Courtesy of Brian Wood:

Overall, this ride went very well!  We had a total of seven bikes (two with passengers) starting out in Santa Clarita. In addition to myself on my ST1100, we had Wayne Brenner (ST1300), Lon & Pam Larsen (ST1300), Mitch Freeman (DL650 V-Strom), Robin Rich (VFR800), Mike Sleeman (VFR800), and Gilles Guizelle & Kathy (K1200LT). We got started nearly on time and quickly wound our way through Placerita Canyon and Sand Canyon to Little Tujunga Canyon Road (great, twisty little road with lots of elevation changes). From Little Tujunga's southern terminus in Lakeview Terrace, we simply took Foothill Blvd. to it's intersection with Oro Vista in Sunland, where we picked up Gary Ward and his FJR1300.

Heading north, Oro Vista turns into Big Tujunga Canyon Road -- which we followed through to Angeles Forest Highway to Angeles Crest Highway. Now that they've resurfaced Angeles Crest (it used to be SO rough), it's motorcycle nirvana all the way to Newcomb's Ranch. Oddly, there was very little traffic and no visible law enforcement activity (though we kept to a law abiding pace just to be sure). It almost seemed like riding on a weekday. Newcomb's was fairly busy, though we didn't stay long (just a quick stretching/rest stop). Heading back down the Crest from Newcomb's (hopefully they get the road repaired on the other side of Newcomb's Ranch soon so we can ride through to Big Pines directly), we avoided a bit of back-tracking by taking Upper Big Tujunga back down to Angeles Forest Highway.

We followed Angeles Forest Highway north to Mt. Emma (and the only really boring stretch of road) which leads to Fort Tejon Road to Valyermo Road and it's intersection with Big Pines Highway in Valyermo. Big Pines gets very interesting again as it winds back up into the forest, intersects with Angeles Forest, and heads through the town of Wrightwood. We followed Highway 2 through to it's intersection with 138 gambling that the road would be open during the weekend (why it's closed is another story). Unfortunately, we lost that gamble and had to backtrack to the Wrightwood area and take Lone Pine Canyon to the other side of the road closure and followed 138 to the Cajon Junction for a quick break (and fuel for a couple bikes).

Despite being lunchtime, we collectively agreed to continue on to Arrowhead Lake for a late lunch. We took 138 all the way up the backside of the mountains (another great road with tight twists) to Lake Gregory and a brief hop on 18 to get to Arrowhead Lake. The main outside parking lot was packed, but we found some great parking inside the parking structure (in the shade) that seemed almost made for motorcycles -- fit everyone into one neat area. Lunch took a bit longer than planned (spreading out to McDonald's, Subway, and a local eatery), but was very enjoyable, sitting on McD's upper deck, in the shade, overlooking the lake.

A couple of riders decided to stay a bit longer in Arrowhead and find their own way home, so the rest of us (down to six bikes now) headed down Highway 18 and the "front" side of the mountain. Once we hit the freeways in San Bernardino, two more riders split off to head home via more direct routes and the remaining four of us headed back up I-215 and I-15 to Cajon Junction (more fuel) before heading back into the forest.

For the last leg of the ride, we essentially re-traced our original route (backwards, obviously) briefly on 138 to Lone Pine Canyon, then Highway 2 out of Wrightwood to Big Pines Canyon, to Valyermo, to Fort Tejon, to Mt. Emma. At this point, we had the option of heading up to Palmdale to Elizabeth Lake Road and taking either Bouquet Canyon or Lake Hughes Road back to the SCV area, but since we were well into the 4:00 hour, we decided to call it a day and head back to our respective final destinations. Robin Rich and I took Angeles Forest Highway to Aliso Canyon Road and Soledad Canyon back into SCV while Lon, Pam, Gilles, and Kathy took Angeles Forest all the way back to Big Tujunga Canyon and headed home from there.

All-in-all, we put in over 300 miles and had a very enjoyable day. The weather was a bit on the warm side, but never intolerable (we've certainly ridden in worse). Traffic was surprisingly light and the roads were clean and in great shape. A excellent ride. Thank you to everyone who showed up (really enjoyed your company) and we'll look forward to seeing you again on the next ride!