From Altadena to Arroyo Seco

When I was a teenager, I spent four summers working on the horse staff of a local day camp.

In t1984, after my second summer at Tom Sawyer, the unleased camp horses moved to an inexpensive backyard stable in Altadena, where I was granted riding privileges. 

Baby, Pat, Navajo, Coconut and Snickers, 1985

This location was really good for me. Not only was it close to my house, but it was also just a few short blocks from the Loma Alta riding ring...

Pat and I at the Loma Alta ring, 1985

and the Altadena Crest trailhead.

If you rode down the trail and turned right, you ended up in the Angeles National Forest.

Baby and I in the Angeles National Forest, 1988

There were a lot of trails in there, and all the campgrounds and picnic areas had hitching rails.

Elliott and Cherokee at (I think) the Gould Mesa Campground, 1991 

If you went the other way, you could ride through the Arroyo or go to Oak Grove Hahamongna Watershed Park.

I was familiar with this area because it was home to the camp.

It was also a great place to ride.

So many trails, all of them interesting.

Between the Forest and the Arroyo, we had a lot of places to ride, so it took us a while to realize you could ride right under the 210 Freeway...

Chipper and I near the overpass, 1988

and follow the trail to the Rose Bowl.

Chipper, Elliott and I at the Rose Bowl, 1988

One day, we rode past the Rose Bowl and ended up at San Pasqual Stables.

That was a fun surprise!

And it got me thinking.

When we'd attended the Girl Scout horse camp at Arroyo Seco Stables, we'd also ridden to San Pasqual, but from the other direction. 

Wouldn't it be cool if we rode all the way from our backyard barn to Arroyo Seco?

I shared these thoughts with my friend, Sarah. We talked about it for a while and decided we needed to make it happen. Knowing it was going to be a long ride, we chose the two liveliest horses we had at our disposal. They were Frosty - still the only horse to dump me twice in one day - and Ebony.

Sarah and Frosty

I don't have any good photos of Ebony, but he was a cute, medium sized, black pony, who was a forward and somewhat complicated ride.

Although we brought a camera, we did not take any pictures on the trail.

Instead, these were taken last month when I was in California, visiting my mom.

Happily, not much has changed.

The picnic areas still have hitching rails!

It was a really long ride, but we made it. We snapped a pair of pictures in front of the iconic Arroyo Seco barn...

they both turned out terrible...

then headed back the way we'd come.

The ride home was really, really long. We were tired and sore - maybe we should have used saddles - and we had to hustle to get back to Altadena before dark. It wasn't a lot of fun, but we made it. Success!

I couldn't find a map of our entire route, but this one shows most of it.

I rode out of various Altadena backyards on and off for the next several years, but I was never tempted to do that ride again. I'm glad we did it, but once was definitely enough!