Author Topic: Questions about camping in the Angeles National Forest (Read 12093 times)

JFanaselle · « **on:** June 26, 2015, 01:19:12 PM »

Thought I'd throw this out there to see if anyone on the forum is familiar with camping in the ANF. My family and some friends are planning a camping trip for July 17, 18 and 19. We want a yellowpost site that isn't too far from civilization and is off the grid, but can still be easily accessed by vehicle.

I've been eyeballing the Blue Ridge and Guffy campgrounds in the Angeles National Forest, which are both just west of Wrightwood. The main reason I'm looking at this area (instead of the San Bernardino Forest) is that the Angeles Forest typically doesn't have campfire restrictions in July, and we're bringing some children along that would really enjoy a campfire.

Anyway, the ANF website lists the use for these sites as "heavy," and they're both first come, first served sites with no reservations. Blue Ridge has 8 campsites and Guffy has 6. My question to anyone familiar with this area is - if I drive up there in the mid to late afternoon hours on a Friday in July, can I expect to get 2 camp sites, or is it a waste of a trip?

I'm also open to suggestions for other yellowpost sites anyone might be fond of. Just needs to be something that is fairly easy to access (one of the people coming along will have his family in a 2WD Econoline van), and preferably something less than 10 miles from a general store or market.

GreenGoon · « **Reply #1 on:** June 26, 2015, 02:35:19 PM »

I love Guffy! It's a nice little campground if you want to just get out on a quick trip. You should be able to get 2 sites if you get there mid-day. Every once in a while you get a Boy Scout troop or something that will beat you to the punch. The earlier you sneak up the better. The nice thing is you drive right through Blue Ridge on the way to Guffy so you could see what's available there. The hiking is a little limited there but there is plenty to do in the area if you are fine to go for a drive. It's also big enough to just enjoy a day at the campsite. The 4th and 5th sites will give you the most protection from the wind without people walking through your campsite to go to the restroom. ANF does not have any Yellow Post sites like San Bernardino where you have a nice area all to yourself, but Guffy and Blue Ridge have the same kind of feel as they are small campgrounds.

Be sure to bring plenty of water and your Adventure Pass or America the Beautiful Pass

There are also some yellow post sites in the Lytle Creek area that you could look into (SBNF). Some are more accessible by vehicles than others.

Toro · « **Reply #2 on:** June 26, 2015, 03:27:30 PM »

Good info.....thanks

JFanaselle · « **Reply #3 on:** June 26, 2015, 10:03:19 PM »

That is excellent info, thanks GreenGoon!

How bad is Blue Ridge truck trail between Blue Ridge Campground and Guffy? Do you think my buddy will make it in a 2wd ford van without killing his wife and kids?

The ANF website says it's a "4 wheel drive road after the first 5 miles," but we all know that their definition of 4 wheel drive road is pretty loose.

GreenGoon · « **Reply #4 on:** June 27, 2015, 09:11:13 AM »

No problem guys.

I've never used 4 wheel drive on that road in the summer even when I was stock. The worst part of the road now is actually the area that used to be paved up to and through Mt. High West. I think the road is easier to navigate after the destroyed pavement. Your friend should be fine and you could usually see Catalina Island as you drive that road. I think Guffy is 6 miles in and when I was there a few weeks ago the gate to continue passed Guffy was closed. Guffy is on the left when you see the sign. Parking is limited but 2 families can fit into each site pretty easily, 2 large cars can be tricky.

Too bad I'm going to be out of town for work that weekend. I'd love to camp out there. I'd recommend taking a half day off of work to get your spot but I've been there when it doesn't fill up at all or the last spot isn't taken until 8pm. If you want a back up, look to see if the Table Mountain Campground has anything available. http://www.recreation.gov/camping/table-mountain-angeles/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=73585

Table is the most popular campground in the area. It's right next to Sky High Disc Golf which has some awesome views.

JFanaselle · « **Reply #5 on:** June 27, 2015, 10:45:25 PM »

Again, great info. Both my wife and I have Friday the 17th off, and my cousin said he will be taking it off as well. So we will get up there pretty early in the day and ensure we can grab two spots. I don't really want to reserve something at Table Mountain, because our preference is to use Guffy. If we get up there and it's full, we'll try Blue Ridge (which, as you mentioned, will be scouted on the way in to Guffy), and if that's full, we can check out Table Mountain to see if any spaces are available. There will be three families total with three vehicles, so I think two spots right next to each other will be just fine.

