EISPIRATEN

This trip report is named in honor of the 1937 Zorro episode of the same name, which was filmed at the Pacoima dam and the title also felt relevant to a couple experiences we had.
Check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/4PjCMPUgL-4?start=432

I was somehow able to convince Sean and Cecelia to join me on my long-awaited quest to reach Pacoima Reservoir, the nearest body of water to where I live. I had been wanting to do this hike for a couple years, and after much planning and hesitations over what I now realize were overblown concerns over no trespassing signage, (A big thank you to the board here for being the bad influence I needed to just go for it) this morning we gave it a go. I know that indications of abandoned cabins and trails were key for getting Sean and Cecelia on board this expedition.

Things got off to a great start finding a convenient parking spot right near the stream bank. There was official-looking LADWP or CalTrans or some sort of government agent guarding the access road I wanted to take, but no bother, that allowed us to take our first "Plunge of Peril" for the day down the road embankment to reach the Pacoima Creek itself. The fact this scramble didn't turn off Sean and Cecelia completely was early indication I had found the right people to accompany me into the wild lands.

Pacoima creek was lovely, running high and healthy but very much navigable on foot, bubbling briskly through the willows over angular cobbles of granodiorite shed from Kagel Mt. We quickly realized strapping on our water shoes and just using the creek itself as our primary trail would be the winning strategy. The water was cooling but not frigid, and when the sun briefly shown through the mists, the water swirling past our legs and various broken ledges, our little riparian world green and lush, I felt transported to my childhood hikes in Maine, and I was awash with much nostalgia and contentment. Big props to Cecelia, who for every knee-deep pool Sean and I navigated, for her was one up to her waist. She never flinched, and I have much admiration. She remained stalwart through wounds and lost phones. We reached confluence of Maple canyon, which was of particular interest to Sean, as he had an old topo map which indicated it was populated at one time with a modest gaggle of recreational cabins. Maple canyon from my perspective was rugged, eroded, and seemingly very hostile to any sort of setting for cabins or human habitation. Sean however has what I would call "abandoned-cabin-o-vision" or maybe you could call him the "cabin-remains-whisperer" because when I was convinced the search for old foundations was a hopeless cause, he claimed to have sighted some sort distant rock structure along the edge of the canyon bank which I couldn't discern, and directed me with some encouraging shouting to the location of what, lo and behold, was what appeared to be a chimney sticking out of the brush made from cement and locally-sourced boulders.
(You can see Sean down below in bottom the canyon - he was smarter than me in deciding to stay down there.... hacking through the brush on these steep crumbling canyon walls was some of the most difficult scrambling I've done in a long time) but to the victor goes the spoils: And its hard to make out in the thick brush, but 30 feet away was an unmistakable foundation of another cabin, too:
After crashing back down to Pacoima Creek, we continued on downstream, and the canyon soon widened, the water slowed, and the thick deposited sediments became progressively smaller in size from cobbles to gravel to sand to silt and finally dark mud, and I knew the reservoir itself was nearing. Now came the second "Plunge of Peril" of the expedition. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Indiana-Jones-movie style, Sean's entire leg suddenly disappeared into the seemingly innocuous gravel of the streambed, and only with a couple startled yanks of his leg, grabbing a nearby tree, was he able to pull himself free. Suddenly the same thing happened with one my footfalls, and I too plunged my leg into an enveloping slurry of gravel. We were able to pull ourselves free, but it became quickly apparent that in these backwaters of the reservoir, the huge load of sediments the creek had been dumping for years into the reservoir had collected in a suspended animation of sand and water, and there was only a thin surface of dry gravel above a huge abyss of water-gravel-mud slurry of untold depths. It was surreal and disconcerting, but thankfully we saw some open water up ahead, emerging from the ghostly mists, and could declare the reservoir had been reached. We gingerly with much trepidation walked across the morass to eat our lunch at our destination, my trekking poles could be easily pushed to complete submergence (Sean has photos) into the sandy water-logged abyss that lay beneath as we munched on cherries and mango slices and looked out over the peaceful but deadly landscape before us. Feeling both victorious and spooked, we carefully made our way out of this strange sandy morass, staying within arms reach of shrubs and trees and walking past a roaring waterfall that literally disappeared beneath our feet into the uncertain ground like it was never there.

The return was simply navigating upstream the way we had come, the current now against us, but Sean's machete hacks on the way down having cleared more of an opening.

On the way out to the road we came across a completely burned-out remains of a house, which at one time must have been a beautiful, almost palatial home before I think probably the Lake Fire(?) claimed it. Sean even cut the rattle off a big dead rattlesnake to bring back to civilization as a charming souvenir.

Cross Pacoima Reservoir off the list - and we didn't even need Zorro to rescue us!
4.4 miles, 1169 of elevation gain

moist

Now you see the hiking pole,

and now you don't.

Thanks, Nate, for leading this hike. I certainly felt imperiled, but in a good way.

