Adventures of a Quantum Cowboy

Near CA-14. Photo by Nalin A. Ratnayake, August 2006.

Known as the Antelope Valley Freeway, State Highway 14 itself is relatively short and boring compared to many of the roadtrips you could be taking. From end to end (Mojave to Santa Clarita) the highway is only about 60 miles, and a good portion of it goes through possibly the two most most boring towns in Los Angeles County, Lancaster and Palmdale. However, it does have two major things going for it:

1. At sunrise and and sunset, the northern part of the highway sports spectacularly gorgeous views of the Mojave Desert painted with the warm colors of the sun. Anytime in between, its just hot.

2. The southern part of the highway winds through the border between the San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountain ranges, offering an almost arterial level of access to the multiple national forests, state parks, natural areas, wildlife preserves, and other oases of untouched mountain wilderness that separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles metro area.

Canyon near CA-14. Photo by Nalin A. Ratnayake, August 2006.

Many of the canyon highways that crisscross the Santa Clarita Valley have exits or at least straightforward access from CA-14. These backroads are well worth a trip just to drive through, but their hidden treasure is the vast number of hiking, biking, and horseback trails accessible through their travel. Bouquet Canyon Road, Soledad Canyon Road, and Placerita Canyon Road are notable examples.

Joined at : Avenue K, Lancaster
Left at: Placerita Canyon Road
Mileage: 31
Stops: 76 station, Acton

There she is, the Canon Rebel XT Digital SLR Camera. With easy to use advanced features, over 60 optical lens attachments, and a (relatively) low cost, this fine piece of engineering is much-loved standard in the amateur photography world. And boy I certainly can’t wait to get one. I can’t afford it now, but I’m saving…

The base camera is about $800.00, and with an additional telescopic lens, an additional macro lens, tripod, extra battery, and case I’m probably looking at at least $1,500.00 to $2,000.00. Oof. But I figure I’ve really liked photography for awhile and have been meaning to get more into it, and besides it will go well with the hiking I plan on doing. I’ve ordered “101 Hikes in Southern California” as well as “Backpacking California” from Amazon, and they should arrive sometime soon. I’m planning on doing a day hike through Placerita Canyon this Saturday, so be on the lookout for an essay/review and some photos this weekend.

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At August 25, 2006 4:25 PM, –Valente said…

Dude, very nice camera!

I picked up a Canon EOS 20D last December, and I absolutely love it. I’m sure you’ll be very pleased with the quality that these cameras provide.

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At August 25, 2006 5:15 PM, Nalin said…

Yeah my dad until recently worked for HP, which does a lot of collaborative work with Canon (seamless digital camera to High Quality photo print), so he was able to list a number of reasons that Canon was the best. I’m glad to hear that its not entirely company loyalty! There’s a couple of guys at work who are really into backpacking, which I would like to get into. I think Em is interested too… if you want to try out that new camera on some gorgeous California mountains and backcountry, let me know!

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At August 26, 2006 7:35 PM, –Valente said…

Oh hells yeah, I’m down for some backpacking sometime.

Definitely going to have to get together when the work/school schedule isn’t killing us all.

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At August 21, 2006 8:44 AM, Anonymous said…

loser! you posted about that before our santa barbara adventure? Where’s the love?

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At August 21, 2006 5:13 PM, Nalin said…

Sorry, I’ll get to it… I’ve started writing the post, but I don’t think I have any good pictures of the road itself. Probably I’ll put up some of the beach shots for the CA-1, but I’ve got nothing for the 126 or the 23.

Having a car is wonderful. Back in the college days at ASU, I was one of those poor souls without a vehicle, trapped within walking distance of campus unless I lucked out and got a ride from someone. With the exception of Honeywell, the airport, one camping trip in Globe, and a few parties, in four years of living in Arizona I really only saw a four mile square block of Tempe and the immediately surrounding cities. Now that I live in California, I drive way more than I ever thought I would, and not all of it is the commute. Between the move down from Idaho, seeing old friends who fly into town, and taking day trips around my new home state with new collegues at the office, my 2006 Nissan Sentra has put on 6400 miles through five states in the two months since I got it. With all this travel and my love of amatuer photography (though I’m not that good at it), I thought I’d start a new series on the blog about it. I’ll be doing some backdated posts to get in some highways that I’ve previously driven.

So… let’s get on the road!

By the way, if you’ve got suggestions for a roadtrip to take, or have additional photographs from roads I’ve written about that you don’t mind publishing, then just send me an email!

N.

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At August 20, 2006 5:38 PM, Nalin said…

On the queue:

US-395 (California)
US-101 (Reseda <-> Santa Barbara)
CA-1 (Santa Monica <-> Santa Barbara)
CA-14 (Palmdale <-> Santa Clarita, Soledad Canyon/Bouquet Canyon)
CA-23 (Fillmore <-> CA-1)
CA-58 (Bakersfield <-> Mojave, Tehachapi)
CA-99 (Bakersfield <-> Sacramento)
CA-126 (Santa Clarita <-> Ventura)
ID-55 (Boise <-> McCall)