Near Sandberg, ANF - "Original pavement of the Ridge Route"

 Mark and I drove north into the Angeles National Forest looking for a place above 5,000 feet to camp to escape the heat.

 We started in on the middle section of the old Ridge Route Road headed for the Liebre Mountain junction. For those unfamiliar with this old road, it was once the fastest route north out of Los Angeles. My grandfather drove it in 1926. For more information about this historical byway, click here.

Our journey to Liebre Mountain ended at this forest closed sign. Note the concrete visible under the asphalt. It is the remains of the original pavement of the Ridge Route.

 We backtracked a short distance, engaged the 4WD and climbed up a short hill to reach a road that led us out on to this small campsite on a ridge.

 Mark set up his tent, I popped up the Four Wheel Camper, we both grabbed our chairs, sat down and watched the evening turn to night. One of the topics discussed during the evening was the technological singularity. "A hypothetical moment in time when artificial intelligence, human biological enhancement, or brain-computer interfaces will have progressed to the point of a greater-than-human intelligence, radically changing civilization, and perhaps human nature." - Eden, Amnon; Moor, James; Søraker, Johnny; Steinhart, Eric, eds. (2013). Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment. Springer. p. 1.

 Dawn at our south of Sandberg camp.

Mark was caught emerging from his tent by my game camera. No other critters were photographed by the device.

 To the west was the Sandberg weather station. For those readers who receive Los Angeles television broadcasts and have noticed a location named Sandberg on weather maps, the temperature/weather information is reported from the station on the summit of Bald Mountain.

 In the distance from low to high: Interstate 5, Pyramid Lake, Slide Mountain, Slide Mountain Lookout. I hiked to the lookout ten years ago and found it in very good shape.

 The temperature was rising so after a quick breakfast we packed up our camp and drove back toward the Ridge Route.

Soon we were at the site of the Sandberg Summit Hotel.

Photo credit: SCVhistory.com and more about Sandberg's here.

 Curious painting on a foundation wall.

 More Sandberg ruins. I once read that Ulysses Simpson Grant, Jr. died in a room at the Sandberg Hotel in 1929.

 Soon we were leaving the Angeles National Forest.

 Quail Lake in the distance. "Quail Lake was originally a pond created by a cataclysmic movement of the San Andreas Fault ages ago.  As part of the California Water Project, Quail Lake was enlarged to move water safely across the fault." - http://www.water.ca.gov/recreation/locations/quail/

 The way home.