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Little Tujunga Canyon Road Bike Ride

Type

 

Paved Mountain Road

Miles

 

20.76

Elevation Gain

 

2730’

Starting/Max Elevation

 

1192’ / 2748

Starting Coordinates

 

34 17.257’ N, 118 22.070’ W

As mountain roads go the climbing on this ride is relatively mild but with one notable exception on the return. The road does see weekend recreation traffic (motorbikes, a few fast cars and vans taking hang gliders to Kagel), but compared to many roads in the San Gabriels it is lightly used and therefore makes for a pleasant cycle ride.

Getting there

From the 210 freeway heading North/West take the exit marked for Hansen Dam and turn right on to Foothill, towards Osborne. Immediately move to the far left lane and turn left at the lights on to Osborne Street, which becomes Little Tujunga Canyon road. One mile beyond the lights and shortly after passing some residences there is a large paved turnout on the right. This is where I start riding from but if you miss this turnout there are others further along that will serve equally well. If you want to minimise sharing the road with traffic I recommend parking beyond the paintball and shooting range turnoffs, about 2 miles from the lights. Google directions to start.

 

The Ride

Little Tujunga - view North from first saddleHead North on Little Tujunga Canyon - at 0.9 miles (or 2 miles from the start of the road) you will see a turn-off on the right to the paintball ground. On the left is road 3N42 to a shooting range and ahead is a sign indicating you are entering the Angeles National Forest. Continuing on with the steady climb, at 4.28 miles there is a wildlife waystation on the left.

The peak elevation of 2748’ is reached at 6.1 miles. Over the next mile and half you drop 610’ through a series of nicely banked fast switch-banks. Be sure to enjoy as you’ll be cursing this section on the return!

After a fairly level section the climbing begins again at 8.5 miles, until at 10.4 miles you reach Bear Divide and a nice picnic spot with benches (but no water).

Return the way you came, or to add some miles you can either take the Santa Clara Road climbing to Fire camp 9, or by continuing a few yards on Little Tujunga you can pick up the Santa Clara Divide road on the right, going to Magic Mountain (the subject of a future ride, and not to be confused with the amusement park!)

Ride log

Last Ridden

Condition

Pedal Time

Elapsed Time

Apr 5th, ‘08

Excellent - one small section is single lane due to damage, but otherwise road is in good condition.

1 hour 59 minutes

2 hours 40 minutes

 

 

 

 

Links

[Directions to start]

[Map in pdf (313 KB)]

[GPS Trace (waypoint every quarter mile)]

[GPS Trace (all waypoints)]

[Topo file (.tpo)]

 

 

 

Little-Tujunga-Canyon-Road-

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/topo

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Site Last Modified: Tuesday, March 10, 2009