Make sure to get there early! Fills up on weekends. Make sure you have an adventure pass, $5 for…read moreday pass at REI or whatever sporting store or borrow one for free from your library. We arrived at 6:30a on a Saturday and still ended up parking along the road about 0.4 miles away. Or (if available) valet for $20 with the shop. Has decent pit toilets and porta potties. It's a good starting point for Mt Wilson hiking loops (about 14 miles) or shorter trips to the nearby campgrounds or waterfalls.

Great place to experience several different hiking trails in the San Gabriel Mountains. I arrived…read morevery early on a weekday morning, so plenty of parking was available; however, supposed to be rough on weekends. Make sure you have an Adventure Pass! If not, one can be purchased at Adams Pack Station (but they don't open until 9 am?). Trails are well-maintained and there are many signs, keeping you from being lost. Well worth a visit!

Nice beginner destination for a backpacking trip…read more Likes: + Great view of Altadena/Pasadena and the LA county. Maybe you can spot Catalina or the Disney fireworks at night in the distance. + Pleasant getaway from town. Quiet, peaceful nature ambience. + A couple firepits for roasting your food with friends. + Great Mt Wilson with access to the giant 60-inch and the 100-inch Hooker telescopes. A hike you can do in a day. A camping/backpacking trip you can do in day & night. + Trails are wide and well defined. Non-likes: - The water spigot here runs extremely slow. I recommend packing your own extra water. - Restrooms running low on toilet paper. - Cosmic Cafe only open Apr-Sept 10am-5pm, and 10-4pm late Sept-Nov. If you walk farther uphill about 1-2 min, you'll find the white lavatory. Restroom stalls are more spacious than the auburn one. The water fountain and the water spigot there run fine and strong.

What goes up, must come down…read more This hike was a moderate 3 mile hike up and around the San Gabriel Mountains, but so much easier to trek back down. Although we did an extra mile after missing the turn and ended up hiking a total of 7 miles; it wasn't too bad. I only hike about once a month, so I took a few breaks along the way up so it took us about 3 hours roundtrip. The hike starts at the Eaton Canyon Nature Reserve after parking on the street along Altadena. There's parking in a lot as well but I find it easier to park on the street than finding a spot during peak hours. We started the hike by following the Eaton Canyon Falls trail, then veered onto the Walnut Canyon trail, and then followed the Old Mount Wilson Toll Road the rest of the way to the campground. There's some shade on the hike but not much so I wouldn't hike this during the Summer. We did this on 12/2/18 in 64 degree weather and it was perfect. We saw some people that did a one night backpacking trip so it's an ideal spot to practice for longer trips. There are bathrooms but they were locked when we were there and there is no water. There are also lots of tables available so pack a picnic and enjoy the view. Directions I used. If you see a white bridge on your way back, you missed the turn like I did and just did an extra mile. https://modernhiker.com/hike/henninger-flats/

Updated review: I've been to Inspiration Point twice now, most recently after the great Los Angeles…read more"blizzard" of early 2023. And how super intense and cool (figuratively and literally) it was! Total about 10mi from the top of Lake - Echo Mountain - Castle Canyon trail - Inspiration Point - Sam Merrill trail - Echo Mountain and back down to Lake. DEFINITELY a strenuous hike and would highly recommend hiking poles, sunscreen, water, and snacks! The view is incredible, especially with tons of fresh snow everywhere. Hiked this early March 2023 and the Castle Canyon trail leading off from Echo Mountain (a decent hike in its own right) is pretty challenging, if not a bit brutal in some areas: slippery snow, downed trees and bushes blocking the path, and a heavy incline. Again, highly recommend poles. Once at Inspiration Point the view is phenomenal. The Pacific Ocean, Palos Verdes, Catalina Island, and even Anaheim and Irvine are all visible from the top, and downtown LA too of course. Lots of picnic benches and photo-op-worthy view finders for major Southern California sites. Gorgeous San Gabriel mountains in the background. The Sam Merrill trail leading down the backside of the mountain (and then curving back around to the south/west) is much more tame (but still a bit precarious with 2+ feet of snow) and very sun-exposed all the way back to Echo Mountain. All in all probably one of the more butt-kicking Los Angeles hike. Takes about 4-5hrs round trip depending on your pace.

