Page 45 - 2017 Travel Guide to California

KIT LEONG/SHUTTERSTOCK; VAALAA/SHUTTERSTOCK. OPPOSITE: MIN CHIU/SHUTTERSTOCK; PUNG/SHUTTERSTOCK
esque mountain road in the state.” Access it
from the suburb of La Canada Flintridge at
the western end of the San Gabriel Valley.
The popular side-trip hike to the summit of
6,164-foot Strawberry Peak reopened in
2014 after being closed since 2009 due to a
fire. As you drive east on the narrow two-
lane road, keep an eye out for bears,
mountain lions and bighorn sheep.
Another side trip brings you to the Mount
Wilson Observatory, where astronomers
found the first observational evidence for
the Big Bang theory. If you’ve brought along
your fishing rod, try your luck in Little Rock
Creek near the Mt. Waterman Ski Resort.
Farther east, the road crosses the 2,665-
mile-long Pacific Crest National Scenic
Trail: From here you can hike south to
Mexico or north to Canada. From the road’s
end at Highway 138, head southeast to Inter-
state 15, which will whisk you back to the
Los Angeles Basin.
San Diego
Cross the Palomar Mountains to soak up
the vast and colorful Anza-Borrego desert
on a daylong drive from San Diego. Make
your way north on I-15 and east to Ramona,
and then continue on to the ridgetop town
of Julian. A beautifully preserved relic of an
1870s gold rush, Julian these days is
renowned for apples. You’ll smell the
aroma of baking pies the moment you step
out of your car. Stop for a slice, just out of
the oven, warm and gooey with a scoop of
French vanilla ice cream. The air here is so
clean, and the views so extensive, that the
California Institute of Technology built the
Palomar Observatory a few miles away. Con-
tinue east, downhill, on Highway 78 to
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, a 937-
square-mile preserve that encompasses the
eastern fifth of San Diego County. If it’s
spring, and the winter has been wet, you’ll
be treated to one of the most vivid and
sweeping displays of wildflowers in the
United States. If the flowers aren’t up,
there’s still plenty to see. A local landowner
commissioned artist Ricardo Arroyo Bre-
ceda to produce more than 130 giant
sculptures in the desert, everything from
life-size replicas of gomphotheres (ele-
phant-like creatures that once lived there)
to prehistoric camels and ground sloths to
scenes from California history: a Spanish
padre, a gold miner and farmworkers. One
of the latest is the undisputed highlight: an
enormous sea serpent that undulates so far
across the desert that it spans one of the
main roads. From here you can retrace your
route or take the long way home via the
Salton Sea and Palm Springs.
2017 T R AV E L G U I D E TO C A L I F O R N I A 43