Lake Hughes

There’s a sign at the entrance to the area encompassing Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth where Johnson Road meets Elizabeth Lake Road that well sums up the ethos of this area. Welcome To The Lakes, it reads. Where Nature Is Your Neighbor. Living in Lake Hughes is at once an exercise in rugged western-style independence and an experience of the sublime beauty of one of the country's most stunning landscapes. “It’s very lush and lovely,” says Michelle Pendergrast, a licensed Broker Associate with Keller Williams Antelope Valley. But locals says that landscape is changing. With wildfires in 2020 over a 25,000-acre area and severe drought that has seen perennial lakes and riverbeds run dry from time to time, there’s never been a more necessary time to band together as a community and this is what residents of “The Lakes” have done. “The community really relies on each other because it’s separated from most areas,” says Pendergrast.

The neighborhood of Lake Hughes is known for the arid wildness of the Angeles National Forest that surrounds it. Nature here is unlike nature in other parts of the country. Pine, juniper and Joshua trees dot the dry hills, lending a washed-out color to the landscape except when spring comes and an array of wild poppies springs up everywhere you look. And despite the fact that some of those hills are charred and blackened from recent fires, new saplings are growing and new residents are moving in. “They’re recovering strongly from the fires,” says Pendergrast. Several plots of land in developments slated for construction are for sale in Lake Hughes, some of them on the lake, at prices between $20,000 to $300,000. For under $300,000 you can find a one-bedroom bungalow on a third of an acre, a two-bedroom high ranch-style home on the side of a hill or an historic cabin made of rocks in need of a little love. For under $750,000 you’ll find sprawling three-bedroom ramblers on 20 acres running up the side of a mountain covered in chapparal leading up toward a never-ending sky of blue.

Outdoor recreation is big here and residents recommend various spots. The Pacific Crest Trail runs along the southern border of Lake Hughes. It’s not uncommon to see tanned, sinewy thru-hikers detouring into town for supplies or crossing Lake Hughes Road on their way north to Canada. The Castaic Falls Trail is the site of a popular local swimming hole. The trailhead requires a 10-mile drive into the Angeles Forest from the neighborhood, but it’s well worth it. Other nearby places include the Shadowland Foundation wolf sanctuary, which is an amazing place to glimpse these famously reclusive creatures up close, and The Painted Turtle, an overnight ranch camp established by the Paul Newman Foundation for terminally ill children. The Rock Inn is probably the most famous place around here. Built in the early 20th century out of – you guessed it – rocks gathered from nearby canyons and riverbeds, the restaurant and bar started out as the Lake Hughes Trading Post. In 1975, an actor renovated it and now it’s a popular place for locals and motorcycle riders out for a spin to stop for burgers and cold drinks. On weekends there’s live music.

Hughes-Elizabeth Lakes Elementary School has a B grade for its overall performance and an A for its teachers on school rankings website Niche. The Gregg Anderson Academy in next-door Palmdale has an overall grade of B plus despite an average class size of 25. The hardworking teachers in this school received an A minus on the site. Highland High School scored a B plus for its college preparatory curriculum. Many of the locals work at the nearby Edwards Air Force Base, which has an outpost of NASA. There is also a classified Air Force manufacturing facility in Palmdale where aircraft makers such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing operate. State roads will take you to the 5 freeway in Santa Clarita or the 15 in San Bernadino. It takes a special kind of person to live in The Lakes, but once you’re there you won’t be alone.

Written By

Abbot Street

Photography Contributed By

Joseph Choo

Video By

Remi Cox