FUN rock scrambling at almost 45 degrees! It was slightly out of the way on our drive to LA but I…read morewanted to come here for a long time. A lot of movies, music videos, and TV have been filmed here, often to depict otherworldly alien landscape, it was in a couple episodes of Star Trek and the gift shop has some Star Trek related merchandise. You can park right next to the famous rocks and go climbing up, this is my favorite type of park since there are no guardrails or fences, you can go where you want. Be careful though, the ranger told us the week before we went someone got scared coming down and broke their ankle and had to be airlifted out, remember it's always easy to climb up than it is to climb down. Toward the back of the famous rocks are some nice boulders and a hike you can go on, some of these rocks look like animals or faces and is worth checking out if the famous ones are too crowded. The witches hat is a bit hard to find but go to the visitor center and it's walkable from there. The rangers can help you find it, there are also animals in the different sheds you can check out.

Came on a weekday afternoon. They have four parking lots. Free entry, free parking…read more Place was not busy at all. The trails were not clearly marked. The Nature Heritage Trail was pretty straightforward and easy. Was recommended by the staff on the Bobcat Trail. The Bobcat Trail wasn't hard and the view was amazing. Recommend hiking shoes if you do the Bobcat Trail. Also, recommend wearing long pants and closed toe shoes. There were narrow trails and bushes that could cut skin. There were a few picnic tables. Trails were not shaded. The Interpretive Center was small, but pretty cool as they had a very active snake on display. Overall, great place to hike. They have different trail lengths. Would come back.

I stopped celebrating New Year's Eve years ago because of the loud fireworks that affected all my…read morepets, and started a tradition of exploring a new trail every January 1st with my pups. This year, we headed toward Lake Elizabeth and began exploring the canyon trails. These trails were perfect! We started on Forest Road, right by the lake, and got onto Pacific Crest Trail. The trails are slightly bumpy in some spots and sandy in others, but overall, it wasn't too rough for my dogs. We spent about 1.5 hours trail driving before stopping for a hike. It was incredibly quiet, safe and peaceful. Some areas of the trail are quite narrow, but others have extra space to park and enjoy the view. It's a fantastic spot for hiking, off-road driving, and a picnic. The views of the mountains and lake are beautiful ! This review is not specific to the Grass Mtn but it is in this area and these trails will get you there. I loved this trail, will definitely be back and recommend it for any outdoor or off-road enthusiast. Happy New Year, everyone!

The shortest path to Grass Mountain is via the Pacific Crest Trail. The starting point is 0.6 miles…read moresouth of San Francisquito Canyon Pass on San Francisquito Canyon Road. We didn't take this route. Instead, we opted for the slightly longer and less steep version that starts at San Francisquito Canyon Pass where Leona Divide Fire Road intersects then heading 2.8 miles northwest with a 900' elevation change. Getting to the top is easy to follow due to the eponymous grassy field, pine and juniper trees, and cell towers at the summit. The buried power line in the road is another clue due to dozens of Edison pull boxes in the trail and the separate fire break that the soft and sandy road skirts. The wide fire break and unground electrical conduit shows a major effort to limit forest fires in this area. Perhaps authorities are being extra cautious to avoid another disaster in the same canyon where the St. Francis dam collapsed in 1928 resulting in 400+ fatalities. The treeless trail meant repeated views of the wind farms in the western Antelope Valley and San Francisquito Canyon with the town of Green Valley as the centerpiece. I'm interested in going back in the spring to see if color patches of the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve are visible. The peak was windy on our visit which I'd guess that is common. An unexpected bonus were the uplifted rock formations where the bulldozing that created the road exposed swirls of sedimentary layers. The open gate allowed access for vehicles to drive to Grass Mountain but passing could be tricky since the road is mostly the width of one big truck. We crossed paths with only one pickup truck which meant for a peaceful and undusty hike. Just barely within the boundary of the Angeles National Forest, a $5 Adventure Pass (or equivalent) is customary when parking on National Forest land.

"Jessie " lifeguard at Castaic Lake was exceptionally helpful and professional. He assisted my…read morehusband with trailering our boat at Castaic Lake and gave us clear directions to the showers and Aquatic Center beach area . We were on the west side of Lake . "Jessie"was super friendly and made our experience very pleasant. Thank you, Jessie. We were able to locate the showers on the aquatic center and it felt wonderful , being on the boat all day We actually had a blast getting clean for our drive home. What really impressed my family and I was Casta Lake had lifeguards on the water that frequently checked on us being available.

Everything went great at this place Well, organized and…read moreclean friendly atmosphere. All the best to management & crew.

