The San Gabriel Mountains National Monument – Photos from a recent visit

Photos from a recent visit to the Angeles National Forest and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument near Los Angeles, CA.

Photo #1: (Above) Sunset over the Angeles National Forest, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# – 210420sa_SDA-1696

In my last blog post, I shared a collection of photos from Palomar Mountain in northern San Diego County taken while on a trip to visit family. I mentioned that was one of several quick overnight getaways I made while in the region. This was the second of the two photo-taking excursions I made; a drive up into the Angeles National Forest and the relatively new San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. Sadly, much of this area had been badly burned during a recent wildfire – and the scars still seem very fresh. Despite that, this harsh, rugged, and burnt mountain landscape offered some challenging yet compelling opportunities.

Two other factors shared similar aspects with my previous excursion: First, I chose this area to revisit the Mount Wilson Observatory. This was one of the places I featured in my book, Greetings from California, because of my personal interest in Space & Cosmology. It was here at the Mount Wilson Observatory that Edwin Hubble discovered that the universe was expanding and which gave rise to the current Big Bang theory.  (The moment of Creation, not the TV show.) As with the Palomar Observatory in San Diego, the Mount Wilson Observatory was also closed to visitors because of the ongoing pandemic.

The second similar factor was the weather. There was a lot of haze in the sky for a spring day. It looked more like summer and the atmosphere filled with the smoke of distant forest fires. However, these hazy conditions were created by a large wind system that blew west from over Arizona and Mexico having scoured its way across the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts. For that reason, I knew that the hazy skies that were making conditions somewhat less than ideal during midday might help me get lucky with a more colorful sunset.

I hope you enjoy these photos, and please feel free to leave a comment letting me know which image(s) you enjoyed the most.  🙂

#2: The rugged mountain terrain in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420na_SDA-0361

#3: Burnt hillsides after a wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1495

#4: Sunlit flora on a mountainside in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420na_SDA-0544

#5: Backlit ridges in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420na_SDA-0368

#6: Burnt hillsides after a wildfire in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420na_SDA-0368

#7: Burnt trees and shadows on a barren hillside in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1523

#8: Rugged terrain in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420na_SDA-0331

#9: Black and White photo of burnt trees from wildfire and background hills of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1460

#10: Mountain ridges on a hazy sunset in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1675

It was an enjoyable drive despite seeing the scarred landscape of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.  I quickly learned that I wasn’t the only person enjoying the drive. As the twisting mountain road, a.k.a., Highway 2 heads north out of Pasadena — home of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab — lots of young male drivers love to bring their revved-up little roadster sports cars up into these mountains for some hard-driving dangerous ‘fun.’ Nearly every large paved turnout had the marks of donuts being spun over and over. There were also a few roadside monuments left to memorialize those whose fun didn’t end well.

#11: Sunset over a road through the Angeles National Forest and San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1632

#12: Sports car driving on road in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1670

#13: Sunset over the Angeles National Forest, Los Angeles County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage. ID# 210420sa_SDA-1796

I didn’t get a chance to do any hiking on this trip, yet I could easily tell one wouldn’t need to venture far from the road before you’d encounter a harsh but beautiful natural environment that would stimulate and challenge your mind and body. Hopefully, the next chance I get to return I’ll be able to hit a few of the trails and experience the flavor of the San Gabirel Mountains on a much deeper personal level.

As always, thank you for taking the time to look through these images and I hope you enjoy my work. I’d love to hear any of your thoughts, comments, or if you have a favorite image or two.

Cheers,

~ Gary.

—

Gary Crabbe is an award-winning commercial and editorial outdoor travel photographer and author based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He has seven published books on California to his credit, including “Photographing California; v1-North”, which won the prestigious 2013 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal Award as Best Regional title. His client and publication credits include the National Geographic Society, the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, TIME, The North Face, Subaru, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Sunset Magazine, The Nature Conservancy, and many more. In 2018, The USPS selected a nearly-unprecedented seven of Gary’s photographs to become U.S. Postage ‘Forever’ Stamps as part of the O Beautiful collection. Gary is also a photography instructor and consultant, offering both public and private photo workshops, as well as being a professional Photo Editor and Content Creator.

Follow me on FACEBOOK – INSTAGRAM – TWITTER

*** If you like this post, I would greatly appreciate it if you’d consider sharing this with your friends using one of the Social Media sharing buttons located at the top or bottom of this post. You can also sign up to receive free updates by email when future posts are made to this blog.

Did you enjoy this material? If yes, please Share This Post!