Peace and Tranquility when you’ve reached the Boiling Point…
Having started our Funday Monday excursion in Santa Clarita, elevation 1,207 feet, and now leaving the community of Agua Dulce behind, elevation 2,526 feet, and heading toward Acton, we begin the 6% grade that will take us up to the Boiling Point summit at 3,160 feet or 1/2 mile above sea level.
That maximum 6% grade played a big role in a very important and expensive 1916 decision. With three dirt roads leading from Saugus to Palmdale, Bouquet Cyn, San Francisquito Cyn, and Mint Cyn, the California Highway Commission choose Mint Cyn Rd, later Sierra Hwy, as the first road to have “asphaltic” surfacing at a cost of $563,000 plus another $20,000 for the bridge over the Santa Clara River, and that’s in 1916 dollars. Wow!
With automotive antifreeze and coolant not invented until 1926, and not affordable and widely used until World War II, you can see how the Boiling point got its name. Many an early car did not make the grade between Saugus and Palmdale without overheating and boiling over.
But… What we find just East of the Boiling Point Summit is truly Peace and Tranquility in the desert and what a unique find it is. Having traveled this road most of my life including school bus rides twice a day, five days a week, from Agua Dulce to Acton, I can always remember the unique rock archway near the Boiling Point and wondering where it leads.
In 1931, John and Fred Off, gave 40 acres near the Boiling Point, in memory of their mother, to their mother’s friend Arglee Green, founder of the Christ Faith Mission Church in Highland Park, Ca.
The Christ Faith Mission Mountain Home of Acton was established the following year as a Full Gospel Interdenominational Christian Church Retreat. Built entirely from local stone as a “labor of love” by family and guests, and designed as a getaway from the “big city,” each building from the chapel to guest houses, to even the gateway entrance, is truly beautiful and unique.
Tucked away up the side of the mountain, far from the highway and completely enclosed by trees, the only sound you hear upon arrival is the rustle of the breeze thru the surrounding junipers.
Some come to fast and pray for a few days or weeks, others just to get away from the hustle and bustle for a few hours, but for all, it is a spiritually reviving experience… Total peace and total tranquility in the desert, mission accomplished.
What a beautifully unique and amazing find after all these years! Happy October to all. Stay safe.
