The Los Angeles Forest

Well, it ain’t no Meadowlands.

There's forests in Los Angeles?

OP, yes. They're always finding cadavers up there.

An old article from 1997 about the forest, but still a good read.

Duh -- the link.

great article. Makes me want to check it out. Seems like the real danger was cartel run pot farms and the big difference between now and then is that we now have drones and tech to spot people...

There is no "Los Angeles Forest." Are you referring to the Angeles National Forest?

I am reading the book “The Big Goodbye” about the making of “Chinatown” and the author mentions that Los Angeles’ particular mystique in relation to crime is due in part to the fact that it is a major metropolis that abuts completely against a total wilderness - what OP calls the “Los Angeles Forest” but is properly referred to as the Transverse Ranges, the extremely rugged chain of mountains running east-west north of the LA Basin.

The only other a American metropolis with such a significant wilderness “edge” is Miami, which abuts the Everglades and not coincidentally is also a significant city in crime fiction.

Yes, OP. I've used it several times. There are some easy spots on the Angeles Crest road heading north before you get to the Devil's Canyon Trailhead - easy access on the right and you can get into the woods a fair distance for a dump. With things closed it's easy to do an in-and-out, and I'm not one of those nuts to make a scene of it.

I used to use Mt. Mooney because of the switchbacks keeping traffic down, but the fucking observatory started pulling a lot of traffic in the evening so I headed north a bit.

Good times.

Hey, if you're ever in LA maybe I can, you know, take you up there.

I DO hope that R9 is talking about dumping old appliances.

[quote] The only other a American metropolis with such a significant wilderness “edge” is Miami, which abuts the Everglades and not coincidentally is also a significant city in crime fiction.

Hello?

I mean... our mountain rangers are known for allllll sorts of spooky shit. Urban legends abound. But yeah, I'm sure bodies have been dumped all over our mountains. Humans use nature as a dump all the time.

You should look into Black Star Canyon in Orange County. It's in the northernmost part of the Cleveland National Forest, which stretches from Corona, CA all the way down to San Diego. BEAUTIFUL span of ranges.

R10, do you think I'm too stupid to know what a thread is about? Do you think I don't know what I'm saying?

Others have made that kind of mistake.

Once.

It's a nice park. So quiet.

OP, what R7 said. Nobody calls it the Los Angeles Forest. It's the Angeles National Forest, or people simply say they're 'going up to the mountains.'

As for areas where sketchy things happen, I've seen more than a few faint trails that meander off of the main hiking trails where I've wondered: hmmm, I wonder who goes there?

Finally an interesting thread!

OP apparently doesn't mind doling out spoilers.

I had a friend in my early 20s whose body was found there. Jeremy. He was a wonderful human being and I still miss him.

I have no idea what happened. Police said he probably fell.

R17, so sorry for your loss.

If he was a hiker, chances are that he did fall. A lot of Angeles Forest trails are very narrow and precarious, with steep drop-offs. I've had to turn back a few times from crumbling, poorly-maintained trails.

Also sorry to hear R17. Great article R4 - thank you for posting it.

I'm hoping it was something more biodegradable R10.

R8, greater LA metro also borders the barren deserts on the north and east, such as the Mojave desert -- definitely places where shady characters get up to no good.

[quote] Great article [R4] - thank you for posting it.

And still accurate. I have a friend who works for the Forest Service and some of the things he says that get discovered and don't get reported: yikes!

The Angeles National Forest has a twin on the East Coast: Gilgo Beach in Long Island. Police believe up to 3 serial killers have used it as a dumping ground.

It may be in Los Angeles County, but way over the San Gabriel Mountains in the middle of nowhere is hardly "IN" Los Angeles.

Nonsense. The Angeles National Forest is one of the most popular hiking/camping areas in LA.

Sure it is, after you take the long drive to get out there.

Thanks to those who expressed condolences. It happened a very long time ago, but yeah. I still think of Jeremy every now and then.

