Angeles National Forest - Trip Report

[adventureduo]

Great Memorial Weekend filled with exploration..

Bear Canyon Mine
Nike Missile site
1950's Brothel
St. Francis Dam
Grass Mountain
and good pizza!


http://www.adventureduo.com/2009/05/angeles-national-forest-exploring.html

 

[Cabrito]

Most excellent!
I love the pics of Dixie in the back of the jeep and in the kitchen (helping out).
Must be nice to go out in the jeep once in a while. Light and fast.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[X_Trippin]

Nice report guys, looks like you had fun. There is a NIKE site pretty close to my house out in San Pedro up on Point Fermin.

 

[KSJeep]

Nice report, I always thought the north side of the range was the best kept secret in the LA area. Used to hike the that area when we lived there, and would see little to no people, even on holiday weekends.

 

[ntsqd]

The most authoritative page that I've found on the St. Francis Dam Failure:

http://web.mst.edu/~rogersda/st_francis_dam/

I take it that your friend works for SCE or DWP? I understand Green Lake was once a "company" town for the DWP workers at the various installations in those mountains, like the St. Francis Dam. No idea if it still is.

 

[Jasonazx]

Nice Pics and write up! That looks like a real intrigueing area...

 

[adventureduo]

Thanks for reading guys.

I take it that your friend works for SCE or DWP? .

Thom, actually no... he works for an offroad magazine. He's just lucky to only to have to commute into LA once in a while.

 

[upcruiser]

Nice report Dave! I see the TJ got some new goodies, looking good! I've always wondered what was up in that area and have only really seen it from the valley or flying in and out of LA. Thanks for posting it.

 

[luk4mud]

Dave, thanks for the post. Can you give a little more info on the Nike missile site? Where is the access road and do you need a gate combo or other permission to get up there?

 

[adventureduo]

The missile site is off of Sand Canyon and the 14. You head up Santa Clara divide eastbound up the mtn. Right as it turns into dirt, look over your left shoulder and you'll see the water towers. That's where everything is. From there you have to hike up the road to get to it (short walk actually). The gate was open when we arrived so we got lucky. It's just a USFS gate, not government. No permission is needed to access the area. In fact we ran into a Forest Ranger and told us he would be closing the gate soon, so if we wanted to leave we should go now. Do a search on L-98 Magic Mtn and you should be able to find a GPS coord. I didn't save it or write it down.

 

[modelbuilder]

You can even find it on google earth...

 

[adventureduo]

Yep, did that before we even left to head up there.

 

[vhram]

Nice trip pics and report . We will have to do these soonthey are real close to us.

 

[EMrider]

Great trip report and pics as usual. I've explored this area in the past on dirtbike, but not for a few years. This was a good reminder that I should load up the kids into the SMB and get back out there. Thanks
R

 

[teotwaki]

The missile site is off of Sand Canyon and the 14. You head up Santa Clara divide eastbound up the mtn. Right as it turns into dirt, look over your left shoulder and you'll see the water towers. That's where everything is. From there you have to hike up the road to get to it (short walk actually). The gate was open when we arrived so we got lucky. It's just a USFS gate, not government. No permission is needed to access the area. In fact we ran into a Forest Ranger and told us he would be closing the gate soon, so if we wanted to leave we should go now. Do a search on L-98 Magic Mtn and you should be able to find a GPS coord. I didn't save it or write it down.

Hey Dave,

That site with the towers was not a Nike site. It is all that is left of a test stand for large rocket engines such as the Saturn V used in the Apollo launches. It was owned by a company named Marquardt and they worked with the USAF at Edwards AFB. IIRC, the large tanks that are still there were for water to cool the concrete as the exhaust was funneled out and away from the stand.

This may be the test stand in its heyday. Verified photos are elusive.

NASA History page http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4205/ch6-5.html

After thruster tests at Bethpage and at Marquardt's Magic Mountain Facility in California during the first half of 1964, a technical problem emerged: the engine spiked, or backfired, at ignition, and a rapid rise in temperature and pressure caused the engine to explode. The spiking appeared so significant that Grumman wanted to develop a backup engine through another source, but Houston refused permission. Marquardt eliminated spiking by installing a small, tubular "precombustion" chamber inside the engine


Nike launch facilities had large horizontal steel doors that would open and the missle was raised up on a hydraulic powered stand. No large exhaust vents needed for a relatively small missle's rocket motor. Launch complex 98 is currently occupied by radio test facilities of ITT-Gillfillin (sp?). A lot of original facilities are still there.

More info http://ed-thelen.org/index.html#loc