Angeles National Forest plagued by closures from storms, fires, funding gaps
The heavily-visited Angeles National Forest is reeling due to damage from past wildfires, heavy snowpack and torrential rainstorms that have closed visitor centers, day use areas, access roads, campgrounds and hiking trails, according to data obtained during a monthlong investigation by this news group.
The forest’s second most visited area, Chantry Flat in the forest’s southwest section north of Arcadia, Monrovia and Sierra Madre, has been closed since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Last month, Angeles National Forest (ANF) Supervisor Ramon “Ray” Torres extended its closure through May 2024.
In the high country, Caltrans repair work along miles of Angeles Crest Highway (Highway 2) — the only east-west roadway in the Angeles National Forest — has cut off access to most of the hiking, picnicking and campgrounds. Highway 2 is closed easterly, from the Mt. Wilson Road/Red Box marker near La Cañada Flintridge to the junction at Highway 39 north of Azusa, cutting off access to Wrightwood.
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Repair work by the U.S. Forest Service, responsible for managing the 700,000-acre urban forest within an hour or so of 20 million Southern Californians, has been stalled by a two-year delay in funding that held up projects and extended closures to would-be hikers, often with no reopening timelines.
An analysis from data supplied by the U.S. Forest Service as of July 13 shows that more than 38% of the campgrounds are closed. With recent brush fires, including the Dry Fire at Castaic Lake that was 90% contained as of July 13, more recreation closures could be coming.
The one-two punch from the destructive Bobcat Fire of 2020 that burned for more than three months, and from record rain and snowfall in 2022-2023, makes repair plans tougher to complete. But that hasn’t stopped some from scrutinizing the Forest Service’s response.
“They are supposed to manage the forest, not close the forest,” said Glen Owens, founder of the Big Santa Anita Historical Society and a former Monrovia planning commissioner who served for 30 years.
The historical society produced books on the Great Hiking Area, focusing on the front-facing, accessible canyons, trails and waterfalls in Chantry Flat including Sturtevant Falls and Hermit Falls, and Owens is the author of the book, “The Heritage of the Big Santa Anita.”
Chantry Flat area closed
The closure stretches from the Chantry Flat parking lot on the south, just east of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, to the closed 2N24 fire road on the north, to the Spring Camp and Clamshell Peak above Monrovia on the east.
Closed trails include the historical Gabrielino Trail, Rim Trail, Sturtevant Trail, Sturtevant Loop Trail, Winter Creek Trail and Zion Trail. The closures have blocked access to extremely popular waterfalls including Hermit Falls and Sturtevant Falls.
Twenty-five miles of the Gabrielino Trail are closed and only a small section near Pasadena and La Cañada Flintridge remains walkable, the Forest Service reported.
Before the closure in March 2020, cars lined up on Chantry Flat Road at 7 a.m. for a parking spot. Those that couldn’t find one parked illegally on the roadside. Chantry is also the site of the Adams Pack Station, the last remaining donkey-assisted delivery business in Southern California which is now only used by a handful of cabin owners — the only people allowed access to the canyon.
The Bobcat Fire that started on the West Fork of the San Gabriel River on Sept. 6, 2020 became one of the biggest wildfires in California, leaving 115,796 acres blackened. Heavy rains that followed in October 2022 and March 2023, washed away trees, mud and debris, undermined fire roads and swept away the Winter Creek Trail Bridge.
“Mother Nature pushed it out of its abutment,” said Ricardo Lopez, a forest engineer who has worked 25 years in the Angeles. On July 12, he recalled that the closure order stated, “The forest trails have sustained significant damage and cannot be easily or quickly repaired.”
While the L.A. County Department of Public Works continues making repairs on the road leading to the site, most work has been completed according to Owens, who says picnickers should be allowed to access the main area.
Lopez said rock falls are still possible on the road, and he feared opening it to picnickers who might wander onto unsafe trails. Also, some projects that got backed up are stalling the road’s reopening, such as a construction project under the Federal Land Access Program. The project has been six years in the works, Lopez said, and the Forest Service will start rehabbing the parking lot next year.
Funding slow in coming
The Forest Service applied in 2020 for funds from the Greater American Outdoors Act passed by Congress but the funds weren’t received until 2022, he said.
He was asked, why do repairs take years?
“It is not having adequate staffing and funding,” Lopez said.
Along Highway 2 off the 210 Freeway in La Cañada Flintridge, visitors are kept away from some of the most popular campgrounds, mountain vistas and creeks. Reopening these areas depends on when Caltrans finishes road work.
“Buckhorn Campground is a beloved place. Many people want to get up there because it is really pretty,” said Bryan Matsumoto, program manager for Nature For All, an organization that takes underprivileged youth into the Angeles, performs service projects and advocates for forest amenities.
The nearby Chilao Visitors Center is closed. Snowfall brought “snow loading,” which collapsed parts of the center’s roof and wooden walkways, said Lopez.
