Forest beckons house-weary residents for play, skiing and snowboarding
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After a series of recent storms brought snow to the Angeles National Forest, area residents ventured into the mountains for some needed fresh air, hiking and even some skiing and snowboarding.
Although 23 of the forest’s trails and 19 roads have been closed since April 4 to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, there are still hundreds of thousands of recreational acres that can be explored. John Clearwater, public affairs officer for the Angeles National Forest said the majority of the closures are in the lower altitudes where there’s a greater population density. “The majority of the park is still available,” he said.
Clearwater said officials are “asking for people to spread out. Go as far as possible to maintain their health and safety. Spread out and enjoy a natural setting.”
These past few weekends, he noted, have been like “summertime in terms of volume” of visitors to the local forests.
Over Easter weekend, hundreds of vehicles could be found driving along Angeles Crest Highway north of La Cañada Flintridge.
Farther into the back country, at higher elevations up to 8,000 feet, small and large highway turnouts were brimming with vehicles from city dwellers looking to spend some time frolicking in the snow.
In one spot where the snow was at least 24 inches deep, a small dog named Petru hopped from place to place as his short legs sank into the snow. At another turnout, a family used an inflatable sled to slide down a small hillside.
The Mt. Waterman ski area was closed, but that did not deter hardcore skiers and snowboarders. About three dozen cars filled the area and many other visitors parked their cars east or west of the area. After prepping their skis with grips or putting on snow shoes, visitors began to hike up the side of the mountain, some laboring for an hour to get high enough to enjoy what amounted to less than a 10-minute ski run back down the slopes .
Corey Reeds of Los Angeles said Saturday he’d visited the area to ski about 20 times so far this season, whenever there has been snow, despite the fact ski lifts have not been operating.
Another Angelino, who only gave his first name, Ove, said that despite “spring conditions [and] sticky snow … we are not complaining.”