SECRET PLACE 1. This spot on this trail sits at 6500' in elevation on the backside of the San Gabriel Mountains.

SECRET PLACE 2. This road has very little traffic, is twisty, and features a world class ascent.

SECRET PLACE 3. This crossroads where two trails come together occurs at 5,260' in elevation.

SECRET PLACE 4. This one is too easy. No hints.

SECRET PLACE 5. This trail will lead you to the Pacific Crest Trail, and at that junction you can take a single track trail in any of seven directions..

SECRET PLACE 6. You're looking at a Sugar Pine bending to the left on this scenic trail at 6500' overlooking the Mojave Desert.

SECRET PLACE 7. Two ways to take this trail at this point, and they reconnect at about 4000' above sea level, 1300' higher than at this point. If you make it a loop, it's about 17 miles.

SECRET PLACE 8. There are very few roads in the San Gabriel Mountains that feature a road surface that looks like this.

SECRET PLACE 9. Bighorn sheep are sometimes spotted on this trail, that is just over 5 miles in total length.

SECRET PLACE 10. You're overlooking the Mojave Desert during most of this 9 mile stretch of road.

SECRET PLACE 11. This trail overlooks a main water source coming out of the San Gabriels.

SECRET PLACE 12. Carefully consider what you see in this view. You won't see it anywhere else in the San Gabriels.

SECRET PLACE 13. I just thought this was a nice pic of Charlee.

SECRET PLACE 14. You can go straight, left, or right from here. Left or right can eventually take you to the Pacific Crest Trail.

SECRET PLACE 15. Careful, one wrong step from this trail carved into the side of a cliff and you've got a long fall ahead of you.

SECRET PLACE 16. Notice that sign? That means you're on the Pacific Crest Trail. Now, you have to figure where along its 2000 miles this is.

SECRET PLACE 17. This trail is another PCT feeder.

SECRET PLACE 18. This road is paved, but not for very long. Take your mountain bike, or cyclocross bike, or go afoot. You'll top out at about 8400'.

SECRET PLACE 19. Charlee is running up through limber pines, jeffrey pines, white firs, and sugar pines, during the 20 minutes run from the nearest paved road access (20 minutes for a good runner like Charlee and a mediocre runner like me).

SECRET PLACE 20. From this spot on this trail you can see Telescope Peak in Death Valley, and Catalina Island in the Pacific.

SECRET PLACE 21. Just another nice Charlee pic on a log—on an improved, marked trail in the San Gabriels at precisely 8800' above sea level. How often does that occur?

SECRET PLACE 22. The tree to the left is a limber pine, aboug 14 feet in circumference at breast height. This tree was probably alive prior to the fall of the Roman Empire, and sits among a pure stand of limbers and lodgepoles. You'll find this happening in very few places in the San Gabriels.

SECRET PLACE 23. This view shows a trail passing through large, old limber pines topped, or entirely fried, by lightning strikes.

SECRET PLACE 24. Distinctively red rocks line this switchback in between two 9000'+ peaks.