Crystal lake San Gab mountains.

[old pudd fisher]

Anyone been there lately? Been a long time for me. I looked it up on Goggle Earth and its looking pretty small. I remember how it was in the 1950s and 60s it was a small little lake back then even but had a lot more water with trout and boat rentals too it was a fun outing in those days. A few pics of the days that I found.4939149392493934939449395

[fishmounter]

I have not fished there for years. Last visit there the trout fishing wasn't very good, but the Green Sunfish that we caught were some of the largest I've ever seen! There were some of those huge Bullfrog Tadpoles along the shorelines in the early summertime. It was a fun place to visit back then, but don't know much about it now.

[Viejo]

Keep your memories of those times. It is nothing like you remember and with current direction of the Forest and Monument management (or lack of) will never be again.

[basssturd]

I remember sitting on the roof of that lake store and fishing for trout back in the 70s , water was pretty high back then.... matter of fact so was I lmao

[old pudd fisher]

Took a drive up there today just to check it out, lots of snow and got turned back a mile from the lake because of ice on the road. But it was a nice little drive.495334953449535

[B@$$[P][M][P]]

Nice pictures!

[carpanglerdude]

Took a drive up there today just to check it out, lots of snow and got turned back a mile from the lake because of ice on the road. But it was a nice little drive.495334953449535

Wow that is a lot of snow! Hope it makes it way through the creeks all year and keep 'em flowing nicely. Hopefully will get a good spawn in this year and fill up the little creeks with trout (here's to hoping !)

[Marley]

............Hopefully will get a good spawn in this year and fill up the little creeks with trout (here's to hoping !)

Here, here!

[troutdog]

Nice old skool pictures, thanks for sharing OPF!


TD

[Lightning]

If you'd like something similar to what you remember Crystal Lake to be, you might want to check out Jenks Lake near Angelus Oaks . Beautiful little lake in a nice mountain setting.

[old pudd fisher]

If you'd like something similar to what you remember Crystal Lake to be, you might want to check out Jenks Lake near Angelus Oaks . Beautiful little lake in a nice mountain setting.

Thanks Lightning it is beautiful, I like it in the summer months the best.

[Old Hooker]

Interesting fact - Crystal Lake is the only natural lake in the San Gabriel Mountains. The constant source of water had been some springs up near the old campground and general store that were redirected into a pipe that fed the lake and sustained water levels. We had looked into doing a restoration and reconfiguring the old pipe into a waterfall/stream of sorts for aeration and optics.
Unfortunately seismic movements have caused the springs to shift and would require drilling to regain the water from the ground. We met with the Angeles Forest folks but they pretty much saw recreation as a nuisance and would just as soon see a gate across San Gabriel Canyon. That's one of the reasons why the road has never been cleared to reach Angeles Crest Highway. Ultimately USFS is really only interested in their "cash cow" - ground leases on Mt. Wilson for all the media/communications antennae arrays.

[Viejo]

Interesting fact - Crystal Lake is the only natural lake in the San Gabriel Mountains. The constant source of water had been some springs up near the old campground and general store that were redirected into a pipe that fed the lake and sustained water levels. We had looked into doing a restoration and reconfiguring the old pipe into a waterfall/stream of sorts for aeration and optics.
Unfortunately seismic movements have caused the springs to shift and would require drilling to regain the water from the ground. We met with the Angeles Forest folks but they pretty much saw recreation as a nuisance and would just as soon see a gate across San Gabriel Canyon. That's one of the reasons why the road has never been cleared to reach Angeles Crest Highway. Ultimately USFS is really only interested in their "cash cow" - ground leases on Mt. Wilson for all the media/communications antennae arrays.

You're half right. I agree that Rec has taken a back seat with the way Forests have to dip into other segments budgets due to Fire Borrowing. Budgets for this forests have been slashed and slashed again. Recreation....in the case of the Angeles...is where tens of thousands come to the forest to recreate each weekend...is a bare bones affair. A look at the canyon on Monday after a busy summer weekend shows just how skimpy their maintenance. Granted, the folks recreating shouldn't dump those amazing volumes of trash. Oh, USFS has nothing to do with the road going through to Highway 2. That is strictly a CalTrans deal. They've tried but they can't keep the road clear of rock falls. They did a study and the cost of reopening it and keeping it open was simply not in the cards.