Glendora unincorporated, CA

Most of unincorporated Glendora is canyon, chaparral and steep ground in the San Gabriel foothills of Los Angeles County, with only a scattering of private homes along its lower edges. The city streets stop at its boundary, and above that line the land belongs mostly to the county and to federal forest. The part most people actually visit is Big Dalton Canyon Wilderness Park, a county-run canyon where a shaded creek path, a small campground and a dam from the late 1920s all sit within a short walk of each other. The research forest next door stays closed, so the public side is smaller than a map makes it look. The other way in is Glendora Mountain Road, a long, winding climb that road cyclists treat as a training ride and that leads toward the higher San Gabriels. For a shorter workout, Colby Trail starts from the top of the city's northern streets and climbs straight into the same hills. Homes here are few and far apart, mostly tucked where the canyon roads leave the city grid. The neighborhoods people actually live in are the foothill streets just below, inside city limits, where houses back up to the same slopes and share the same views. Coffee, dinner and groceries all mean driving down the mountain. Glendora Public Market on Arrow Highway is the easy stop, with Penny Coffee Roaster pouring espresso and several food counters under one roof, and the supermarkets on Foothill Boulevard handle the weekly shop. There are no stores, hardly any sidewalks and few neighbors, and every errand is a trip down to the valley floor. In exchange, the slopes look out over the whole valley, from the rooftops of town out to the far side of the basin.