I spent A LOT of time in what many Angelenos refer to as “The Crest”. We used to horse back ride and camp out there. And if you go through the two lane road, all the way through, you eventually end up at this one spot where everyone would bunji jump, back when that was still a thing.

Some of my best memories come from time spent there. We also used to party pretty hard up there, but once I got sober, it became about camping and horse back riding and getting on the back of a bike, and holding on for dear life as my then BF, sped through the canyons.

Eventually, the department of parks and recreation started charging for people to get in there. We were able to circumvent that when we would just go in to horseback ride, because we had access to do so.

It really is a beautiful area. And if you know the trails well enough, you know where to go to find waterfalls and streams to swim in. There even a trail named, The Doc Larsen Trail, which takes you to an old fashioned, straight out of a Western film, bar, or more appropriately, a saloon, where you ride up on your horse, tie it to the post, and go in for whatever calls you. We only had sodas, thankfully. I can’t imagine riding a horse, drunk, though most people who went there did just that.

Here’s the spot we used to stop at whenever we would drive in via motorcycles and trucks, to go camping.

It burned down, sadly.

They made the. BEST omelettes.

Another 👇🏽

R28, that's sad about the Hidden Springs Cafe. Newcomb's Ranch Roadhouse is still around fortunately.

R25 - sounds like you have never visited LA. You spend a good hour and some change to crawl down the 10 to get from Los Feliz to the beach. To get anywhere takes a long time.

Any wilderness area by a large city has this problem.

It sounds like a scary place.

Actually, there was a spate of assaults on people hiking around the trails near the Observatory in LA. a few years ago. I used to go hiking there, but always with my 65 lb dog. One time she some some gang looking guys on drugs and she let out a mighty growl. They didn't bother us.

CA State Rangers have been carrying firearms for over 15 years. There are always folks up to no good that gravitate towards the wilderness. Remember Cary Stayner - he beheaded a female forest ranger in Yosemite and killed 3 other tourists there (after raping them). Like said, I never hike alone with out others or my big dog. I also carry a knife.

I buried a few bodies there back in the day! It works in a pinch

Sylmar, Lakeview Terrace, Sunland-Tujunga all butt up against the San Gabriel Mountains, so the Forest, if not technically IN the City of Los Angeles, is definitely right on its outskirts.

R33, I remember a few years back when a woman and her dog found a head wrapped inside of a bag at Griffith Park. Terrifying.

At least they solved that case.

Why are people offering condolences to someone who happened to have a slight acquaintance with someone dead in the park?

By the way, not one of my contributions.

r35 that's where the gangs take the bodies.

Where do criminals dump bodies in the Bay Area?

I love murder and cadavers and shallow graves!!!!

R& and R12 = eldergay prisspots

"Where do criminals dump bodies in the Bay Area"

Yeah, where? Back end of the Berkeley Hills? There's a huge nature preserve there.

R39 the bay or the ocean.

Yep, Scott Peterson drove his wife's corpse San Francisco Bay and dumped her in the water.

The Pine Barrens is where it all goes down.

where are the pine barrens?

R40, that was actually funny for reasons most here aren’t aware of.

r46 New Jersey

That's a beautiful photo, OP.

It adds to the dark LA mystique

The Las Vegas desert must hold enough bodies fill a small town phone book.

^ to fill @ r 51

True, R51.

The Pine Barrens can be creepy AF.

I went camping out there some years back at Crystal Lake. Sitting around the campfire with a friend, we suddenly hear a series of shots just beyond midnight, followed by the sound of a car's tires screeching off down the canyon (sound really carries in that campground). It was unsettling to say the least...

Where do Chicagoans dump bodies?

[quote]I went camping out there some years back at Crystal Lake

Maybe it was Jason Voorhees

Has anybody done a hike there?

R58, many, many times. I know some areas in the forest very well, but it's massive, and there are remote areas I've never seen. Presumably, there are places in the forest that serve as illegal pot farms -- would never want to stumble into one of those.

R57, Jason doesn't use a gun!

The only city with a wilderness edge? I don’t think so. Phoenix

Lake Michigan, R56.