I read about this trail in the Sunday LA Times a couple of years ago, and that Sunday, we went up to hike it. Thomas Guide® ref pg 4640 G5. You take Interstate 5 north, through the Newhall Pass, then get off at Calgrove, and go left under the freeway and double-back parallel to the freeway. The trailhead is about 1 mile on the right side, after the Towsley Canyon trailhead. The Thomas Guide also calls this trail "Saugus to the Sea". I decided to go back and ride it, remembering that it was somewhat steep. I was foolish enough to ride this on a far-too-hot afternoon on June 29th, 2002. Everything was tinder-dry as we've just made it into the record books as having had the driest "rainy season" since records began.
This was not a long ride, but it was very steep. The map at the trailhead shows a locked gate, beyond which you'd be trespassing. The gate was there when we hiked it, and that was our turnaround point. This time, there was no gate at all, so I kept on going. As I got higher and higher, I realized this was going to get interesting. I did pass a huge tank somewhat set back from the road with "Private Property Keep Out" roughly painted on it, but that could have applied just to the land to the left of the fire-road. In any case I just kept on going. After reaching a ridge near the first of many antenna towers, I heard a noise like a bulldozer. I was a little skittish as I was pretty sure by this time I was trespassing. When I looked closer I realized I was looking down upon a load of oil pumps, and many were gas-powered. The engine tone from these things went up and down with the nodding up and down of the pump head. These things are huge close up and they stink - both from the oily smells they make and the exhaust from the engine. They're all connected by various rusty pipes running around the place and little roads running between them. Looking south, not too far away, you can see the tract homes of Porter Ranch and Granada Hills to the north of the 118 freeway. I wonder how many of these residents of these communities are aware there's all this activity going on just above them.
I was pretty excited by all this infra-structure, but the best was yet to come: I came across a clockwork chart recorder which was monitoring a gas line. The disc had been replaced at 6am that morning! There's tons of antennas along this ridge, which is known as Oat Mountain. There were plenty of side roads I didn't explore. Eventually I did turn back at a locked gate across the road, complete with many more vicious looking signs.
On the way back, I was stopped by a man in a truck who pointed out that I was on private property. I meekly acknowledged that I'd just realized it probably was, and was thus turning back. The return downhill took about about 12 minutes.
Overall length, about 12 miles, elevation gain 2000' or so.
