The above depicts part of why those of us living in Topanga found the drive home yesterday evening a bit more interesting and eventful than usual.
I estimate that I came up Topanga about 30 minutes after this video was shot, by which time it was getting dark, the water was deeper, and the rain was far more…energetic.
There was no question that we had to turn around, SUV or no SUV. Some of us tried to use Old Topanga Canyon as a alternate route—our intention to take Old Canyon to the SF valley, hoping to then come back up Topanga Canyon from the north. But about a mile or two into our new route, we ran into a fallen tree that blocked both lanes.
What to do? The only other option was a retreat back through Old Canyon then take Topanga back down to Pacific Coast Highway and perhaps to the 10, then the 405 to the 101. But this seemed unwise, as lower Topanga was getting scarily close to impassable when I’d come up the canyon an hour earlier. After about 45 minutes of collective consternation as to what possible route we could use to get to our respective houses, one of my fellow Topangans remembered he had a chainsaw in the back of his vehicle. Urged on by neighborly cheering, he put the thing to good use and 15 minutes later still we were able to get through.
In any case, the video is worth watching if—for no other reason— for the Dude-oriented narration.