The Coastal Route into Los Angeles

Friday, June 3rd –Casper’s Wilderness Regional Park, Orange County to the Angeles Mountains, Los Angeles, California - Day 113 

 We woke up and headed for the coast. We wanted to continue our drive north into Los Angeles. The coastal drive was very upscale. In the town of Laguna Beach, we noticed a beautiful beach and decided to stop for some lunch. The parking was $3 an hour which is a steal. The kids played on the playground. The waves were massive. Gen and I both went in for a swim. Swimming through these huge waves was fun. Surfers were in bigger waves on the other end of the beach. 

We continued our drive into Los Angeles. Passing through Huntington Beach, we decided to stop at the State Beach. The very friendly woman in the booth wanted $15 to access the beach, we started chatting about how expensive that was and where we were going to stay while we were in LA. As soon as we mentioned that we were dispersed (free) camping in the Angeles Mountains, she said “Fantastic, your lucky you have me today, enjoy the beach”. John was asleep so I hung out in the car, eventually I carried him to the water. Gen and the girls were in the water playing in some much more reasonable waves. Still, Gen got dumped by one wave and ended up with a scalp and ears full of sand. 

 We didn’t have that much daylight left so we headed for the mountains. Los Angeles has the Angeles Mountains on its eastern side. Going from freeway to freeway, Gen drove up and up some more into the mountains. We finally neared the top of the first layer peaks and settled into a large dirt pullout at the top of a valley before the second layer of peaks. The view down the valley was fantastic. We settled in for the night.