The road beyond Guffy campground goes down to another really cool campground called Lupine. Unfortunately, that area has been closed to vehicle traffic for a couple of years now. I think since the big fire they had up there.

I guess you can still hike down into the campground if you want, but it's like 6 more miles back there and I wouldn't want to carry my gear that far! Besides, we need our vehicle for water, lighting, etc

JFanaselle · « **Reply #6 on:** July 19, 2015, 08:23:50 AM »

Well, normally I would have a full trip report with all kinds of cool photos. But let me just say, this was like the camping trip from hell for me.

It started with being stuck at Jury Duty all week and not being released until 2:30 pm on Friday (so much for leaving early Friday morning). We then got stuck in the I-15 closure due to the "North Fire," as dozens of vehicles burned. The closure was actually right at the exit we needed (Highway 138), so technically we could have made it. But with the freeway at a complete stop, it would have taken 5 or 6 hours. Meanwhile, the remainder of our group had already been at the campsite all day. With some creativity and a capable vehicle, we were able to route ourselves around most of the traffic and took some nice backroads through the mountains, starting in Lytle Creek and ending up in Wrightwood. Huge shout-out to GreenGoon for hitting me up and giving me some tips and tricks to get me up there, and confirming that the route we were taking was good. He also headed up to camp and met up with my group before I got there, and even dropped off a beer for me.

Trust me sir, the favor will be repaid one day!

So we FINALLY get up to camp, and the winds are HOWLING. Easily 30 mph sustained winds with gusts into the 60s, ALL NIGHT LONG. My tent ripped in several places while trying to set it up in the winds, and our campfire and cooking effors for the evening were virtually worthless. Despite this, we managed to get everything setup and somehow got our son to fall asleep in the tent, which was whipping around in the wind like a tarp on the back of a pickup truck on the freeway.

So, it was finally time to crack open a beer and try to enjoy ourselves. But then, just short of 10:00 pm, another large brush fire breaks out. This one is on Table Mountain, just on the other side of Highway 2 from the road to our campsite, directly across the street from the Mountain High West ski resort. I got a text from GreenGoon with the notification, just as we were noticing the orange fireball through the trees and the helicopters coming overhead. The fire was a few miles from us as the crow flies, and was burning upslope toward the north, away from us. However, the winds started to shift and it started burning west, which had me worried that it would jump Highway 2 and run up the ski slopes, cutting off our only road out. I spent most of the night up on the ridge above Mountain High resport, watching the fire and listening to the firefighters and local Ham Operators coordinating the evacuation of multiple campsites in the area (forest service sites and organizational sites).

I was able to let some of the other Ham Operators know that we were up on the ridge at Guffy Campground and asked them to make sure the authorities knew we were there in the event that the fire jumped Highway 2. I then felt comfortable enough to get back to camp and get a couple hours of sleep. We awoke in the morning to see that the fire had remained on the north side of the highway, but was still burning pretty good over the ridge toward the high desert communities.

However, the winds had gotten even worse overnight and we really just couldn't tolerate it anymore. We made the decision to move camp over to the Blue Ridge campground, which was far less impacted by the winds for some reason. We loaded everything up and made several trips running back and forth. By this time, the kids were all getting very hungry so I started cooking breakfast, just in time for the heavy rains to start.

We knew there were thunderstorms forecast for the weekend, and we were prepared for the usual 2 hours of heavy downpour in the late afternoon that comes with Southern California storms. We were not prepared for the rain to start at 9:00 am and just keep raining, and raining, and raining. I managed to finish breakfast in the pouring rain and fed the group, with some help from my shade cover (hey GeoTaco, mine smells like bacon now too!).

By 2:00 pm, we weren't even set-up at the new campsite yet. We had just spent several hours in our cars waiting for the rain to stop while lightning struck trees all over the mountainside. We finally made the decsion to pull the plug on the trip and spent about an hour packing all of our gear back up in the pouring rain.

I LOVED both of these camping spots, but we were plagued with some pretty bad luck all the way around. Between the Jury Duty, traffic, fires, wind and rain, we really didn't have a chance to make this a fun trip. We will definately be back to try again, maybe later in the summer closer to the fall.

I did manage to snap a couple of cool shots of the fire overnight: