Heading north from Condor Peak the Orogenesis route followed a collection of jeep roads and truck trails before reaching the LA aqueduct and Mojave Desert. It was decent, and quite scenic, but notably lacking in singletrack. Then we heard about Acton.

We joined the Lowelifes RCC for a very special Stewardship Campout deep in the San Gabriel Mountains this past spring—one so deep we carried everything in for the weekend on bicycles.

After a short climb, the descent started off with the expected snow drifts at Vincent Gap, a lot of avalanche debris, but overall the Manzanita Trail was in excellent shape. Then we started climbing the High Desert National Recreation Trail and things got… interesting.

Way back in 2021 I visited the Lowelifes RCC to help with their massive restoration effort on the Condor Peak Trail. This trail had been all but forgotten in the wake of the deadly 2009 Station Fire, and had succumbed to its new thorny guardians—whitethorn and century plants.