Seven foolhardy mountain bikers/hikers met at 8am in Monrovia. Two even biked many miles from their homes for the trip. We left one car for the end of our trip and jammed the bikes in the remaining 4 cars for the shuttle up to Red Box Ranger Station. Upon arriving at Red Box, we surveyed the West Fork Road and found it to be Icy, Slushy, Squishy and delightful for cross-country Squish-skiing, but not for bikes. After a short pow-wow, we decided on an alternate trip up from Angeles Crest Hwy to Mt. Lukens via fire road.
It was a perfect day for a bike trip up Mt. Lukens. With over 3000 feet of gain in 10 miles, we made it to the top by noon (2 hours) and relaxed for a much-needed rest and lunch on this highest point in the City of the Angels, Sister Elsie. This was my 34th time atop this summit in the past 34 years, but only the first time by Mountain Bike.
After lunch, we rode over and signed the register on a bump about 1/4 mile East of the Sister Elsie benchmark, and then proceeded East down the road, this time taking the Grizzly Flats junction and dodging rocks all the way back to Angeles Crest Hwy. Three miles down Angeles Crest brought us back to our cars. From peak to cars (13 miles) in about 1 hour. A very jarring experience on the rough dirt road, but all survived, including assistant leader Arthur Schain and participants Sharon Briel (a really strong mtn. biker), David Baldwin, Bob Heffner, Mike Baldwin and Riley Geary, all a great group of Hiker/Bikers who enjoy and respect the mountains they ride through.