Long and difficult hike but worth the view! About 10 miles…read moreround trip from Cobb Estate. Bring a hat, lots of water, snacks, sunscreen, and BUG SPRAY. Me and my husband started around 7:30am and finished the whole hike around 1pm at a steady pace with about an hour break when we got to Inspiration Point. The hike from Cobb Estate to Echo Mountain was a breeze for us, but the hike from there to Inspiration was a whole other story. I recommend wearing long pants as the second half of the hiking path isn't as clear and pretty narrow on some parts. We took our time and treaded lightly but still got some minor scratches on our legs from all of the branches and leaves. My husband started getting irritated from walking into all of the spider webs lol. Not sure if the actual hike was 2 miles from Echo Mountain because it felt so much longer than that. We started getting really tired near the end from all the incline. We almost gave up until my husband saw the view of Inspiration Point. Once we got there, the views made it all worth it! Would we do it again? Maaaaaybe lol.

The trail is not open and will continue to be closed when Chantry Flats finally opens on Oct 1…read more Many of the trails up there are gone from the Bobcat Fire. Stick to open trails only, they are beautiful and worth the adventure. Search and rescue teams and the Forest Service advise the closure for safety and environmental concerns, not to kill your fun.

Hermit Falls is still closed and will remain closed when Chantry opens Oct 1st. The trails are in…read morehorrible shape and terrain poses life safety issues. Helicopter rescues are never guaranteed due to weather conditions and other safety factors (canopy, deadfall, loose boulders, rotor wash) that would put rescuers and public at risk. Sturtevant Falls is gorgeous alternative and the trail is open. Otherwise, Eaton Canyon is still a great option because of accessibility.

This is one of the most amazing hikes in LA- this canyon in the springtime is magical. And it's…read morenot crowded either, due to a few factors: it's kind of a longish hike, there's a walk just to get to the trailhead (unless of course you have a key to the gate, like me) and taking the little-known shortcut requires balls of steel and exposure to poison oak. But once you get past this, there's a well-constructed, easy to follow trail that takes you through deserts, rain forests, dripping grottoes, majestic cliffs and waterfalls, gold mines, and more. And all of this is just a few miles from civilization. If you're lucky (!) you might see deer, foxes, bears, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, hawks, crows, and skunks. And maybe a tarantula! If you go, please don't litter, clean up after your animal, and do not leave your toilet paper, diaper, or poop bag next to the trail or the creek. That's just gross, and believe me, you will ruin the day for a lot of people. Pack it out! I don't have any pics of the canyon past the waterfall, these pics are just a taste of what you'll see!

This hike had a lot to offer. Pretty green mostly covered trails a lot of crossing water when it…read morehad rained before. About a 6-7mile hike round trip depending on your starting point we started around Altadena area by fair oaks street. Bring- a lot of water depending on how you handle hiking Adventure pass is needed to park I don't use them but some walking / trek sticks could be useful in some parts. I'm a large guy it took a lot out of me to get there it's a moderate to hard hike for me. With more exercise and a few more hikes under my belt to get back into shape I would hike it again. A lot of connecting places to hike through to as well. Echo mountain connection - inspiration point .

Amazing Hike but it's not for beginner hikers here!! Steep but rewarding!!!…read more I would say this is moderate to advanced-level hiking. This is our first time hiking at Bailey Canyon to Jones Peak. Bailey Canyon trail is located at the Bailey Canyon Park in Sierra Madre. We parked our car at the parking lot at around 8 in the morning. The parking lot is so small so make sure to get there early. (We got lucky and found a parking space). We were planning to hike to the "Old Foundation" because it was our first time to hike there so we didn't want to overdo it. This trail is considered a challenging route because it's a very steep and narrow climb all the way. We started from Bailey Canyon Park and passed the small reservoir before hiking uphill into the foothills. We saw the map and the "Old Foundation" should take about 2.2 miles but we hiked more than 2.8 miles and still didn't see the sign. We almost gave up and wanted to take our return route. Glad we saw and asked other hikers when they came back down and they told us that we passed the "Old Foundation" for a while and we had almost arrived at the Peak (Jones Peak) in less than 15 minutes. We were very surprised that we were close to the Peak so we got motivated again. The views were breathtaking and absolutely beautiful. The weather was so perfect. When we arrived at the Jones Peak, we saw the beautiful and colorful rocks in heart shape and gorgeous panoramic breathtaking views. We finally got to Jones Peak at 3375 feet!!!! The map said it's about a 5.7-mile out-and-back trail near Sierra Madre and it takes an average of 4 h 2 min to complete. I checked my Strava app (I forgot to wear my Apple Watch that day) and it shows that I hiked 6.7 miles and we finished our hike around noon so it took us about 4 hours. We were so proud of ourselves. Make sure that you bring plenty of water, and you can also bring trekking poles if you have them. They'll help on the steep slopes. (We didn't use trekking poles this time but I'll probably prepare it for next time)

This a nice, less crowded hike in the area. Although signs says beware of the Sun we found plenty…read moreof shady areas in the early part if the trail- plus a lovely,small stream. Also, the variety of plants, flowers, and beautiful vegetation made it more pleasing. Nice views, too. Worth checking out.

