Lesper4

Somewhere online I saw pictures of the mud slides on the closed portion of the road. A group of riders made it to Dawson Saddle and back but had to hike a bike a number of times. Didn't anyone else see those pictures? I have a friend who works for Cal Trans and I wanted to send them to him. Thanks

Lesper4

I did find this update on Tough Ascent but I saw pictures with riders and more pictures.
CA-39 (aka Hwy 39 or San Gabriel Canyon Rd or CA State Route 39) Climb to Angeles Crest and Dawson Saddle (at 7901 ft!)

Mansram01

I took this pic about three weeks ago. It was a mess.

Lesper4

Yeah I will say it was! I spoke to another cyclist yesterday and he said there are 2 big debris flows but at least 5 areas that are bad. Not really worth riding till thy clean it up.

Pug

I'm interested in riding to Dawson Saddle. I'll be in the area mid-May. In case 39 isn't cleaned up by then, is taking Highway 2 from La Canada a feasible alternative? Thanks

Lesper4

A friend of mine rode down it on Saturday and said there is only one section about 100 ft long that you have to walk through. The rest has been cleaned up, meaning maybe they will clean all of it? I don't have any pictures.

Pug

That's great news - I can handle 100' of walking. I saw on a Strava segment covering it that at least 4 people rode it on April 19th, so was hoping it was cleaned up a bit.

Lesper4

Can you post those rides? There were tons of people on 39. Maybe you can figure out where they walked.

Pug

Here's a link to one of the segments. You can filter it by "This Month" so see efforts made in April 2014. The browser on my work computer doesn't work well with Strava. I'll try to isolate where they walked on my home computer tonight.

Strava Segment | East Fork to Islip Saddle

Pug

Here's a Strava link to someone who rode this last weekend (April 26, 2014). He has a comment that the mud on 39 has been cleared.

vertical bob

Rode there on Saturday.Clean as a whistle

Lesper4

SWEET! We have a group heading up to Dawson's and then Wrightwood and back on the 24th.

vertical bob

Yeah, I see Karen is at it again. '0)

bitingduck

A couple of us are heading up on Sunday, May 11. 7 am at Encanto if you're interested. Up 39, down 2.

Lesper4

On Mothers Day!? I am trying to make it so I am free what ever day is best for my wife and mom.

Pug

How is 2 between 39 and Dawson Saddle? I saw on another post that 2 was recently chip sealed.

I'm planning to ride from Encanto Park to Dawson Saddle on Wednesday the 14th.

Lesper4

I rode it in February and it is not nearly as bad as Baldy Road. With time it will just get better. It is also not as bad as the new section I rode on 2 west of that towards cloudburst when it was freshly put down. let us know what condition's are like and take pictures!

Quasipun

I rode up to Wilson from Arcadia back in February, and that part is pretty good, but the last time I was east of there was when they were working on chip sealing the area near Cloudburst and east of it, so it was TERRIBLE then because they were laying it down when I was up there. Loose tarry pebbles all over the place, getting stuck to my wheels. Planning to head up to Dawson sometime in the next few weeks with a buddy though...

Pug

Will do!

bitingduck

Yesterday, May 11, the closed part of the 39 was 100% rideable. Some rocks but really not too bad. Saw more rocks on the way to Dawson than on 39.

The chipseal on the 2 is much better than it was, but you sure can feel the difference when you're on the smooth pull-out areas. 44 miles of it starts to suck.

Pug

I tried to make it to Dawson Saddle today. Got close to 2, but had to turn around because Caltrans had a lot of equipment cleaning up a section of 39. It was like an active construction site with front end loaders and dump trucks, etc blocking the roadway. The portion of 39 I did ride was in great shape. Even better than it was last May. I might make another attempt early Friday or Saturday. The heat and headwinds today were pretty bad, too. On the bright side, I found the chili at the Crystal Lake Cafe to be very tasty. Below is a link to my Strava upload. It cross-links with some pics on Instagram.

Bike Ride Profile | 39 almost to 2; Dawson Saddle Fail near Duarte | Times and Records | Strava

Lesper4

Great shots but none of the road. No 4000ft mark sign is posted? the water looks as through there was now wind?

Pug

Photos 1 thru 7 are of the closed portion of 39. For some reason Instagram posted them in reverse order to when taken. I couldn't find a 4k sign. Didn't see it last year, either. Wind was variable. In some places it was howling headwind, others it was strong tailwind, and was dead calm between 3k-4k of elevation. Temps seemed to vary by about 10 degress per 3k feet. E.g., about 100 near Encanto Park, 90ish at 3k and my Garmin said 81 degrees when I turned around.

Pug

I just noticed that Strava isn't always linking all of the photos. I did take 7 of them on the closed section, will just try to post them directly here.

Pug

Here are photos from closed section of 39 from May 14, 2014: