Driving California's Forbidden Highway 39 - Closed for 45 Years
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- Опубликовано: 6 июн 2024
- Scenic drive on California Highway 39 (Also known as California's Lost or Forbidden Highway ) in both directions through San Gabriel Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. We begin in Azusa, California and drive the complete length of the canyon to the locked gate where the last 4.4 miles of the road have been closed for the last 45 years due to rock slide damage. We also drive through the Crystal Lake Recreation Area and Campground.
While we were exploring a bit beyond the locked gate a Caltrans truck came driving down the closed portion of the road from the north. We chatted with the friendly Caltrans workers who told us that they actually keep the closed portion of Highway 39 maintained and it's kept drivable so that fire crews can access the area, and that they keep the road closed to the public due to the frequent rock slides in that area. When the crew unlocked the gate to pass through and continue south, we asked if they'd let us quickly drive through and record the closed section up to Highway 2, but unfortunately they couldn't allow it.
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Click here for our scenic drive on California Route 2 (Angeles Crest Scenic Highway): • California Highway 2 -...
Click here for our complete scenic drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas: • Los Angeles to Las Veg...
Click here for our complete scenic drive from San Diego to Los Angeles in Southern California: • San Diego to Los Angel...
Chapter Shortcuts:
00:00 - Intro
01:00 - North on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
04:50 - Morris Reservoir Dam Overlook
05:10 - North on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
07:04 - Morris Reservoir Overlook
07:37 - North on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
12:51 - San Gabriel Dam Overlook
13:18 - North on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
48:43 - Exploring the Closed Area Beyond the Gate
51:28 - South on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
52:06 - Crystal Lake Recreation Area
56:57 - Crystal Lake Scenic View
57:25 - Crystal Lake Recreation Area
1:00:21 - Crystal Lake Campground
1:01:41 - Crystal Lake Recreation Area
1:06:27 - South on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
1:13:08 - San Gabriel Canyon Scenic Overlook
1:13:42 - South on California Route 39 San Gabriel Canyon Road
1:43:54 - Overlooking Morris Reservoir
1:49:23 - Outro
End Screen Music Credit:
Fractal Man - The Glow of All Things
fractalman.bandcamp.com/
/ fractalmanmusic
© AdventureEveryDay - Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this work is illegal.
AdventureEveryDay does not own or claim to own any of the music contained in this work.
Having grown up in SoCal (West Covina), this is the road we used to take to go "up to the snow" in winter. We would only get rain in the LA Basin, but these mountains could get quite a bit of snow. One time my aunt drove us and my cousins up there in her blue Ambassador that had a luggage rack on the roof. We loaded the rack with snow, but on the way down, as the temps warmed, the snow began to melt and water started dripping inside the car. I also remember just wearing gym shoes to play in the snow. Socks would get soaked and your feet would be freezing. Good memories from the 70s.
I know what you mean!! I am from the San Gabriel Valley 😊
Good times and great memories! Love it! Thanks for sharing! ♥️
Awesome memories! I’m from Whittier and remember the terms “up to the snow”. Or “up to the lake”. You knew what everybody meant when Monday came around and your little schoolmates would tell everyone what they did for the weekend. This was in the late 60’s.
I wish that I could give this a bazillion likes. I miss backpacking the East Fork, but don't regret leaving Calif for one second.
Thank you for uploading this!
Thanks for riding along with us!
Another phenomenal drive, I don’t know how you find such great drives but I’m glad you’re showing us how magnificent and beautiful our country is, thank you.
Happy to share as much of America's natural beauty as we can! Glad you enjoy the scenic drives, thanks for watching!
Beautiful drive and highway.
Thank you. 😊😊😊.Look forward to your next drive. Be safe.
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I am native to there but gone for quite a few years. Most likely not returning. Azusa canyon was s great little getaway. Great drive! Thanks❤
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Great video! I loved the scenic route you took. I wish I could do a driving tour there sometime. It would be amazing to explore those roads and share the experience with my viewers as well. Keep up the fantastic work!
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ThankYou very much... absolutely amazing.. Have a nice and blessed weekend and all the best...❤👌🙏
💙 Thanks so much, you too!
Nice scenic view, and nice roads and bridges too.
It’s hard to believe that just outside the second largest city in America there can be such a peaceful and beautiful place like that.
beautiful scenery
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Thank you
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I've always thought it was interesting how Azusa got its name. It's a town that "Has everything from A to Z in the USA" !!
💙 Agreed!
1:14:15 perfect spot on the left to cool off hidden on the trees with the river running there too
Beautiful spot to relax!
Another beautiful video. Keep up the good work.
Thank you very much! Will do!
Beautiful video! Trip is awesome!
Thanks a lot!
Now that is a beautiful place to visit.
Have yu driven there?
Sure is! 🧡
The bridge at 21:00 holds fond memories of a fall I took when I and 2 friends hiked under it. I was carrying an ice chest full of beer and slipped on the steep trail and landed on my back on a rock on the slope. I must have drove that canyon a hundred times. As a child I was a passenger all the way to highway 2 before the road was closed. Once around 1982 at night the 2 friends and I took a new Toyota small truck up to the top where the road is closed. Then we parked and hiked about 1/4 mile past and had a campfire in the closed road. At one point we heard a lot of hollering and smashing / breaking glass and realized the truck was being vandalized. We ran back to find a small fire lit on seat and windows broke out. We put the fire out and took off after them. After going for a few seconds the headlights went out as they were also smashed. Had to spend a cold night on that mountain. Good times!
Sounds like good memories!
@@AdventureEveryDay Sounds to me that "Scott" & Co. luckily missed a DREADFUL confrontation with the vandals!!
Beautiful canyon, you picked a perfect day for the drive. The clouds over the mountaintops added an extra atmosphere to the area. Towards the last part before the road closure, you could see the crumbling rocks just waiting to fall. I think Big Sur suffers a similar fate. Thanks for sharing.
Big Sur certainly has its fair share of rock slides causing major damage. I believe portions of Big Sur on Route 1 were closed all summer due to road damage from last winter. Thanks for watching, happy to hear you liked the drive!
Thanks I used to stay Down that route, I drove up the mountains every time I needed serenity
It's a great area to escape the craziness of the city and enjoy nature. Thanks for watching!
I've been a subscriber for quite a while, but this is my first comment. Please let me applaud your good work -- your video quality is excellent, as is your editing, as is your on-screen text, and so on. Here in the description and such, I truly appreciate how you've got chapters listed, chapter shortcuts all detailed out, and everything else. There are plenty of folks doing similar videos on RUclips, but I sure think you have been doing it best. So, many thanks, and keep up the good work!
Some of the areas in this video reminded me of that highway in the movie, "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" -- but I looked it up, and that was on California State Route 74. That might be an idea, if you haven't gone through there, already. I would also be interested in seeing some "night" videos -- I remember some trips I took, through the desert on moonlit nights. I went from Las Vegas to Phoenix, crossing over Hoover Dam (before the bridge was built) right around midnight. That was one of the coolest drives I've done. Though I did another moonlit night drive, also from Las Vegas, but heading west towards Bakersfield. I'd be more than happy to see some videos in those kinds of conditions. Thanks again!
Thanks very much for the kind words! Happy to hear you enjoy what we do! Thanks for the advice as well!
Thanks! You do a great job and your videos are a source of relaxation for me. It's not much, but just a little sign of appreciation. I'm dreaming to visit the States for some road trips since a long time and it does not look like I will make it any time soon. Riding with you in your videos is just the next best thing to that. Keep up your good work. Looking forward to many more rides. May you have always safe travels and take care. Greetings from Switzerland.
Thanks very much for your support! We’re happy to share the natural beauty with the world! ❤️
Love this channel.
Spectacular driving! Thank you for sharing!
We love to drive 👍
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California So beautiful 🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
Totally agree
I've made that drive many times. Love it up there.
If we lived closer we would drive this route a lot. The views are outstanding the entire way!
Fantastis banget jalan dan pemandangannya
Senang Anda menikmatinya! Terima kasih telah berkendara bersama kami!
Благодарю! Очень красиво! Для глаз отрада, а для души бальзам!💚💙❤
Очень приятно слышать, что вы наслаждаетесь прекрасными пейзажами! Большое спасибо за просмотр!
❤@@AdventureEveryDay
I walk the closed section of Old Highway 80 in San Diego County. We took this road to the mountains. I’m always amazed at how narrow it is.
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Wonderful road video and it is a fantastic road for sure. Thanks for sharing and take care.
Thanks for watching!
Absolutely, you are welcome.
Beautiful mountain area very close to LA. Hopefully they will manage to open the highway sometime, it is definetely a great drive, until CA 2 highway. Would love to drive there too, maybe they will open it until my next road trip in The USA. Thanks a lot, greetings from a road-tripper from Germany!
Hopefully someday soon they'll get the entire route reopened! We've heard rumors there may be some plans in the works for that.
@@AdventureEveryDay not just for tourism and leisure, but this road can improve response times for brush fires in the area.
Beautiful scenery
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I remember the when the posted speed limit was 55 MPH. So much fun.
That’s about how fast a lot of other people seemed to want to drive when we recorded this.
