Crystal Lake Ride, San Gabriel Mountains
by Lee Reeder
These photos were taken on August 14, 2010.
I rode my bike 10 miles and 2,500 up in elevation from where Highway 39 is closed in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa to Crystal Lake, the only natural lake in the San Gabriel Mountains. Because the road is closed I had all the waterfalls, flowers, trees and the lake to myself The ride was so strenuous, it took three hours to get up the North Fork of the San Gabriel River and 15 minutes to get down.
Crystal Lake, known throughout history for being pristine and drinkable, is being rehabilitated
after a fire in 2002 caused the water quality to be seriously degraded by ash and debris.
Hooker's Evening Primrose and Crimson Columbine growing together in a spring halfway up the road.
The cedars up here are much more magnificent than the ones I am accustomed to in Crestline.
Crystal Lake.