(From 2022) Was here last year and had the day off highly…read morerecommended place for a walk/hike and water I'm commonly the "person" (one of them) witnessed at the top of the waterfall most of the images during my trip this last time were shared on various "check ins" here One thing I noticed is that this time there wasn't as many face masks on the ground so it appears that the volunteers are doing an excellent job at removing all of the random trash

Eaton Canyon is a popular destination, especially in the spring when wildflowers bloom…read more Not much water right now. Go after a rain and you will see a wonderful waterfall.

This place is the jackpot if you like birding and bridges!! Bare with me bc I'm about to share a…read morebutt load of pics! I think this hike may have been the most pics I've ever taken in one sitting (well over 350 - but I'm not sharing that many ok lol)!! This is a very easy hike - it can be as long or as short as you want it to be. We did about 6 miles. And it's almost completely flat - AllTrails says 160 feet but my AllTrails recording logged 230 feet - either way it's minimal. There are some optional stairs that have neat views as well. A lot of the trail is rocky and bumpy, and there was a ton of mud bc of all the rain - but still easy. And there's a little trail construction going on but it's easy to maneuver around. It's also a very busy trail. We arrived right before 8am and there was a moderate crowd - not too bad. But by 9am it was pretty packed. Luckily the trail is very wide so it's easy to keep your distance and not feel like you have someone on your heels constantly. There are some really great features on this hike - all sorts of surprises in all sorts of nooks and crannies! There's a huge archery range - who knew?? It's well marked so it easy to stay out of the way and safe. There weren't any archers when we started but tons had assembled when we were leaving! I'll be coming back to watch them next time bc it's such a neat range! There's a "casting pond" which was so totally random and I'd never seen or heard of anything like it before!! It's a huge, shallow "pond" of sorts, with these rings scattered around - I'm guessing it's for people to practice their casting techniques for fishing. The water was super clean too! And the birding - omg don't get me started on the birding wow!! I'm an avid birder and this place was heaven for me! I even managed to catch one of my life-list birds here!! Huge day for me (my fellow birders will understand lol)!! A female Red Shafted Northern Flicker!! Not to mention the Yellow Rumped Warbler, California Scrub Jays, tons of Lesser Goldfinches, Mallards, and House Finches, and even an Oak Titmouse!! It was a smorgasbord of birdies!! Totally unexpected for such an "urban" hike. And then there's the bridges...soooo many bridges concentrated in one area - like 5-6 bridges!! And they're all beautiful - especially with the mountainous backdrops! You can even walk under most of them. The most famous is the Colorado Street Bridge - aka "Suicide Bridge" - kinda cryptic but everyone seems to call it that so you desensitize. You can also walk on this one, which I highly recommend bc it's a true beauty, from above and below. There are numerous trail options along this huge route - looks like it links up to the rose bowl loop too. It's easy to find and has a dirt parking lot - it definitely filled up fast (was full by 10am) but again, it was a Saturday morning. I'll definitely be back anytime I'm needing to do some serious birding!

I've been on a little running kick in 2021 and on a search for more interesting routes near my…read morehouse, I discovered the Lower Arroyo Seco. I've always preferred running on a trail versus cement, so I was so happy to find a soft trail to run on that's not too far from home. I've been twice now and it appears that the trail is an out and back, although there are some river crossings (I think that's what you would consider them) so perhaps you can veer off and make things a little more interesting. I love looking up at the Colorado Street Bridge and getting a change of scenery--Pasadena really is a special place. While you're definitely out in nature, you're also spending a lot of time looking at a wire link fence and the cement river bed. Still, I like that this place is flat (running in the mountain trails near Pasadena seems, well, challenging) and I actually like that there are a fair number of people around since I've grown increasingly fearful of snakes and wildlife as I've gotten older. I've only come on weekdays so it's really not too busy, but do be sure to bring and wear your mask as you will see other people there. There's a parking lot onsite but also a few entries from the street (Arroyo) if you're on foot. I've always run here from my house so I haven't tried the parking situation, but this is a pretty quiet neighborhood and it seems like you could park on the street and walk down if the parking lot was full (although, you might just want to opt for some other sort of excursion if it's that packed during COVID times).