Los Angeles/SoCaL - where are the good "gravel" dirt/fire roads?

[tylercheung]

Coming from a mostly road person...I'm trying to get off my butt and find some decent "gravel" fire roads. Suitable for 32 mm gravel kings. If I like it, might figure out how to get bigger tires!

I'm near Angeles Crest, Mt Wilson, Rt 39, etc. Was thinking of a few roads near the Angeles Crest OHLV, or elsewhere. Or maybe will schlep out to Malibu and see what is out there once the fire cleanup is settled down a bit...

[Mikeys]

Go to the Verdugo mountains. Well groomed fire roads with some singletrack if you want. Plenty of ways to enter/exit and pretty hard to get lost there.

[tylercheung]

Ah nice - this is north of the Glendale / la crescenta area?

[cnighbor1]

on all the dirt roads in greater LA area and beyond I never use them

[onsight512]

Ah nice - this is north of the Glendale / la crescenta area?

The Verdugos are on the South & West side of Glendale & La Crescenta.
I am more familiar with the entry points on the South side (Brand Park, Stough Canyon Nature Center, and lots of smaller ones), but there are lots of ways in/onto the mountain from any side. Google maps shows a lot of them and you can zoom in enough to see the surface streets they dump out onto.

[campy man]

The thread quickly gets sidetracked but ...

https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=204079&highlight=peloton

[tylercheung]

ah, thanks...my forum search attempts were not good enough it seems...we need more sticky threads!

[nublar]

Black Star Canyon

[AllanVarcoe]

Ugh how I miss those Verdugos! I used to live in Santa Clarita and work in Monrovia so some mornings I'd stop at the La Tuna Canyon exit for an hour of exploring. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181210/8d3060c004f5db3c83defa57518b8aa3.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181210/f39b14ade77b4359de15fd24232c67d6.jpg

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[T-Crush]

Has a couple of short-ish loops (5 miles +/-) and you can connect it to Marshall Canyon on the West side and Potato Mountain/Evey Canyon on the East to effectively double those numbers.

CHWP is basically my back yard (a 5 min warm-up away). Fire roads, some single track and lots of options to increase length if you don't mind multiple loops (Girl Scout House, Little Baldy Cutoff, Palmer Canyon, Johnson's Pasture, Webb Canyon - which is not advised on a gravel bike, etc.).

The pics of Verdugo Hills have me itching to give that a try too.

[cgolvin]

I know the dirt on the west side, not so much the east, though I've heard good things about the road that connects from Bear Divide to Mt. Gleason — that would make a great long loop, climb Little Tujunga, take the gravel to Gleason, then return down Angeles Forest and Big Tujunga.

On the west side, Paseo Miramar was always my favorite.

[JEFFTHEROBOT]

Sullivan Canyon / dirt mullholland.