January 9: The Angeles Crest Highway is a winding mountain road that leads up out of the city and into the hills that loom to the north. I’ve made the drive a few times, but finally this week got the chance to take a bike partway up.

We had hoped to ride out to a restaurant near the top, but time constraints, poor directions from a park ranger, a bad map, and only a rough idea of where the restaurant might be all conspired to keep us from reaching the goal.

The Station Fire burned out the whole area last fall and the charred remains of Chaparral and Manzanita crawl across the hillsides like black veins.  The fire ruined the roads, but they have already been replaced and a clean smooth ribbon of new asphalt the stretches to the sky. Pockets of shade kept us cool while the sun climbed higher overhead. Spinning and climbing, spinning and climbing.

It was a beautiful, eerie ride up the hill while grumpy dump-trucks chugged past, their big diesels whining about the fight against gravity.

I want to go back.

10 Responses to “Angeles Appetizer”