Just relax. I am on topic here!Hikin_Jim wrote:If you want a good swimmin' hole, the first map might have the better option. Downstream from where the trail from Switzer's Picnic Area and Switzer's Trail Camp comes to the bottom of the canyon are some good swimming holes including a really nice one with a natural water slide.
I'm not familiar with the second set of falls marked on topo #2.
The following gives you some info: http://www.localhikes.com/HikeData.asp? ... =1&ID=4037. Bear Canyon is a worthwhile side canyon to the Arroyo Seco.
A really nice option is to drive to Switzer's Picnic Area ("H") and drop off a car, then drive a second car to Eaton Saddle ("A"), hike the fire road to a trail that takes off down the west ridge of Mt. Lowe ("B"), heads to Tom Sloan Saddle ("C"), drops into Bear Canyon at approx. point "D", joins up with the Arroyo Seco ("E"), leaves the streambed of the Arroyo Seco at "F", joins the Gabrielino Trail at point "G," and then climbs to Switzers Picnic Area ("H") and your waiting car, about a 10 mile hike, but don't quote me on the mileage. This map doesn't show it, but the Tom Harrison Angeles Front Country map shows the trail down the west ridge of Mt. Lowe and into Bear Canyon. The best swimming holes are between "E" and "F."
http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=34.24998,-11 ... orest%20CA
I think I was the first person that had been there in 5 years. I'm serious. Trees all over the trail. Everything overgrown. When things get that way I start laughing out loud. It was crazy. Even the trail was like washed out the last half a mile or so. From TSS it just got progressively worse and worse. My friend just kept saying. NICE HIKE. NICE HIKE DUDE. When we got about half way it was so bad that we really considered turning back and going the northern route but we kept going hoping it would get better. I know this guy really well and we have done so many hikes together but I just got tired of him complaining so I started to hike faster. It was almost impossible to get through all the stuff. As I passed some crazy stuff that you have do just rip through and fall over to get past I thought, My buddy has to go through this too. So I turn around and yell stuff like HAHAHAHHAHAHA WAIT TILL YOU GET HERE! LOL. The last half a mile was so bad the trail was all washed out. You just stop and look and guess where to go. It was like traversing a gravel hillside. You could hardly take a step w/o slipping back where you started your step from. I was laughing so hard. Finally when I got to the road I turned around and just laughed my guts out. He was only a little way behind me. We both laughed a lot. We vowed to never ever hike that route again! Anybody ever been on that trail? DON"T GO THERE DUDE!lol, I don't know, those bagels are pretty valuable!HikeUp wrote: If you don't have one already, trade in one of your magic Whitney bagels for a Tom Harrison Map
Correct.JMunaretto wrote:ok if I am walking from Switzer campground south and stay to the left where the gabrielino trail goes right, I'll hit point "F".
The trail isn't quite as obvious as the trail coming down from the Gabrieleno Trail ("G"), but there is a trail. It crosses to the opposite side and goes downstream from there.JMunaretto wrote:I think that's the point I was at last time I went. I don't remember any obvious trail continuing from there on...
Exactly. This by the way is exactly what the trail does.JMunaretto wrote:... it seems from the first topo (and your point 'E' that I could continue along the canyon east then south.
Yes, you can head back upstream (north) from where you drop into the canyon ("F"). You scramble up the creek bed and eventually come to a pool at the base of the falls. The pool is nice, albeit shallow (knee depth?), but it's scenically worthwhile. It's fun to watch the water come off the falls. Note that there is a danger of rock fall. While this pool at the base of the falls is nice, it's not particularly good for swimming. The best swimming holes are between points "F" and "E."JMunaretto wrote:Looking at the first topo, it seems I could head north from point 'F' also, any idea what's there?
Point "E" marks the spot where you leave the Arroyo Seco and proceed (generally SE) up Bear Canyon. Bear Canyon Trail Camp is between point "E" (where you leave the Arroyo Seco) and point "D" (where the trail drops into Bear Canyon from Tom Sloan Saddle). Grab one of those Tom Harrison Angeles Front Country maps. The Front Country map will pin point the location for you on the map, although you can't miss it if you're hiking in Bear Canyon.JMunaretto wrote:If someone says they are going to Bear Canyon Trail Camp, I'm assuming that would be on the same trail as 'E'. Is it past 'E'?
Yes, I have been there. That's actually a historic trail from the "Great Hiking Era" in the 1910's. That is the Tom Sloan Trail that connected Alpine Tavern to Tom Sloan Saddle. It was abandoned for many years but was re-opened maybe 10 years ago. It sounds like it's fallen into disuse again.FIGHT ON wrote: Late last year I went up to Dawn Mine with my hiking buddy and then up to Tom Slone Saddle. I was carrying the Tom Harrison Map that HikeUp has posted and the John Robinson book map. When we got to Tom Slone Saddle we noticed an additional trail that leads to the east that was only on the THM. It goes almost parallel to the other trail but runs south of it. And it says it is .3 miles shorter. We were running late so we decided to take that route. Anybody ever taken that trail???
I hiked it before they re-opened it, after it hadn't been used for 60 or 70 years. If you think it's bad now ... Let's just say that I hate yucca.
Big Jim! Wow. What an adventure hike it must have been. I bet the trail was in prime condition then. Now it's really washed out in some places. Trees and stuff all over the trail. Is it against the law to just go and cut the trees and clean up the trail with a shovel by your self or do you have to go with a ranger type person.Hikin_Jim wrote:Yes, I have been there. That's actually a historic trail from the "Great Hiking Era" in the 1910's. That is the Tom Sloan Trail that connected Alpine Tavern to Tom Sloan Saddle. It was abandoned for many years but was re-opened maybe 10 years ago. It sounds like it's fallen into disuse again.
In times of old, the route was popular since it was the best way to get to Switzers. There was no Angeles Crest Hwy. One road the Pacific Electric (the "Red Cars") from LA to the railhead in Altadena. One then took the Incline Railway to White City on Echo Mtn. From Echo Mtn, one took the Mt. Lowe Railway to Alpine Tavern. From Alpine Tavern, one took the Tom Sloan Trail to Tom Sloan Saddle, descended into Bear Canyon proceeding downstream to the Aroyo Seco. One then ascended the trail up the Arroyo Seco to Switzer's trail resort. Those were the days!
Now, the trail that connects the Mt. Lowe Fire Road to Bear Canyon on the North side of the ridge is the popular trail because people like to do the semi-loop that starts at Eaton Saddle and ends at Switzer Picnic Area. Almost no one accesses Switzer Picnic Area from the site of Alpine Tavern anymore.
I sometimes take loppers or a folding shovel if it's one of the trails around my house that I travel frequently. It might be against some technical requlation somewhere in the depths of the USFS manual, but I think most people in the USFS are glad when the people who use the trails help keep them up.FIGHT ON wrote: Big Jim! Wow. What an adventure hike it must have been. I bet the trail was in prime condition then. Now it's really washed out in some places. Trees and stuff all over the trail. Is it against the law to just go and cut the trees and clean up the trail with a shovel by your self or do you have to go with a ranger type person.