“We are working on a project to purchase materials to repair the damage in front of the visitor center,” Lopez said, but it has no reopening date. “All is contingent on getting the materials necessary to make those repairs.”
‘High Country,’ other area closures
Chilao, Coulter and Manzanita campgrounds are closed, as is the Chilao Picnic Area and the Charlton Flats Picnic Area, according to Forest Service documents.
Storm damage has also limited access to a nearby fire station, leaving it half-populated when many of its crew members and fire-drenching equipment were moved out of the area to the Monte Cristo Fire Station north of Clear Creek on the road to Palmdale, he said.
The Vetter Mountain Lookout, where volunteer fire-spotters peer down into the canyons for puffs of smoke, is not accessible and is not being used, he said.
Also closed is one of the only spots in the Angeles National Forest that is connected to the national Pacific Crest Trail. More closures in that area include the Burkhardt Trail and the Little Jimmy Trail and Campground, which are popular spots for Pacific Crest Trail hikers.
In the West Fork area of the San Gabriel River, where the Bobcat Fire burned hot, the scenic road used by pedestrians and bicyclers is open on weekends but the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible fishing ramps are buried in mud and debris. It will take up to 10 years to restore the fishing ramps, according to a Forest Service ranger who answered questions by phone on Friday, July 14, and asked not to be named.
Access to the San Gabriel Canyon section of the Angeles National Forest from Azusa takes visitors on a winding, mountain road known as state Highway 39. Due to repairs underway on the road, access is spotty. Caltrans is making progress in firming up the road damaged by rockslides, but work will continue through the summer and possibly beyond Labor Day, said Marc Bischoff, Caltrans spokesman.
Highway 39 will be closed in sections on Tuesday, July 18 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Wednesday, July 19 and Thursday, July 20, the mountain road will be closed north of East Fork Road from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Motorists can drive past the local county dams and turn right onto East Fork Road, where many visitors park and swim in the San Gabriel River, and picnic at Oaks Picnic Area. But visitors are prevented from going north to other popular forest recreation spots.
On weekends, Highway 39 will be open to its dead-end at Islip Saddle, where in 1978 closure of a 4.4-mile stretch disconnected it from Highway 2. At the dead-end, cars must U-turn to return to Azusa. The turnoff to Crystal Lake will be open on non-closure days, but sometimes Caltrans uses flagmen to stop traffic for 10 minutes at a time on Highway 39, Bischoff said.
Intermittent access up the mountain to Crystal Lake has denied many who want to escape the heat from venturing a short ride into the San Gabriel Mountains. At 5,539 feet elevation, cooler temperatures prevail. The high on Wednesday, July 12 was 79 degrees.
“People are happy to find me here, to find a spot. And Crystal Lake has a lot of water. The level is almost to the steps and it hasn’t been like that since 2005,” said Adam Samrah, owner of Crystal Lake Cafe and Cabins.
Crystal Lake Recreation Area has 36 campsites that cost $12 a night. Day use cost is $5 per vehicle. Or you can rent a cabin. For more information call 626-910-1029.
Samrah’s business suffers when the upper portion of Highway 39 is closed for repairs, an ongoing project during the past six months, or when traffic is stopped due to one-lane pass-throughs.
He estimated that he loses about $2,500 a week in sales when the road is closed on weekdays. Also, the CHP cuts off access to the Angeles National Forest at the entrance north of Azusa, or at East Fork Road, when it determines that the area has reached its capacity.
On Sunday, July 1 afternoon and Tuesday, July 4 afternoon, the authorities stopped cars from entering. Samrah said he doesn’t get any notice and often has prepared food for the day that goes to waste. “When they close it early, they don’t notify us. The only way I know is when I see no more traffic,” he said.
Down the mountain, off of East Fork Road, Kathy Settle, manager of Camp Williams, which has mobile homes, campers and a cafe, said she was glad the access to the forest was being regulated. She also appreciated the repairs as workers shore up the roadway’s crumbling sides with boulders and mesh netting.
“Yeah, it’s inconvenient but we deal with it,” she said on July 13.
Public left out?
Owens wants more transparency from the Forest Service in determining what gets closed — and for how long.
“There should be some kind of a commission to oversee the forest,” Owens said. “They can always say they close it for public safety, but there are no public hearings.”
Daniel Rossman, California deputy director of The Wilderness Society, said his group has continually lobbied Congress for an increase in federal funding for the Angeles. “It is important for communities to have access. I would like to see those projects completed as soon as possible,” he said.
He disagreed that a forest commission would help expedite the repairs to damaged roads, trails and facilities. “I don’t know if you want to add more bureaucracy to a project,” he added.
For decades, critics have blamed Congress for short-funding the management of the Angeles National Forest, which in 2021 had more visitors than the Grand Canyon or Yosemite National Park. Damage from drought, fires and torrential rains may have exposed the lack of funding.
To check on the status of recreational sites, go to: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recmain/angeles/recreation.