my bike up and over Windy Gap, down to the 2, then down to the high desert. I’ve done this a few times before, and I’m getting back in shape so it would be a good way to judge fitness. The ride up was uneventful, and I stopped at the now closed Coldbrook campground. Just kidding, I don’t exist so you can’t get mad at me or sue me etc for going closed places cause I’d never do that! Plenty of water flowing there, and I lowered my bike into 6” deep water and sat on the concrete bridge thing and had tuna, crackers, figs, and filtered water. There’s a lotta brown algae where the water runs across the bridge thing, and I just told myself it won’t be too slippery and just go straight and be smooth. I nearly ate it, as it was very very slippery, and on the way out I walked through the rocks on the north edge for grip while the bike slid all over the concrete. Very entertaining. This is a common theme in canyoneering around here with that brown slime.
Got my next water at that spring on the hairpin by the house with the people that yell sometimes, kept going up, and Adam made a chili cheese dog and a bowl of chili for me. Downed that, got a Gatorade, and man did that hit the spot. My extensive studies from last summer have concluded that the most refreshing Gatorade is the original lemon lime. If you disagree, you’re wrong. Or maybe I’m wrong. I am a man, after all. We tend to be wrong a lot, which is how we made it to the moon and back safely.
Pretty busy at the cafe. People complaining about mountain prices. Losers. Anywho, rode up past the gate (just kidding again) to the huge parking lot, and took the dirt road to Deer Flat or Deer Spring, whatever. Continued up to the trail, and pushed my bike to Windy Gap. There are a handful of sections where the trail is still under snow, which is melting fast. I was carrying and pushing my bike through these, and it was a fair bit of work for someone with quarantine body. I put some layers on in the leeward side of the pass, then headed to the north side. From here on out, I would be fighting a fair bit of snow. Now, normally I carry my bike on this stretch of the PCT, setting it down when I need a break, but as it was under snow and steep, I pushed and used the bike as a walker of sorts. I let myself get suckered into following someone’s 12pt crampon tracks to the spring, which was ok cause I needed water. Filled up, chilled out, and pushed laboriously to Little Jimmy, where I was going to camp and have a fire, and smoke my wizard pipe. It was a challenge pushing and pulling my bike up the snow, and my feet were soaked, and when I reached camp there was only a small slanted plot of land to sleep on, not big enough for me, and certainly not good for a decent fire. On top of that, there’s a sign there stating that as of October 18, there are no fires. This is the only place I go regularly that allows fires, so I was bummed. No problem right now, though, as clearly I wouldn’t be staying.
Normally I follow the road down to the 2, but this was impossible to see under a couple feet of snow, so I followed the same crampon tracks to the northern edge of the plateau, and took the edge west until I could find a low angle descent path. This made me quite tired, and I had to stop often to slow my heart rate from 29477292bpm down to a manageable level. I found a descent line, and slowly plunged my heels down, using the brakes to control my bike. The snow was still soft, even though it was now about 1900, and I made it most of the way down the hill before my bike endo’d, which ripped one of my saddlebag straps holding my bivy gear. Whoops. Secured it, and walked down to the 2 where my helmet had run ahead of me. The 2 is also under snow, up to maybe 6” deep, which was too much to ride in. To reach the desert would’ve taken a very long time. Woulda really sucked and been a dumb idea. Thus, I went west to Islip Saddle.
Some youths were listening to music here, having a nice time as I materialized out of nowhere. I changed some layers, removed more snow from the bike, and certainly didn’t go around the gate and take the closed section of 39 down. I heard there was an Edison security guard here, but I figured nobody would be here at night. I was correct. I’ve hidden from workers passing by in their trucks here, and got caught once by a foreman. He told me I’m not supposed to be there for some dumb city human reason, like rockfall or some dumb shit (just say it’s about money). I told him sorry, and kept going up. That was a couple years ago. Anyway, this time the road wasn’t so bad, and it appears they’ve built a new retaining wall below the roadbed on the northern part of the closed segment. Beats me why they keep working on the road. Emergency service use makes sense. I personally think they should open it to cyclists and people on foot and just let it rot. It’s in fine shape for a Pakistani road, anyway. But I don’t know shit about this stuff so whatever.
