The Harvard Branch of Eaton's Canyon

[Matthew]

Where to begin! Eaton Canyon is pretty grand and I must say, it might be the most pretty canyon I have spent time in in the entire Angeles Forest. Harvard Branch has always caught my eye as I’ve come down the idlehour trail. The thing is filled with large pine trees and winds all the way up to… a mountain called… MOUNT YALE!! It would make more sense to name this branch Yale Branch and name the currently unnamed branch to it’s north, Harvard Branch, but whatever, who cares. AW~ somewhat famously explored 1 N Harvard and 1 S Harvard but according to this forum’s records as well as the internet’s, there was no recorded exploration of this bad boy. What follows is possibly the first ever trip report of this lovely canyon and what it has to offer!

Matthew Neylon and I, Matthew Jackson, set off Sunday morning by bike to Idlehour campground. Matthew was stoked to do some mixed activity exploring which is rare these days. Definitely a great candidate for a Eispiraten member!

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The campground was totally dead and we didn’t even bump into any backpackers leaving. Lame. Stashed the bikes and began our trip into Harvard. Harvard is dry during the summer and will sometimes flow after decent rain. However, the flow begins lightly 1/8th of a mile in and what follows is just tons and tons of blackberry bush.

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The canyon forks with the branch on the left leading to a trickling waterfall. The main branch on the right opens to a bowl shaped wall with a big impassable waterfall in the middle and tons and tons and tons of blackberry choking the floor.

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We decided to scramble up a sketchy exposed ridgeline to bypass both falls.

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Found what looked to be a solid animal trail that led us to a metal box?

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Then we became extremely surprised to find a frickin cabin ruin! This bad boy had a slightly buried foundation and wood stove that came with a smoke stack pipe.

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Slightly north by 20 ish feet of the cabin was a metal pot that looked untouched and hole-less from target practice.

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We never explored the branch that continued passed the trickling waterfall so that will be for another adventure! Harvard branch continues just a little ways past the main waterfall until it hits a 15 ft or so fall that may be bypassable with extra work.

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The exit from the canyon was not going to be downclimbing the scramble so Matthew and I hopped onto this shelf above the main waterfall and beelined to the idlehour trail, which was 750 feet away. This was interesting to say the least, because we followed a faint trail up through a bay laurel forest that just led us straight to the second highpoint of the idlehour trail, at peak 3162. Some crawling was required but this faint trail would be the best way back into the upper harvard branch for any explorers in the future!

Here is my track with the waterfalls and cabin marked.

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[dima]

Cool report. How do you think this was accessed by the cabin owners? Surely they didn't scramble around the falls each time they went up there.

[Matthew]

Cool report. How do you think this was accessed by the cabin owners? Surely they didn't scramble around the falls each time they went up there.

I think they came in from the idlehour trail, the way that we took to get back. I'll start digging for some lidar or old images

[Nate U]

Super cool! Did you know there had once been a cabin there? Its not on the FS map!

[Matthew]

Absolutely no clue about a cabin. Super super cool to find ruins. Definitely gotta go back and look for more artifacts and dig a bit

[tekewin]

Love the off trail exploration and thanks for the report.

I hope you didn't have to crawl through much blackberry. I have no good memories of that stuff.

I wonder who the crazy people were that tried to build a cabin there, though at least you might have seasonal water.

[dranemeoj]

Hello Dima:
My name is Joseph Menard. My neighbor/friend Kendall Morgan and I discovered Harvard branch in January,1971.We went up from the bottom from Idlehour to the 30' falls up and around the right side. Later in the '80's we would access via Idlehour trail from the flats( I named "Equinox flats")going east. Go through the forest to explore the entire area.
In 1972 Kendall removed a stove from Fuji camp at Henninger flats and carried it to Harvard branch. He and some of his friends began to make a primitive shelter at HB but never finished it.
In the late 80's-mid 90's a few hikers had a nice pot plantation further up in the tributary to Harvard branch.

[dranemeoj]

Hello Mathew:
This is Joseph speaking. Congratulations on finding one of my favorite places, Havard branch. Next time you visit hike further up to the year round stream that flows from the slopes of Mt Harvard into Harvard branch. Hike up this tributary and you will find a US geological survey marker on the slope just 50' up from the stream and the remains of an operation from many years gone by.

[Matthew]

Hello Mathew:
This is Joseph speaking. Congratulations on finding one of my favorite places, Havard branch. Next time you visit hike further up to the year round stream that flows from the slopes of Mt Harvard into Harvard branch. Hike up this tributary and you will find a US geological survey marker on the slope just 50' up from the stream and the remains of an operation from many years gone by.

Hey Joseph! I'm stoked that you also explored Harvard branch back in the day. The canyon got scorched in the Eaton Fire so I will not be able to return and explore it again for another few years. Are you local to Los Angeles? If you have any history of the area I'd love to get in contact!