A young hiker runs to safety across Angeles Crest Highway (Photo – Reg Green)
A young hiker runs to safety across Angeles Crest Highway Sunday morning to the only parking space now available for hiking or cycling on the Mt. Lukens fire road. There are blind curves in both directions.
By Reg Green
“It’s a terrible situation,” commented a firefighter from the Angeles National Forest fire station.
The Mt. Lukens road is by far the most popular access point into the forest in the entire segment of the forest near La Cañada. The only way to reach the parking area is to wait until everything is quiet, listen for the swish of tires of cars coming down the hill and scurry across. Once you hear that sound you have five seconds to get to the double yellow line and out of the down lane — that’s if the car is being driven at the 40 mph speed limit. On Sundays when sports cars and motorbikes compete for attention many have no patience with speeds like that.
The parking area on the west side of the road was closed during the lockdown of all trails in the forest and has never reopened. I have warned the forest service public relations department three times about this danger. They have given me no information.
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