Mt. Baldy | Snow Day & Rockslide Drama

I lived in the heart of LA for nearly a decade (and loved every minute of it).  But more recently, when it came time to settle down and buy a house, my hubby and I decided on the suburbs – 1. Because he works in the suburbs and a five minute commute is better than a two hour commute.  2. Because it’s cheaper, DUH.  So now we live in the foothills of the San Gabriel mountains, about 45 minutes from the city (if traffic is light).  It’s a bit quieter, but definitely still busy enough. In our particular case, we live right as the base of the highest peak of the San Gabriels, Mount San Antonio, or more commonly Mount Baldy.  In fact, we have a gorgeous view of the mountain right from our doorstep…

The best thing about living at the base of Baldy is that it snows in the winter, and you can even go skiing.  It literally takes 15 minutes to get Mt. Baldy village and another 15 to make it to the ski lifts.  So basically, come winter I have a ski lodge at my doorstep.  Most people don’t realize Southern California has access to that kind of snow – not to mention the hiking trails are incredible the rest of the year!  We like to hike Icehouse Canyon in the spring and the fall (summer is too hot), but come winter I get super stoked for the snow…probably because I grew up in South Florida where snow was non-existent during my childhood.  A few days ago we had the first snowfall of the season, and I knew it was coming because I stalked the weather forecast.  So of course I told my hubby we’d be heading up the mountain for a snow day.  I legit get so excited to play in the snow, especially while it’s actively falling.  Not to mention I got to bust out some of my cold weather gear for the occasion.  We didn’t make it all the way to the ski lifts because the road was too icy, but we did get to stop off in a beautiful little alcove and chill for a while (pun intended).

Afterwards, as is customary, we stopped for lunch at Baldy Lodge.  At this time of year they have the fire going, and since I was soaked from the snow, I ordered a hot chocolate to warm up.  Everything was grand UNTIL we began our journey back down the mountain.  What was snow at 8,000 feet turned to rain as we descended, and it happened to be pouring.  The road to Baldy is quite narrow, and on the way down it hugs the mountainside looming above.  Because the soil is sooooo dry most of the year, it’s easily dislodged, and this particular area is prone to rockslides.  As we drove, we noticed several areas where rocks has tumbled out into the road.  Not boulder-sized rocks, but some still big enough to do damage.  So we drove slowly, and thank god we did, because next we drove upon an active rockslide.  I watched as rocks tumbled in succession into the road from the mountain above.  Hubby was driving and veered to the left, but there wasn’t much of anywhere to go, because the other side of the road drops off into the valley below.  We couldn’t really stop because the rain was pounding and we were at risk of more rocks tumbling down.  So we proceeded slowly, though it was a wee bit scary.  We thought we got through okay, until a moment later the car alerted a low tire pressure warning.  We continued to drive until we got past the rockslide zone, then pulled off to the side of the road.  Sure enough, BOTH of our right side tires were flat.  We called for roadside assistance and brought the car straight to the dealership for repair.  When they inspected the tires, they showed us multiple large gashes along the sidewalls.  It must’ve been the force of the rocks striking the tires as we drove past.  Pretty scary, and hubby wasn’t thrilled that our snow day suddenly turned a lot more costly, but at least we made it home safely.  (And I had a lovely time nonetheless!)