We started by exploring some dirt roads on the southwest of the sprawl that looked promising on the map, but they seemed to mostly dead-end at locked ranch gates. We tooled around there for a while before we were finally put off by the mountains of trash, piles of furniture and garbage bags, demo-ed construction debris, baby stuff, clothing, plastic toys... I'm amazed this photo doesn't include any of that litter while it does capture some mixed feelings.
We finally took to the empty four-lane boulevard, then more dirt, some abandoned pavement, then trail, and a crossing through a paved drainage ditch (or a creek?) to get to another dirt area a local bike shop had recommended. The best reward for taking their advice was coming upon this part of the California aqueduct, fantastically flat and floating way above the urban landscape.
I'm afraid I'd have to agree with a friend that "dystopian" is the way to describe Palmdale. But until we are better clued into the hidden gems here we can at least recommend these two positives: The Squeaky Wheel is a solid, friendly bike shop, and we did find some great Thai food.
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