Angeles National Forest

L.A. County sheriff’s deputies rescued a female hiker Monday after she fell 20 feet over a waterfall in the Angeles National Forest, authorities reported. The hiker, whose condition was unknown, could not move and had to hoisted out of Hermit Falls by a search-and-rescue helicopter. The incident occurred about 12:10 p.m. Deputies said there have been seven rescues in the Hermit Falls area this year, including one on Friday.

Two roads that were closed during the weekend's winter storm will reopen Monday, Los Angeles County officials announced. The county shut down portions of the Angeles Forest Highway and Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road because of snow and icy conditions but planned to reopen them by 5 p.m. Monday. The storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow at the higher elevations. Motorists can get updates on these and other road closures at www.dpwcare.org . -- Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times

L.A. County sheriff's homicide detectives have placed a security hold on details surrounding the death of a man whose body was found near the base of a waterfall at Vasquez Creek in Big Tujunga Canyon. Hikers found the body Saturday at 6:30 p.m. near the base of the falls in Angeles National Forest and notified the Crescenta Valley sheriff's station. "The body was found in a difficult-to-reach area concealed from view by heavy brush," officials said. Due to the approaching darkness and danger to Los Angeles County Sheriff's search and rescue team members, rescuers waited until Sunday to recover the man's body.

Los Angeles County firefighters were responding to a brush fire Monday night in the Angeles National Forest near Azusa. _________________________ FOR THE RECORD: This version corrects the headline. _________________________ Arriving fire crews reported about half an acre of brush burning as flames moved uphill near 22550 E. Fork Road, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.  L.A. NOW

Search-and-rescue crews were combing an area of the Angeles National Forest on Tuesday for three missing hikers. The Los Angeles men, ages 32, 45 and 50, left for a hike in the Devil's Canyon-Mt. Waterman area of the San Gabriel Mountains about 9 a.m. Sunday and were expected to return by 5 or 6 p.m., said Steve Goldsworthy, a volunteer with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deptartment's Montrose Search and Rescue Team. Family members reported them missing about 10:45 p.m. Sunday after they failed to return home.  L.A. NOW

In the second fatality in as many days, a woman died after her car went over the side of a road in the Angeles National Forest early Sunday, authorities said. A witness at the Coldwater Campground reported seeing a blue Honda go off the road near mile marker 32 on San Gabriel Canyon Road at about 2:27 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol. The name of the victim, a woman between 40 and 50 years old, has not been released. CHP Officer Jennifer Connolly said she could not say whether the car had any other occupants.

On a sweltering morning deep in the San Gabriel Mountains, Katie VinZant donned work gloves and boots, hoisted a pickax and began bashing alien species. The 31-year-old botanist enjoys a Sunday in the Angeles National Forest as much as the next person. But when it comes to weeds that have colonized and multiplied since the 2009 Station fire, she's a terminator. Slender and trim in a T-shirt, grubby pants and tattered straw sombrero, VinZant swiped the sweat stinging her eyes.

The U.S. Forest Service has tapped Thomas Contreras to be supervisor of Angeles National Forest, where he has been serving on an interim basis for several months. “I welcome the opportunity to manage one of the most heavily used urban forests within the nation,” Contreras said in a statement. The park recently reopened campgrounds and more than 100 miles of hiking trails after months of rehabilitation following the massive Station fire, which scorched wide swaths of landscape.

State Sen. Carol Liu (D-La Cañada Flintridge) introduced legislation Tuesday to increase cooperation between the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and the Angeles National Forest. Liu's bill, SB 238, would allow the superintendent of the Angeles National Forest to vote as a conservancy board member on projects located in or adjacent to the forest and projects that would substantially affect the forest. Currently, forest superintendent Thomas Contreras is a non-voting board member of the conservancy.

Authorities on Wednesday identified the human remains found in the Angeles National Forest earlier this month as a missing Glendale man, according to sheriff's officials. The body of Nicholas Carter, 25, was found on Jan. 19 near mile marker 2.72 on Big Tujunga Canyon Road, according to Lt. Mike Rosson with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau. An autopsy showed that Carter had been beaten to death, Rosson said. “It's being investigated as a homicide,” he added.

