After the Desert Ruins: Angeles Forest Ridge Crest Trail

So, in a few days I'll be posting about our trip to the desert ruins of a failed socialist utopia. But today I'm putting up some pictures about our drive back. We drove along CA Hwy 2, the Angeles Ridge Crest drive. It's beautiful. And winding. And, there was plenty of snow. Here's a shot of the mountains from the desert ruins side:

From the beach to desert ruins to snow-capped mountains and back to the beach, all in one day. It was pretty crazy.

We stopped to play in the snow, but my leg limited my activities:

Here's a self portrait with corrie in the background. (I'm currently growing a beard for the student I tutor.)

The drive down from there was two hours of icy switchback roads, almost all of which had vistas like the one below; towering snow-covered mountains. It dropped down to 24 degress, whoich was the coldest I may have ever seen in the Passat's readout.

This next picture is something at which you may need to look closer. It's a picture from the top of the ridge looking out all the way to Long Beach, with Catalina Island shrouded by fog behind the ships coming to port in LB:

The 44 miles of winding icy switchback was worth the trip. The desert ruins were probably less than thirty miles from LA as the crow flies, and the Ridge Crest Trail is between them. I would suggest it to anyone who ever has time during a visit to the area.