00:10 This reminds us of some of our Amazing Drives! Fantastic 👍
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Nice drive
Indeed. You should see the Alaska Highway 👍
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For awhile it looked like CalTrans was considering the granting of custody of this highway above Crystal to the Forest Service to be converted to a hiking/equestrian trail, including the stretch of the SR-2 (Angeles Crest Highway) between Islip (junction with the 39) and Vincent Saddles. But now, CalTrans has changed their mind, they've received the targeted funding, so that now they've commenced preliminary work on reopening it to motor vehicles. There may also be advances in highway engineering techniques, that better address the issues of land-/rock-slides, slough-outs, and snow avalanches, that have plagued these two highways. Perhaps in 3 years then, you might be able to shoot a new sequence, including the stretch of the 2 all the way to Wrightwood and beyond. You could also then include the stretch of road to the desert, from Big Pine Pass.
That would be very nice. Honestly it would be kind of nice to have another route open from around Victorville down to the L.A. area when I-15 is jammed up.
cool drive . very scenic
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🚗 🌲 🎶 On the road again 🎵 the life I love is making music with my friends 🎵🎶🎵🐴💚 I just can't wait to get on the road again 🎵🎶🎵 🚗🌳
Tunes 👍
Great song!
As a SoCal kid (Whittier) in the 50s, Hwy. 39 was the "mountains" in one direction and the beach (Huntington) in the other.
So cool to have the 2 contrasting areas so close to each other. Love visiting SoCal.
Jolie paysage américain je suis francais
Merci d'avoir roulé avec nous !
Absolutely beautiful. Couple of questions. How long will the road be open and do you know where the Mountains sit in relation to the San Andreas? Frequent land slides can be a sign of movement under the mountains. Would love to study the geology there and figure out why so many slides. :D
The fault line run along the north side of the San Gabriel mountain ranch and the Mojave desert.
thank you :D
Beautiful road and scenery! I thought America was all the Great Plains
There's so much amazing scenery in America, and so many different types of landscapes to enjoy!
@ 22:00 minutes You drive past the San Gabriel Mountain Off Highway Vehicle Area on the right of the screen, A.K.A. Azusa Canyon. I spent many many Sundays down in the off road area having tons of fun watching people get stuck in the mud and wrecking their brand new trucks...
We saw the sign for that area and wished we had something more off road worthy than a Q5 available to explore the area.
@@AdventureEveryDay Thanks for Your response and the video. I don't live in So. Cal. anymore and do miss home.
Your car must be very comfortable for you to drive so many places. I’m in the market for a new vehicle and am just wondering what you drive. Thank you 😊
Just imagine riding a 🚲 down this 🛣️.😅
done it many times.
A bike ride would be incredible through the San Gabriel Canyon!
San Gabriel canyon road would be one of the best driving roads on earth if it were returned to good shape and reopened
So the closed road is still in arguably driveable condition...but the risk of rock slides are so great thats its probably safer to close the thing
Astonishing scenery , hate when driving after a Turtle .
muito bonito maravilhoso
Obrigado!
What is the right way to drive on these canyon roads with lot of ups and downs, without damaging engine or transmission? Is engine breaking safe, if done repeatedly over long rides, or is it better to just wear out the brakes since they are cheap to replace?
Hybrid vehicles are best for these roads though, since regenerative braking can be used to slow down the vehicle while capturing the energy.
Didn’t watch every minute but I’m surprised you didn’t see any cyclists - that’s a popular ride for us SoCal locals.
We were surprised too. We drove Angeles Crest scenic highway a couple years ago and it was really busy with quite a few bikes. We did this drive on a weekday afternoon and the road in general was really quiet, not many cars at all.
*E.XCELLENT @NORMAL SPEED....✍🏿🇻🇨🇬🇧
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You can ride a bicycle on the closed section, I have.
You certainly can. We wished we’d had one when we drove up there.
@@AdventureEveryDay Cheers!
アメリカ行きたいです
いつか訪れてみるべきですよ！
Can you tell me the camera you are using? The videos are beautiful
Why build a road through the mountains and then close it because of rock slides? There's FAR worse roads in the US they keep open.
Hopefully they get it reopened and can keep rocks off the road surface
Doesn’t look closed here.
It’s closed at the northern end. You can walk the closed area and rode bicycles, but the road is closed to vehicles.
should have the Boring Project
The Forest Service has ordered the state to either repair the road or remove it completely and let nature take over. The state is trying to figure out a way to get out of doing either currently. There are Federally protected BigHorn sheep that live up there, which means the planning must take in account their presence.
Doubt they'll end up ripping that section out since it's important for emergency vehicles such as fire crews to access areas of the National Forest, and it's kept in a drivable state today for just that purpose. Hopefully they make the closed section back open to the public.
مرحبا هل يمكن الدر
Nice n' Moist
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Why can’t we ease up on the speed? It’s not a freeway for damn sake! Not to mention all the wild life we put in danger!
How about little talking now and then!