Officials announced plans to reopen mountain roads in the Angeles National Forest at 10 a.m. Thursday after they were closed for overnight snow and icy conditions. The sections of road scheduled to reopen are: Angeles Forest Highway from Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road to Aliso Canyon Road, and Upper Big Tujunga Canyon Road, from Angeles Forest Highway to the Angeles Crest Highway, according to the Los Angeles County Public Works Department. A chance of rain and colder than normal temperatures are expected to continue through early next week, according to the National Weather Service.

A winter storm cell moving over the region dropped hail and caused minor flooding in La Cañada Flintridge Thursday afternoon. Flooding was reported at a home in the 5400 block of Godbey Drive in La Cañada, said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Tom Richards. A patrol vehicle was at the home, where flooding appeared to minor, he added. Fast-moving water flowed down Ocean View Boulevard and into the nearby Mullaly flood control basin, but there appeared to be little mud or debris coming down from this hillsides, Crescenta Valley Sheriff's Station Sgt. Debra Herman said around 3 p.m. Weather forecasters issued a flash flooding alert until 4:45 p.m. as the storm passed overhead, bringing with it hail, lightning and periodic downpours across the region, including in Glendale.

The bear that wandered over the 210 Freeway and into Montrose early Sunday morning has been tranquilized and is being taken back into the Angeles National Forest. The bear was sedated around 10:30 a.m. after it had been seen in the area of Florencita Lane and Montrose Drive. It had already been loaded into the back of a truck by 11 a.m. Officials were unsure if it was male or female. It did not harm any humans or damage any property. The animal was first sighted around 7:30 a.m., according to officials with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Fire crews were battling a 4,000-acre brush fire Monday morning in rugged terrain in the Angeles National Forest as the blaze forced officials to shut down the popular San Gabriel Canyon to Labor Day visitors. The Williams fire was just 5% contained as hundreds of firefighters from several agencies were trying to stop the forward progress of the flames, which sent a towering plume of smoke that could be seen for miles. Flames Monday morning were threatening mobile homes and other structures at the Camp Williams resort on the east fork of the San Gabriel River, the U.S. Forest Service said.

Fire crews from Los Angeles, Glendale, Los Angeles County and the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday converged on a hillside above Sunland for a joint firefighting exercise just days after three brush fires broke across the Southland. The fires were sparked on the same the U.S. Forest Service raised the fire danger level at Angeles National Forest from “high” to “very high.” Officials have also warned that tender dry vegetation, combined with extreme heat, has increased the threat of brush fires.

With vegetation drying out and warmer temperatures bearing down on the Southland, officials today raised the fire threat level for Angeles National Forest to “very high.” U.S. Forest Service officials are asking the more than 1 million people who are expected to visit Angeles National Forest “to use common sense" and be aware of the increased risks of sparking a fire. Open wood and charcoal fires will only be allowed in developed campgrounds and picnic areas where fire rings and grills are available.

L.A. County sheriff's homicide detectives have placed a security hold on details surrounding the death of a man whose body was found near the base of a waterfall at Vasquez Creek in Big Tujunga Canyon. Hikers found the body Saturday at 6:30 p.m. near the base of the falls in Angeles National Forest and notified the Crescenta Valley sheriff's station. "The body was found in a difficult-to-reach area concealed from view by heavy brush," officials said. Due to the approaching darkness and danger to Los Angeles County Sheriff's search and rescue team members, rescuers waited until Sunday to recover the man's body.

As the public regains access to a huge swath of the fire-damaged Angeles National Forest, officials say attention will now focus on areas that are more difficult to rehabilitate. Forest supervisors reopened 41,000 acres to the public over Memorial Day weekend, but some 46,000 acres remain off limits, three years after the Station fire ripped across the mountain range. At a meeting last week, officials said they hope to open another large chunk of land later this year. “We've been focusing on lower-hanging fruit...and haven't been up [there]