Drive to Mt Baldy and Pomona

Sept 26^th

Don and Diane arrived about 10:30 this morning just as Tina was finishing drying her hair and of course, just as soon as Don opened the door, the GFI outlet Tina was plugged into blew up and shut down the 120v circuit on the passenger side of the coach. Oh well, we had to go to a hardware store anyway.

With the circuit down the TV’s were off as well as the 120v outlets in the kitchen. So we moved the coffee pot to the small table in the dining room and made a pot of coffee. While the coffee was brewing Tina got out the Attack UNO game and we sat at the dining table and played until a little after noon.

After taking the dogs for a quick walk we headed out for San Dimas to find the ACE Hardware store so I could buy some hydraulic fluid (ATF), a hose nozzle and a GFI outlet. With those in hand, we headed for the I-210 E and the cutoff to Mt Baldy.

The back side of San Antonio Dam

Our first stop was at the San Antonio Dam on San Antonio Creek in Los Angeles County. This is an earthen dam and is used for flood control purposes. Construction was completed in 1956. Its height is 160 feet with a length of 3850 feet. Maximum discharge is 53700 cubic feet per second. Its capacity is 11880 acre feet. Normal storage is 1 acre feet. It drains an area of 27 square miles and is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Gabrieleno/Tongva Valley House

Driving on up the San Antonio Valley we came to the  Visitor Center for the Angeles National Forest. We parked next to the center and explored an outdoor diorama focused on the living structures for the native Tongva people, both their Summer thatched huts and their more permanent wood covered pit houses. For thousands of years, many of the villages were located in the Los Angeles Basin. 

Don and Mike outside a Summer Thatched House

The villages were located near and around the ever changing Los Angeles River, San Gabriel River and Santa Ana River. There was a time when there was a perfect balance of the ecosystem where fish and game were plentiful and the river ran free with fresh water from the mountains. By the mid 1740’s the tribes were in decline due to the rapid influx of people from Spain and an inability to fight off the many diseases.

Don and Diane take a break to enjoy the day

Looking up to the top of Mt Baldy

Driving on from the Visitor Center the road became a long series of extreme switchbacks and steep ascents of 15% and more. We finally reached the end of the road at the ski lift (closed on Mondays) and got out to let the dogs out for a walk and take in the views. It was really peaceful there – no people but us and warm breezes sighing in the trees.

Heading back down hill we took it slow and easy to save wear and tear on Don’s brakes. Taking a shortcut through a small community called “Uphill” we made our way down into the foothills an back to the I-210 and returned to the coach so we could find a BBQ place for dinner.

We finally found a well recommended place in Pomona called Joey’s BBQ. Leaving the dogs home we made the trek to Pomona, found Joey’s and parked. Walking back to the restaurant we stopped in a small gift store where Tina found a real cute little table and Don found a perfect cookie jar with a rooster on the lid.

The old Pomona Movie Theater

Sunset in Pomona

Walking next door to Joey’s we were disappointed to find that it was closed on Monday. So we walked back to the Bistro next to the gift store and had a very nice dinner. After dinner we drove through downtown Pomona, a cute little town and then back to the RV Park to call it a day. After dropping us off Tina and Diane made plans for tomorrow and we bid them a fond farewell and safe journey home.

To see all our photos, go to:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski