Page 31 - 2024-2025 Travel Guide to California

Mountains, above the smog, your vistas
range from the vast, chocolate-brown
Mojave Desert to Catalina Island. Also
known as State Highway 2, the 66-mile-long
Angeles Crest Scenic Byway was built almost
100 years ago to be “the most scenic and pic-
turesque mountain road in the state.” Access
it from the suburb of La Cañada Flintridge at
the western end of the San Gabriel Valley. 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 observa-
tional 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 Interstate 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 Cali-
fornia 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 com-
missioned artist Ricardo Arroyo Breceda to
produce more than 130 giant sculptures in
the desert, everything from life-sized
replicas of gomphotheres (elephant-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. The undisputed
highlight is 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.
2024-25 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 29