A different kind of movie

Imagine driving around a national park area, and not seeing anyone. There’s the infrastructure for people, with picnic areas next to streams visitor information centres, and dispersed campground, all tucked away in a forest of huge pine trees. But there's no people.

It’s eerily quiet. No traffic, no other vehicles or pedestrians around. It’s getting late, dusk is descending and the temperature is dropping. There’s no one to ask questions of or provide directions.

What kind of movie would you say you were in now?

This is where I found myself after San Diego. I left a beach town to visit the set of a horror movie, apparently. Wanting to avoid staying in LA itself, I drove up into the Angeles National Forest, to the east of the city.

The drive along highway 2 was awesome. Perhaps not quite as good as the one from Flagstaff to Sedona, but a very solid second place. It winds for miles and miles up into the hills. In fact, as I write this, I can feel the lower pressure in my ears. It’s going to be tough on the brakes tomorrow on my way down, but for now, the views along the side of the road are spectacular.

I found this campsite through a website that lists cheap and free places to stay overnight. This is isn’t actually free, it’s $12 per night, but it’s got a garbage can and a toilet, so it’s worth that. Unfortunately, when I got to the top of the hill, everything seemed closed. There’s three campgrounds here, and the first two were closed, and as mentioned, I didn’t see a single car for miles on my way up here.

I was staring at a map on the door of the visitor centre, which was also closed, when a park ranger came by. He said he had actually closed the gate to the area I was in, meaning had I not run into him, I would have been locked into that area for the night. Not the end of the world given that I have the camper, but would have been creepy nonetheless.

Turns out the third campground is open, and there are a couple of other people here. But this place was hit hard by wildfires in the last few years, so there aren’t many other adventurers. I’m just staying the night before moving on in the morning, but I’ll keep my eyes open for anybody wearing a goalie mask and carrying a chainsaw.

wes