Phil says go take a hike
by Phil Drake
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Monday, August 22, 2005On the last Saturday of every month a group of adventurous souls gathers high in the Angeles National Forest and does some good old-fashioned exploring.
I've been on a few of these trips (and wrote about them in the paper, sort of as an official diarist), and if you have never gone, you don't know what you are missing.
I think of these tours as one of the little gems of living in the San Gabriel Valley. And for the $5 price of admission, I think it's a real bargain.
I don't go on every tour. But every now and then, when I don't wake up screaming, I lumber to my truck, pick up a large cup of coffee along the way and head up there.
I like the drive that winds up Highway 39, past the Canyon Inn (which is being torn down), Morris Dam and other sites.
I play a little game as I putter along: "I believe I am the first person to ever see these parts," I whisper to myself with a sense of awe. My boasting does not take into consideration the millions of people who have been there before me or the crews who built the roads.
These tours are sponsored by the Forest Service and led by Steve Segreto. I hesitate to use Steve's title because I know it's always the one he doesn't take a hankering to.
I think he likes to be called a "naturalist," which he is. But I think due to bureaucracy it's something like "Fella Who Works in the Forest but Doesn't Wear a Funny Hat Class II."
Steve has led us to areas destroyed by the Curve and Williams fires that are making a comeback. We've stood on the banks of the San Gabriel River and looked over at Follows Camp, isolated from the world by a washed-out bridge (the bridge is back).
We've gawked at gold miners and waddled through devastated campgrounds.
I've stood on the edge of washed-out roads wondering if my bulky frame is going to dislodge a piece of pavement supporting other explorers and send them tumbling down into the canyon.
I've passed cyclists pumping along at the 34-mile point and wondered how the heck anyone could pedal up a mountain.
We've even been to Crystal Lake, which has been closed for a long time. The lake remains closed, but the tour has special permission to visit. The lake was beautiful and well worth the trip.
I got to warn you though, Steve has some strange rules and unfairly singles me out.
"Don't throw your cigar butt into that dry brush!" he'll holler. Or "Quit carving Read the Tribune' on all the trees!" He's even bellowed: "No, we aren't going to rename it Lake Drake!" And occasionally he's yelped: "Put your shirt back on, you're scaring the bears!"
(OK, maybe he never says any of this stuff, but it would sure bring some levity to the tour.)
Even though the tour was just up to Crystal Lake, Segreto says a recent news story prompted lots of people to ask when he was going up there again.
So if you're not doing anything Saturday morning, or if you consider yourself someone with a taste for adventure, you might want to check it out.
Meet at 9 a.m. at the San Gabriel Canyon Environmental Education Center, 0.7 miles north of the East Fork Bridge on Highway 39 in the Angeles National Forest above Azusa.
Tell Steve that Phil sent you. And by all means, keep your shirts on. You don't want to scare the bears.
-- Phil Drake can be reached at (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2110, or by e-mail at news.tribune@sgvn.com.
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