RR: Forgotten Gabes: Table Mountain Campground

[GP_pilot]

Some folks really take an interest in history. Looking back, I was saturated with American history where I grew up in south central Pennsylvania. Antietam Battlefield in Sharpsburg, MD was 15 miles south of my home, Gettysburg battlefield was 25 miles to the east, and another 80 miles to the southeast was the center of our American government in Washington, D.C. My hometown flew under Confederate flag for three days during the Civil War. I even once biked the entire 150 mile length of the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) canal from Cumberland to Georgetown, Maryland. Fast forward to the turn of the 20th century, D.C. city dwellers looked to escape the sultry summers since air conditioning didn’t yet exist. Whether for a weekend or the entire summer, families would ride a train north to a place in Appalachian Mountains called Blue Ridge Summit, just 7 miles from my home. It was here that families could picnic for the day at Pen Mar Park with big band music and a small amusement park. Affluent Washingtonian families would vacation for the entire summer in stately Victorian homes with deep, wrap around porches. My dad would help maintain a few of these homes during the year when public school wasn’t in session.

On the other side of the country, folks in the LA basin looked to do the same. Buford and Sumner Wright were selling off lots on their former cattle ranch for summer vacation homes. This became today’s Wrightwood. Los Angeles County had the foresight to obtain land west of Wrightwood to develop the Big Pines Recreation Area in 1923 and Swarthout Valley Lodge in 1924.



Beside the Big Pines lodge, the standing tower spire was actually one of two and were connected by a stone archway bridge over the Crest Highway for pedestrians up until 1950. The bottom of it even served as a jail cell until a sheriff could arrive.



Table Mountain campground was established at this time and in 1937 the first land was leased atop Table Mountain to establish the first southern California ski area. Just 1.1 mi north of Big Pines lodge on Table Mountain road is Table Mountain Campground. Here you’ll also find Mountain High North, formerly Ski Sunrise with its 1950 lodge.



I was turned on to this by a local who said there was some singletrack in the campground, so I was off to check it out. If you’re not staying at the campground, you can park at the picnic area parking lot halfway between the campground entrance and ski lodge, which is around 7,350’. As you enter the campground, you’ll descend the main road towards the back. This can get a bit confusing as there are numerous loops for campers. Bottom line, you’re looking for the amphitheater sign.



But instead of turning right, bear left and look for Cherokee Lane, Sites 83-97.



Just beyond the sign you can see a trail coming around the rise and descending to the left. Depending if someone is camping in the first site, you can directly pick it up here. At 0.2 mi the trail will drop into a shallow ravine and seemingly ends. Cross over the fallen tree and continue riding down on the left of the ravine.



Once it flattens out, you’ll want to bear right and look for an old road grade.



Once on the grade it will turn into singletrack again and start to notice the foot traffic.





Soon you’ll head back toward campsites, but will want to bear left on the singletrack.



At 0.7 mi from the start, you’ll hit the end of the campground.



From here you pickup 4N03 which turns into a dirt road around the next bend and starts branching out into fingers. At 0.3 mi on this road you’ll hit a fork with 4N57 on the left and 4N04 on the right that take you to two separate knobs. The entire canyon below you is labeled on the topo as Jesus Canyon. Maybe it’s the 300’ plunge off the roadside to the canyon floor or the fact that this ride keeps going down and realizing that you have to climb back out of it that makes you say it.



Out on 4N57, I was hoping to make a loop with a little bushwacking between an unlabeled finger back to the main road. But I couldn’t find the finger trail I was looking for and instead I rode it to the end.







Basically you’ll come to a small meadow.



At the far end, there are some rocks bookended by two trees, interesting only because rock outcroppings aren’t common in this area.





Other fingers off 4N57 result in less interesting deadends. Instead 4N04 to the right is the route you’ll want to take to get your just reward.
Once you drop yet another 300’, you’ll gain nearly as much again up to the knoll. Based on tire tracks, this seems to be a popular place for off road enthusiasts but doesn’t require much more than the family SUV to reach it. Staying left at intersections will net you a view of Pinon Hills, Phalen, and the north side of the ski area.





Further in the distance is El Mirage dry lake and Victorville.



From here is a quick 300’ descent and long, steady climb all the way back to the campground, but you’re not quite done. Where you left the singletrack and picked up the 4N04 is where you pick it up again on the other side. This climbs around in back of some campsites and dumps you back out at the road. It’s here you take the closed service road to the left and at its very end you pickup additional singletrack.