Maple Canyon might have more cabin remains to discover under all the overgrowth, but erosion has wiped out the trail crossing. I watched Nate scramble up the steep bank and push through bushes to reach cabin sites on the northeast side. I looked but couldn't find signs of remains on the southwest side of the creek.

Cecelia and Nate in Maple Canyon...

Trying not to sink into the quicksand at Pacoima Beach.

Wading through Pacoima Wash.

Sweet! Looks like a good time. What happened with that flipped car? It looks new-ish. Somebody went off the road recently, and the car was abandoned?

dima wrote: ↑Sweet! Looks like a good time. What happened with that flipped car? It looks new-ish. Somebody went off the road recently, and the car was abandoned?

Yeah, there is a 100ft+ very steep bank/cliff between that car and the road, so it took quite the tumble and fall to get down there. The registration sticker is dated 2022, so it indeed was pretty recent. I googled Nissan Rogue Little Tujunga Canyon Crash, etc and didn't find anything. Which maybe means the passengers survived.

There are lots of abandoned crashed cars dotting the bottom of the the canyons along that road, and this one is not the first I've encountered.... its a lot more winding, narrow, and generally dangerous than Angeles Crest. Angeles Crest benefits from a lot more budget in its original construction and maintenance. Maybe Angeles Crest has federal funding and Little Tujunga Canyon is just county or something?

Thanks Nate for allowing me to join you on this really cool expedition.
I enjoyed every moment except when the tree limb impaled my ankle and I dropped my phone in the water.
Btw, the phone was working fine up until Wednesday when it finally took a turn for the worse. I can't retrieve my photos of the hike until I get it fixed.
Nevertheless, It turned out to be a great day. Looking forward to more exploratory hikes in the future.

Girl Hiker wrote: ↑Thanks Nate for allowing me to join you on this really cool expedition.
I enjoyed every moment except when the tree limb impaled my ankle and I dropped my phone in the water.
Btw, the phone was working fine up until Wednesday when it finally took a turn for the worse. I can't retrieve my photos of the hike until I get it fixed.
Nevertheless, It turned out to be a great day. Looking forward to more exploratory hikes in the future.

Oh no A delayed seepage! Being fully submerged for as long as the phone was I guess the water finally claimed its victim. I’m so glad you enjoyed the expedition. You and Sean are excellent hike companions. I’m pretty thrilled to have found fellow mountain explorers who are into these sort of adventures. ?

I was able to retrieve my pics from the hike! whooohooo!

That looks wild and I think you may have found some real quicksand! I always expected it to be more common because of cartoons, but I don't think I've ever found any, which is totally fine.

Thanks for the report and photos.

great job guys -I always wanted to venture into the Pacoima Reservoir area. I though about sneaking through in the 1997/98 hiking season but feared being shot for trespassing. A few years laterI met a woman named Jan in 2000 on a advertising photoshoot who's mother owned the property that you had to traverse through. The mothers house went down in 2018 in the Sand fire. Jane told me her and her boyfriend at the time trucked jetskis from her mother house to the Pacoima reservoir and they would jet ski the Pacoima reservoir. Jan invited me to hike to the Pacoima res. I regret not taking her offer up.

craigchanowski22 wrote: ↑great job guys -I always wanted to venture into the Pacoima Reservoir area. I though about sneaking through in the 1997/98 hiking season but feared being shot for trespassing. A few years laterI met a woman named Jan in 2000 on a advertising photoshoot who's mother owned the property that you had to traverse through. The mothers house went down in 2018 in the Sand fire. Jane told me her and her boyfriend at the time trucked jetskis from her mother house to the Pacoima reservoir and they would jet ski the Pacoima reservoir. Jan invited me to hike to the Pacoima res. I regret not taking her offer up.

One can tell that house of Jane's mother (or what remains of it) was once a really lovely property. Depending on the level of Pacoima Creek and the weight of those jet skis, that would be quite the undertaking to haul them to the reservoir. Even with the creek as high as it is right now, you would be lifting a jet ski over plenty of ledges and rocks and pushing it over quicksand for nearly a couple miles. But cruising around that reservoir on a jet ski would be rad San Gabriel Mts Pirate stuff for sure. LADWP would probably think it was less than rad...
Thanks for the insights! I love this message board for getting responses like this on trip reports.

Nate- I also at first thought it was far fetched idea to truck jet skis from Janes mother property but your dealing with somewhat (no offense to crazed individuals) -who knows where their frame of mind was or what substances they on. The doctors residence near Janes mother property also had a dirt access road down to the river and there was once a trail from Bear divide in the 1970's to the mid 1980's down to the river surpassing any private property at the time.
From my best memory the landscape back in the Pacoima res. 20 years or so was more settled -with the seasonal flow of water being more constant through the winter months and river flow drying up in the summer and fall months but cheers to you three for sharing in your courage and effort. Great work indeed. -CRC