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Pedalin’ and Fishin’ the San Gabriel

by Errin on July 19, 2009

This year I’ve been bicycling more and more, and have been hoping to start touring.  After meeting Russ and Laura from Pathlesspedaled.com, I’ve become more motivated to make it happen.  One of the trips that Russ mentioned was an overnighter, or S24O, to the West Fork of the San Gabriel.  I’ve ridden from my house to the base of Azusa Canyon, but I haven’t been to the West Fork since I was in high school.

I recently picked up a fly-rod for smaller rivers so I thought a ride up the West Fork was in order.  The LHT was loaded up and ready to go.

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These are my kind of roads.  Lots of places to stop and take photos.  The heat was pretty bad though, even in the shade so I just kept moving.

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Made it to the campground and had a quick look around.  Then it was time to ride up the hill to Cogswell Reservoir.  That is one steep hill.  Grades of up to 17% at points.  I was too tired to continue to the Dam so I stopped at the Helipad.

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After the climb I was beat.  I made it back down to the campground and tried my hand at some fly-fishing.  I had no luck, unless you count trees.  I am very rusty and the new rod/reel is tricky.  It was so hot that I just packed it in after a while.  No pics, but if you’ve seen one guy bumbling around with a fly-rod, you’ve see them all.

Here’s a profile of the ride that I created using my iPhone.  The spike at the very end is the climb up to the helipad.

West Fork San Gabriel River

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  • http://twitter.com/dudeonabike dudeonabike

    Those roads look awesome–and nice pix, too (esp. ones with the LHT in them, of course). Can you bike right up to the campground or is a foot hike required? Maybe I’ll take the kids for a weekend camping trip–and definitely bring the bikes (and maybe the fishing gear, too). Thanks for the heads up on that.

  • http://frontageroads.com Errin

    The road to the campground is paved. It’s about 7 miles long, give or take. The road goes to the campground, and then continues on. There is a steep climb just past the campground up to the Helipad. The campground is right on the road, so you may have some forest service vehicles drive by. I saw 2 cars on the road when I was up there. If you go on the weekend, get there early. Lots of people walk up the first mile or so of the road for the river access. I was able to find parking easily at 8am, but by noon the parking was full.

  • http://dougfolkerts.com Doug

    Nice post Errin. Pictures and a story, the whole 9 yards. Did you ride all the way up there from your house?
    I believe you’re just about as good as new now
    I’ve never been down that road. I’ve camped at the camp ground at the top of 39 a couple times. Thanks for posting it and alowing us to virtually tag along.

  • http://frontageroads.com Errin

    No, I didn’t ride from my house. It was too hot so I trucked the bike up the canyon.

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