Sunset Chasing Southern California’s Best
Photos by Ryan Wilson and Sean Talkington. Words by Sean Talkington.
Ryan and I recently planned a ride up Highway 39 to get some “work” done. We needed to shoot some of the Team Dream products in their natural habitat (shameless self promotion #1). We asked our friend Jackie to come along as a lady model. Jackie originally wanted 10K in cash (up front!) to model but settled for a turkey sandwich (also up front!) instead.
This ride is (in our opinion) the absolute hands down best climb in all of Southern California. The road used to be closed to cars a few years back and in those days you could do the bulk of the twisty climb without ever seeing another human. It was really post apocalyptic feeling back then. Now the 39 is open to motor vehicles until just after Crystal Lake, but even with the occasional “Fast And The Furious” car ripping by you every so often, this climb is still easily #1.
The plan was to shoot all of the product while we rode up the 39 and (hopefully) get up to the top in time for a few quick sunset pics near Highway 2 aka #teamdreamsunsetchasingteam (shameless self promotion #2). Both Ryan and myself have ridden the 39 quite a bit, but this was my first time up there for sunset. Man was it good! Just before we reached Highway 2 we popped out of the fog. It looked like you could have walked out straight onto the giant pillow of white clouds like a Care Bear (Shameless Care Bear promotion #1).
The three of us stayed there and took photos until batteries were dead and memory cards were full. It was also Jackie’s first trip up Highway 39 so she was all like “No Way!?” and Ryan and I were both like “Way!”. This was easily the best either Ryan or myself had ever seen it up there. Not bad for a days “work”.
Note- This time of year gets dark really early and its not uncommon to see extremely high variation in temperature when you start near sea level and get high up in Angeles National Forest (anyone that rode the Mudfoot Hump Hundo knows that!). That being said, of course, I didn’t bring a jacket or leg/knee warmers! Its seems like every year I get caught out once or twice before learning. Lots of people are making really great handlebar mounted bags that can fit warmer clothes, food, cameras etc. This climb is most certainly a ride that requires all of said things.
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Follow Ryan on Instagram and at his Tumblr and follow Sean on Instagram and his Tumblr, Team Dream Team.
