Eaton Canyon Trail

Late one August afternoon in 1877, John Muir set out from Pasadena to begin his exploration of the San Gabriel Mountains. The great naturalist was very impressed with Eaton Falls, as he wrote in his book, The Mountains of California: "It is a charming little thing, with a low, sweet voice, singing like a bird, as it pours from a notch in a short ledge, some thirty-five or forty feet into a round mirror-pool."

He spent the night camped with a blindly  optimistic, half-Irish, half-Spanish water prospector, who was convinced that his digging would soon result in a wealth of water. Muir was dubious of this cash flow, and the next morning bade his acquaintance farewell and began tramping up the canyon. After enjoying Eaton Falls, Muir followed bear trails, sometimes on all fours, up the chaparral-smothered ridges of the San Gabriel Mountains.

It was not the water-seeker Muir met, but Judge Benjamin Eaton, who channeled and piped the canyon's waters to nearby ranches. The judge's neighbors laughed when he planted grapevines, but the vines were quite successful and commanded a high price. San Gabriel Valley farmers knew a good thing when they saw it, and soon grapes joined oranges as the crop  of choice.

Much of the canyon named for Judge Eaton is now part of Eaton Canyon County Park. The park's nature center has exhibits which emphasize Southern California flora and fauna. Kids will love the park's Naturalist's Room, which features live animals. Park nature trails explore a variety of native plant communities--chaparral, coastal sage, and oak-sycamore woodland.

Eaton Canyon County Park is a busy place on weekends. Family nature walks are conducted by docent naturalists; the park also has bird walks, natural history classes and children’s nature programs.

The walk up Eaton Canyon to the falls is an easy one, suitable for the whole family. Eaton Canyon Trail leads through a wide wash along the east side of the canyon to a junction with Mount Wilson Toll Road. In fact, Eaton Canyon Trail was once a toll road itself; fees were collected from 1890 to 1911.

The hike: From the parking lot, hike through the attractive grounds of the nature center. Cross the creek and head north on the wide dirt road. You meander beneath the boughs of large oak trees and pass a junction with a connector trail that leads to the Mt. Wilson Toll Road. (A 2005 landslide covered a portion of the old road and prompted authorities to close it. A trail bypass has been constructed, but check with the Eaton Canyon Nature Center for the latest trail conditions.)

To the east, you'll spy the plateau overlooking Eaton Canyon. A century ago this land belonged to wealthy capitalist and pioneer forester, public library founder and builder of Venice Beach, Abbott Kinney and his Kinneloa Ranch. Kinney loved this area and was a bit miffed when a nearby peak was named Mount Harvard for the university that built an observatory atop the mountain, rather than for him.

The trail leads along the wide arroyo. Eaton Canyon was  widened considerably by a 1969 flood that washed away canyon  walls. This flood, and the many floods before and since, have spread alluvium, or water-transported sand and rock, across the canyon floor. It takes a hearty group of drought-resistant plants to survive in this soil and Southern California's sometimes not-so-benign Mediterranean climate. Notice the steepness of the canyon's walls. Early Spanish settlers called the canyon "El Precipio."

A mile's travel from the Nature Center brings you to the Mt. Wilson Toll Road bridge. A right turn on the toll road will take you on a long, steep ascent to the top of Mt. Wilson. A left turn on Mt. Wilson Toll Road will bring you a very short distance to the unsigned junction with Altadena Crest Trail. This rather dull trail travels two miles above the reservoirs and backyards of residential Altadena. Walking 0.5-mile on Altadena Crest Trail to a vista point will reward you with great clear-day views of the Los Angeles Basin.

To reach Eaton Falls, continue straight up Eaton Canyon wash. You'll rock-hop across the creek several times as you walk to trail's end at the falls.