Perseverance and tenacity are community’s hallmark

Challenges are not new to the Chilao community.  Perched five thousand feet above the Los Angeles basin, with a La Canada zip code and a completely different flavor, the last five years have presented more than their fair share of challenges to the residents,  regulars and proprietors who hold a stake in the crown jewel of the Angeles National Forest.

Even the very essence of the term “community” has been put to the test, and the outcome has not always been certain.

In August 2009, the Station Fire burned out of control through the Angeles, consuming roughly 161,000 acres, including all but one residence in the Cal Trans maintenance yard and just under half of Chilao Campground.  It scorched the flanks of Mt. Wilson and its flames licked the edges of Haramokngna American Indian Cultural Center.  In Big Tujunga Canyon, scores of homes were lost; at Mt. Gleason, two Los Angeles County Firefighters lost their lives, and throughout the forest, USFS fire stations fell to the flames.  

Behind the scenes and beyond the reach of reporters, there were some unsung heroes whose efforts, before and during the fire, played a role in what did not burn…Newcombs Ranch Restaurant, Waterman Ski Area, Chilao Station, Chilao School, Chilao Visitors Center, and the secluded community that lay beyond the boundaries of the paved campground roads.

It was the aftermath of the fire that would devastate lives and businesses.  There was no electricity in Chilao for eighteen months (Darren Martinelli of Newcombs Ranch can tell you to the day, and probably the hour, how long it took for power to be restored).  The forest was closed to all visitors, and even residents and USFS employees were not allowed in the burn areas. 

Almost as soon as the fire was contained, the wet season began…and there actually was one.  The first two winters following the Station Fire put a generous helping of precipitation down, causing Highway 2 to collapse just ten days after Baltazar Contractors announced the grand re-opening of the road.  After that first catastrophic storm, the highway would remain closed until the spring of 2011.

Dr. Frederick Rundall, the owner of Newcomb’s, was about to concede defeat.  The once popular destination resembled a ghost town.  Employees remained out of nothing more than loyalty, and love for the mountain.  

The winter of 2010/2011 also brought rain, and snow to Mt. Waterman, a popular local ski area also devastated by road and forest closures.  For a brief period the mountain was open for skiing, with visitors accessing the slopes via Angeles Forest Highway and Upper Big Tujunga Canyon.

And then came the drought.  Although it only made popular news in the 2013/2014 winter, the drought cycle began in 2011, and it has hit the Chilao community particularly hard, both in lack of precipitation and loss of recreation revenue.  Fire season ceased once - for less than a week - with the rains that came in March.  They were followed by hot, dry, windy conditions that quickly stripped away the surface moisture.  It did snow at Mount Waterman…about ten inches worth, which was melted by 1 PM the following day.  

It was enough, however, to give the forest a fleeting flush of green, and in the absence of moisture, the irresistible allure of Highway 2 began to work its magic, every weekend a little more.  The once-familiar roar of finely tuned engines returned.  The sounds of laughter interrupts the calls of birds from the campgrounds.  Bicyclists ply the rough pavement and hikers ply the trails, and the parking lot at Newcombs glistens with animated displays of brilliant paint and polished chrome.

A hundred yards north of the parking lot, a three bedroom cabin stands ready for occupancy.  One very fortunate lessee will soon be able to watch the sun rise from their private, expansive balcony, walk to Newcomb’s for breakfast and view a canopy of green trees from every window.  Owned by the Rundall family, the cabin’s renovations have been put on hold for the past five years.  The rustic, open beam residence will be offered for lease this summer.

At last, perseverance and tenacity are offering their rewards.  

These aren’t character traits new to the neighborhood, however.  They are traits inherited and learned from previous generations of mountain people, “the true pioneers” as Mary Hensley referred to them on June 7, at the first - and fiftieth - reunion of Chilao Mountain School.  

Mary could well consider herself among those pioneers.  The Hensley family, and particularly her late husband Ed Hensley, were responsible for much of what remains in Chilao today, including the school itself.  The school was built in 1963 to serve the rural community, when La Canada Unified School District suggested that the children of the mountain should be sent to Aqua Dulce for their education.  The community banded together, forming the Angeles Crest Community Association, Inc. and offered another alternative; the creation of a suitable school house in Chilao.  

“We always faced challenges” Mary explained to a multi-generational group, including former Chilao Mountain School students, principles, counselors and mountain residents. “We always had people from down in the city trying to tell us what to do.  And when we were faced with challenges, we called a meeting, and we came here, to this school, and we worked out our own solution, as a community.”

Mary credits the “real pioneers” - the Newcomb family, the Tait and Lobo families, the Loomis family - those who built the roads and created the first enterprises in the forest, for setting a model of strength, independence and community that future generations followed.

Independence and community.  They seem, at first, unlikely bed fellows.  Yet they appear to be the hallmark characteristic of those tenacious modern pioneers who have endured fires and floods, politics and peril…and next, hopefully, a wet El Nino…in the mountains above Los Angeles.