This takes you in back of the amphitheater and over to the amphitheater parking area by a storage building.



Just be aware of any functions are taking place at the amphitheater or you’ll be center stage.

I also did some additional exploring of the ski area which has some of the early lift towers still standing.







You can take the upper service road to the top ski lift. Here you also see two observatories run by JPL, but these are by no means open to the public and are heavily fenced off with camera surveillance.





In all my exploring, I put in 13 mi and 3,000’ of climbing, found some singletrack, a nice overlook, and didn’t see another soul on my route away from the campground. Although this route won’t make the Top 10 list for the north San Gabes, it may appeal to anyone staying at Table Mountain campground needing an early evening ride before dinner.




Status: Little known (Off road & campers)
Distance: 7.3 mi (loop from upper lot parking), 5.7 (loop from lower campground)
Total Descent: 1783’ (parking lot loop), 1448’ (campground loop)
Total Ascent: 1594’ (parking lot loop), 1262’ (campground loop)

Additional ride reports in the Forgotten Gabes series:
Blue Ridge Trail – Forgotten Gabes: Blue Ridge Trail
Acorn Trail – Forgotten Gabes: Acorn Trail
Pinecone Trail – Forgotten Gabes: Pinecone Trail
Table Mountain Ridge – Forgotten Gabes: Table Mountain Ridge
Jackson Loop – http://www.socaltrailriders.org/foru...oop-ridge.html

[DISCO]

My grandparents used to take their kids here in the sixties, I actually wound up in this area after visiting a friend in Lancaster. It was one of those rare days when there was rain and thundershowers despite sweltering temps in the flatland below.

Thank you for sharing another of the most delightful ride reports I have had the privilege of browsing. See if you can get the trail heads and directions complied on the google map recently posted or maybe MTB Bill could help out a little (as if he has not already done enough for our community) .

Happy Trails to all.

[Solo]

You're like a modern day Christopher Columbus. Didn't he live in PA for awhile too? Maybe your related.

Still really enjoying the series and thanks for the links to the previous RRs. I always go back and read some of the others after finishing the newest one.

I'm dying to know what the grand series finale is going to be. How about linking them all up in a giant loop?

[PacMan]

Originally Posted by Solo

How about linking them all up in a giant loop?

He is. One hell of a death march!!

[GP_pilot]

Originally Posted by PacMan

He is. One hell of a death march!!

Spoiler.

[dstepper]

GP Pilot, since you seem to be interested in San Gabriel History here is a site that I have found very interesting.

http://www.lagoldmines.com/index.php?page=480508.txt

Dean

[KBL]

Another way cool RR from GP Pilot.

What strikes me about this area is just how "civilized" these trails look compared to the Gabes trails in the front range. I don't mean "easy," as the air around Wrightwood is a bit thin and there's still plenty of elevation change to deal with. I'm just noticing a pleasant trail surface, and a general lack of risky vertical exposure.

Of course, if you need risky vertical exposure there's always Devil's Punchbowl, and South Fork canyon...

[Good_ol'_slappy]

Very cool RR. Thanks for posting.

[The_Boy]

Another great ride report. By the way, how much time did you spend doing the C&O towpath (185 miles by the way, not 150)? I live in Gaithersburg, MD and ride sections of it frequently. Did you know there is a trail that connects Cumberland to Pittsburgh? It is now possible to ride from Pittsburgh to DC entirely on a natural surface trail. 318 miles of very scenic riding.

[GP_pilot]

Originally Posted by The_Boy

Another great ride report. By the way, how much time did you spend doing the C&O towpath (185 miles by the way, not 150)? I live in Gaithersburg, MD and ride sections of it frequently. Did you know there is a trail that connects Cumberland to Pittsburgh? It is now possible to ride from Pittsburgh to DC entirely on a natural surface trail. 318 miles of very scenic riding.

Thanks. I should have checked the mileage as I was just going off memory from 1991. I did it w/ my Dad's Boy Scout troop, so I we did it in three days since no one rode much prior to the trip. At the time you picked it up 2 or so miles south of Cumberland and there was a several mile detour about 2/3 of the way down due to flood eroding of the towpath. This really is the perfect cyclocross trail but really could be done w/ any road bike in a touring setup.

I did ride Ohiopyle to Confluence rails-to-trails (now part of the Allegheny Passage) in 1995 after graduating from West Virgina. Add the 45 mile Mount Vernon Trial and that's 363 miles of trail, which nearly puts it on par with the Blue Ridge Parkway of 469 miles.