Made it to the bottom gate where people were hanging out. Someone had a shovel, and I walked past them to the tree. Some guys in WRXs rolled up and talked about their drive. One said he wasn’t driving at his best tonight. I thought I could probably smoke both of them downhill in a Yaris with decent Chinese all seasons. Then they took hits off a dab rig and played obnoxious, unimaginative trap music. I chilled and smoked some tobacco out of my pipe while repeatedly sitting on sap on the rocks in the middle like a damn fool. Ate snacks, cleaned up, and the final motivator to leave was when some guys came up in an E46 era 3 series and fucking BLASTED ranchero music. Ey fool, nobody wants to hear your music.
I rolled out down the hill carefully, hoping I hadn’t damaged anything on the bike during my fun polar expedition. It warmed up considerably the further down I got, and the feeling returned to most parts of my feet by the time I reached west fork. The fun downhill ends there. I prefer to go up 39, down frontside gmr, as the up and down parts of 39 south get a little old after awhile. Once I got to town, I went to in n out on Azusa south of the 210. This is a perfect location for cyclists, as there’s a walk up window and good seating. I got a double double protein style, which I’m hooked on for some reason. I love carbs, so I have nothing against buns, hun, but it just tastes real good and a little different so I get it. I also got a Flying Dutchman, which I always get, and I feel it is the most pure form of in n out flavor. God those are so fucking tasty. This strangely and thankfully ended my nausea stint, and I rode down Azusa to home. I left home around 0930 and got back around 2300, covering 77 miles with 8,600ft of gain.
Once all this plague nonsense is over, or mostly over, I wish to organize a camp out up by crystal lake, as well as a cook out swim camp thing near the bridge to nowhere. If that sounds good, shoot me a message and I’ll keep you in the loop.
Peace
Ride to Little Jimmy Camp and Back
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Tom Kenney
- Posts: 385
- Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2007 7:51 pm
I'm glad we don't know anything about the accessibility of closed 39, it might lead to some random adventuring... ?
I was about to try my Islip Ridge loop (which starts via Little Jimmy Rd). Thanks for the info, sounds like I'll wait a week or two. RE: camp-out, Hawkins Lookout sounds boffo!
I was about to try my Islip Ridge loop (which starts via Little Jimmy Rd). Thanks for the info, sounds like I'll wait a week or two. RE: camp-out, Hawkins Lookout sounds boffo!
Hawkins road looked mostly dry, way less snow than a month plus ago when we did it.
I reckon in a week, maybe two, there will be very little snow remaining. Good excuse to go camp up there but for the goddamn fire thing! I want a frickin fire! I’m not a total idiot, I won’t burn the place down. Where the hell can I have a fire around here?
I reckon in a week, maybe two, there will be very little snow remaining. Good excuse to go camp up there but for the goddamn fire thing! I want a frickin fire! I’m not a total idiot, I won’t burn the place down. Where the hell can I have a fire around here?
Yet another epic Taco day, great story here.
I agree with you on the lemon-lime Gatorade, the original and still the best.
We all talked a while ago - couple years maybe, wasn't it your birthday bash or something like that - about a meet up at Little Jimmy, in fact Sean and I were going to do it in 2018 but it rained too much and we didn't feel like sleeping in puddles so we met up the next day for the Big Hawkins loop.
I agree with you on the lemon-lime Gatorade, the original and still the best.
We all talked a while ago - couple years maybe, wasn't it your birthday bash or something like that - about a meet up at Little Jimmy, in fact Sean and I were going to do it in 2018 but it rained too much and we didn't feel like sleeping in puddles so we met up the next day for the Big Hawkins loop.
"Argue for your limitations and sure enough they're yours".
Donald Shimoda
Donald Shimoda