This is little-known short trail that leads to a great big rocky outcrop with steep drop-offs and…read moresweeping views of Castaic Wilderness in the Angeles National Forest. The trail is 1 mile (there-and-back). The trailhead is located up the road and north of Castaic Lake, off of Lake Hughes Rd. Park in the dirt off the the side of the road. You'll see a narrow trail that follows the edge of the mountain. There are sections that are slightly overgrown. I walked slowly watching carefully for snakes. You'll see all kinds of wildflowers if you go in the spring. The recent rains has turned the vegetation green. There was long grass flowing in the wind. Once you reach the large rock outcrop you'll get to examine a number of small openings in the rock, peak into small caves and climb through a large slit in the middle of the rock formation. There's a real dangerous cliff-section where you need to use some caution and not let kids play unsupervised. Overall it's a fun trail with lots to see and explore. It's a nice teaser that will make you want to explore other trails in the area.

Over Thanksgiving weekend I wanted to get some fresh air and burn off a few holiday indulgences, so…read moreI found this great trail to hike with an excellent view of the Quartz Hill/Palmdale area. This is also a trail that memorializes a local hero (Sgt Steve Owen of the LA County Sheriff's Dept) that was gunned down and then executed by a parolee with a stolen gun during an attempted robbery. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sergeant-steve-owen-killed-20161006-snap-story.html The trail begins along the Palmdale aqueduct (a section really popular with runners and dog walkers) and then veers off to the right at about the 0.5 mile mark to begin the ascent to the first memorial bench on top of a lookout point. The out and back hike in total is short at 3.5 miles, with all of the elevation gain in little over a mile, so consider this more of a mini peak hike to get some morning exercise and take in a great view of the AV. There's ample free parking across the street from the trailhead and a porta potty. If you don't want to hike the hill, there's also the paved side of the Palmdale Aqueduct trail that's also accessible from this trailhead.

Nice little hike. Lots of trails. Good place for dogs. Watch out for snakes during seasonread more

First time camping here, very strict rules, music and socializing ends at 10:00 pm, ranger…read moreenforced. Showers are paid by quarters only, go prepared. We got on our friend's boat, was a nice experience.

We waited in line for 3 hours only to be told we couldn't take our brand new boat in. The sticker…read moretakes 30 days to get there but we had a picture that we were told would get us in. On top of the the reg cars and the boats were in the same line. You've got only 2 people but the line is 3 hours long. They are not proactively going to the cars with boats and making sure they can go in. They can easily have a line for reg cars and one for boats only. It was ridiculous to wait in such a long line and not be let in

Sucks that you have to park a mile and a half down the road because the closed gate, so don't…read moreforget to include that round-trip mileage when you're looking into the trail distance. The trail isn't my favorite, but it's well kept, and you will definitely EARN your reward of the lookout at the Summit! This is one of the few fire lookouts that is still actively demanded, and if they are there, you can go inside and look around and speak to them. Luckily, when we were there, we went up on top of the lookout and a California condo door came in circled us from about 30 yards away for about five minutes and that was just an amazing experience! So yes, go get your hike on and even though there is a Condor sanctuary nearby (not open to the public), you most likely will not actually see a condor, but your chances are higher than most places!

Close to LA. Just off the freeway. Have a $35 Adventure Pass for parking, better yet have a $80…read moreAnnual Pass that covers all federal lands, NP's etc. Long approach hike on paved road, then a long climb up. Then, when you get to the Look Out?, you turn around & do it all in reverse. If you want a good work out?, this is it. Bring lots of water. Since the hike is in then out, you can stash water on the way up to retrieve on the way down. Great views. Interesting historic lookout. It's worth doing once, so every time you drive by it on the 5 with someone, you can nonchalant say, yeah I hiked up there. But if you really want bragging rights for "summits you can see from the 5," go summit Cobblestone Mountain, which is in full view from the 5, brutal hike to the top. Just do it. But Slide Mountain is worth doing.

Beautiful hike off the side of a rural road. Came here looking for poppy's but found a beautifully…read morepreserved desert woodland. It was so quiet and peaceful as we were the only people here. They have a porta potty which was awesome because I really had to pee by the time we got out here. It's an easy hike and very beautiful so I definitely recommend it!

Nice little Joshua tree oasis close (10min) to the poppies at Antelope Valley Reserve. There are 2…read moreloop trails- short nature trail and longer rare juniper trail (1mile). There are guides available but for some reason they don't have a trail map on them. It's a nice stop-by for easy hiking. Free!