What's up guys? Welcome back to Vagabrothers.
In this episode, we're partnering with Toyota
for a road trip in their new
Rav4 Hybrid. We've been stuck
in the city for the last couple weeks,
so Toyota has challenged us to get out
to explore the unknown
to see how much we can discover on one tank of gas.
So we're going to pile in to our new ride
and head somewhere that we've never been before
the San Gabriel Mountains. Let's roll.
So the adventure has begun. We are on the freeway
and I'm excited because the San Gabriel
Mountains feel like the backdrop
to Los Angeles, but I don't know anyone
who has been there. And I certainly don't know much about it myself.
I do know that it was recently made
a national monument, not just for
its unique biodiversity, but also
for the contribution it has made to
California's history. The first stop
we have is right here in the San Gabriel Valley
at the original Spanish mission that laid
the foundation for modern Los Angeles.
The San Gabriel Mountains get their
name from the San Gabriel Mission,
which was built as part of a series of
twenty one missions built by Franciscan missionaries
in the 1700s. I think this one was founded
in 1771. They are all
a day's journey apart. It was
part of the colonization of California
And it actually lent the name to
the Gabreleño Native American tribe
who were called the Tongva before that
and lead the way to the foundation of
Los Angeles as we know today.
So now we know a bit more about the back round of the mountains,
and we're going to go up there right now and find out
what we can see ourselves.
We've just arrived into the small town of
Mt Baldy, at the base of
Mt Baldy. We're checking into the little
Mt Baldy Lodge here. We have a cabin
for the night, and
I think we're just going to try
to climb up somewhere with a good view
to catch the sunset because we only have about another hour
of light.
But it's chill.
It's definitely like a little mountain town.
And so close to L.A. Who would have thought?
The original inhabitants of this area
were the Tongva people, and they lived
in thatched houses like this.
They would stay in the valleys, the valley
floors in the winter where it was a bit more mild.
And in the summer they would go up to
the top of the mountains to hunt
for deer; to forage for wild fruits
and enjoy summers at the
top of the mountains.
It's so gorgeous here. Los Angeles
is behind me
somewhere down there,
and it's crazy to think that
14 million people live
at the base of this mountain range,
and there's not a single soul up here.
Good morning. It's day two, and the plot thickens.
Over night the power went out.
There's no cell phone service.
And with no power,
that means no wifi !!!
and no hot water
for the showers.
All right. We're driving up to the base
of Mt Baldy. We're going to park the car,
and we're going to make an attempt on the
summit. Mt Baldy is about 10 and 1/2
thousand feet. It's one of the biggest mountains
in Southern California. Ready Bro?
Oh yeah.
The Mines of Moria!
We must go over the mountains, Frodo!
Speaking of
mines, he's not that far off. There's actually
a lot of gold in these hills. California
became part of the United States right during
the gold rush. So in the 1860s,
there were tons of people who came out here
to prospect for gold. They actually made
a lot of fortunes. Mining was made illegal about 100
years ago. But rumors have it that
there are still some rebellious souls who come up here
to try their luck
sifting for gold in the rivers.
Well after about
two hours of climbing, we've made it
to the top. It's already about noon.
Take a breather. Take in the view.
It's lunch time. We're going to have some apples
rehydrate and head back down the mountain
and see what else
we can discover in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Let's go
All right. Let's do it!
Well to round out this adventure,
we've come to Mt. Lowe
It's a little more west than Mt Baldy, but
this place is unique. We've heard rumors
of an abandoned hotel and
an abandoned railroad
that's hidden up here in the mountains
a couple miles in.
We raced down from Mt Baldy,
and we're going to try our best
to make it up to this abandoned hotel
before the sunset.
We've got a 5 mile hike. Let's hit it
Pretty intense
The trail is kind of washed out down here.
There is a
little section of the rope that we're going to have to climb.
Thank you, Sir.
Whoa
Wow
That is a view right there.
We are an hour and a half up the road
You can see the city of Pasadena below us,
but we are shrouded in mist. It feels
like another part of the world.
And that's exactly why we're coming up here.
We're looking for a Victorian
hotel that was built in the 1880s,
which was a period very similar to our own.
People were living in cities
in large numbers for the very first time,
and they wanted to get back to nature.
They connected the hotels with the rest of the train system
with funicular and street cars
that went all the way from San Pedro and Union Station
up to these remote mountains.
But eventually these hotels either went out of business,
burnt down or washed away in floods.
We're going to go up this trail to see if
we can find any remants from this bygone era.
I had no idea
that any thing like this
existed in the mountains
that you see every single day when you live in LA
We've been through all the different layers of civilization
from the Tongva to the Spanish
to the gold miners and now
up here. It just goes to show
you can take for granted what is in your
own backyard. ECHO
There's kind of an erie vibe to these
mountains. There's a lot of stuff that
was built here and failed for some reason
or another and
there are ruins scattered
all through out these mountains
and stuff that was completely unknown to us
before we decided to come up here.
Big thanks to Toyota for hooking it up
with the Rav4 Hybrid
send us on this little mission.
We did it all on less than a tank of gas.
Less than half a tank.
If you guys enjoyed this video, give it a thumbs-up,
subscribe to Vagabrothers
for more travel videos every Tuesday and share it with
your friends. In the meantime stay curious,
keep exploring, and we'll see
you guys on the road. Peace
You ready to hike
out of here? Let's do it.
Don't forget
the back pack.
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