Upper Big Tujunga Canyon

Intersection where ACH and Upper BTC meet

Imagine the two Big Tujunga Canyons (BTC) as twin brothers, but Upper BTC popped out of the womb two minutes early and staked a claim on the best tit. Throughout Upper's life, the big brother felt like it had it made. Upper had everything handed to it: well-paved roads, plenty of scenery, and long stretches of road where it can flaunt its American muscle.

Upper BTC stretches between Angeles Forest Highway and Angeles Crest Highway, connecting the two. There are some auxiliary roads on its long stretch, but its only purpose is to connect the two highways and nothing more. The road does not connect to "Lower" Big Tujunga Canyon in any way.

The road is in excellent condition, and loose gravel and rocks are usually sparse compared to other touges with the exception of any rain or ground shakes. Like a brother who inherited the clear skin gene, the county decided to spend their efforts to keep this road well-maintained compared to "lower" BTC, so good tires on this road will not be wasted.

This is truly the road for those out there that have a lot of ponies under the hood as this is the kind of touge that wants fast cars on it. With maybe one or two exceptions, most corners on this touge are high-speed. Anyone with grippy tires can clear most of the corners at around 80MPH (not that I'm suggesting anything). 

Each corner feels a little lazy, like driving through a slight bend on the freeway commuting to work or a sloth calling an Uber to go to the next branch. Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing; however, keep in mind that I drive a four-banger that goes toot-toot. If I had nearly double the horsepower, I'm sure I would be flying through this touge at 100 plus (not that I recommend that). 

Now, that's not to say this isn't a fun road because it can be. It's just that I prefer the more twisty touges out there compared to the high-speed ones. What really grabs your attention on this touge is the beautiful scenery. Thus, that's the real reason to go through. It's the perfect cruising road where you can relax a bit and take in the magical splendor of southern California without the wretched smog that blankets the rest of the region.

Throw the car into fifth gear, put on some good tunes, and have a nice friend (of any persuasion) to ride along with you. The road connects fairly uphill to ACH, so it's a great cruise to get into the next good road where all the good, fun stuff happens.

In the end, it's a nice little touge to run in the 90s.