Nestled in the beautiful San Gabriel Mountains and sandwiched between San Gabriel Canyon Road to the west and Mount Baldy Road to the east are a couple of roads that aren’t direct routes to anyway. As far as evidence suggests, the main reason for Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) and Glendora Ridge Road (GRR) is for motorcyclists to have fun. GMR connects the city of Glendora to the south to the northern tip of the San Gabriel Reservoir via East Fork Road, and GRR branches off north to Mount Baldy Village roughly halfway along GMR. To experience both roads fully you’ll need to go up and back on each, like scribing the outline of a three-pointed start. The route described starts in Glendora.
A good place to meet with riding buddies and start the route is a Shell gas station at the intersection of Route 66 and South Lone Hill Avenue just northwest of the 57 and 210 freeway interchange. From the gas station, head north of South Lone Hill and turn left on East Foothill Boulevard, make a right on North Valley Center Avenue, a left on Sierra Madre Avenue and then a quick right on Glendora Mountain Road. After riding past an equestrian center there are some mild kinks before you reach the first of many hairpin turns as the road climbs steeply. To help ensure you stay in your lane, keep your speeds low and your eyes focused through the turn. The tightness of the curves is inconsistent so don’t be lulled into complacency when the curves open up as the road will throw another hairpin at you. After reaching the top of the road it’ll head downhill slightly until you reach Horse Canyon Saddle where Glendora Mountain Road meets Glendora Ridge Road. As you’ll pass this point three times on the route, you don’t need to stop now but certainly do at some point as both sides of the saddle offer amazing views.
At the saddle, keep to the left to continue on GMR, the road races downhill like a helter-skelter with approximately 60 turns in five miles as it clings to the west side of the mountain, ending in a left hairpin when the road becomes East Fork Road. After all the excitement, you’ll want to continue on East Fork Road for a little over a mile to stop at the Camp Williams Café that sits aside the East Fork of the San Gabriel River. After refreshments, head back up GMR but this time turn left onto Glendora Ridge Road at Horse Canyon Saddle. You’ll immediately notice there is no center divider on GRR and there isn’t one for the entire route. Because of this you’ll want to keep on your side of the road and very conservatively so, especially when navigating blind right-handers, as cagers coming from the opposite direction probably won’t. There are, however, a couple of sections where you have a full view of multiple curves ahead which allow you to relax a bit and provide a glorious sense of anticipated fun. As the road follows the ridge, the curves are fairly consistent but do throw the occasional tight turn in to keep you on your toes and the twists become more aggressive at about the mid-point of the road.
When you reach the high point of the road at Sunset Peak South Trailhead, GRR slinks downhill to meet with Mount Baldy Road at Mount Baldy Village. Hang a left and ride ¼ mile to the Mount Baldy Lodge for refreshments. There’re a few parking spots just before and just after the Lodge on the right side of the road but more on the other side. The lodge was built in 1914 eight years after the founding of the village and has wonderful charm and great food. You could just ride south on Mount Baldy Road, but to get the full route experience, head back the same way on GRR and then at Horse Canyon Saddle turn left onto GMR to get back to Glendora. The route may seem convoluted, but you’ll be very hard pressed to find a way to navigate approximately 600 turns in about 60 miles, or in other terms, 10 turns per mile.
See the route at and Enjoy!
