{"id":5199,"date":"2015-11-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-11-22T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/?p=5199"},"modified":"2022-11-14T10:07:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-14T18:07:06","slug":"san-gabriel-mountains-echo-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetrailmaster.com\/trails\/san-gabriel-mountains-echo-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Echo Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"
Professor Thaddeus Sobieski Coulincourt Lowe\u2019s Echo Mountain Resort area can be visited not only by retracing the tracks of his \u201cRailway to the Clouds\u201d (See Mt. Lowe Railway hike), but also by way of a fine urban edge trail that ascends from the outskirts of Altadena.<\/p>\n
From Pasadena, visitors rode a trolley up Rubio Canyon, where a pavilion and hotel were located. Then they boarded the \u201cairships\u201d of the great cable incline, which carried them 3,000 feet (gaining 1,300 feet) straight up to the Echo Mountain Re\u00acsort Area. \u201cBreathtaking\u201d and \u201chair-raising\u201d were the most frequent descriptions of ride that thrilled tourists from the 1890s to the 1930s. Atop Echo Mountain was a hotel and observatory.<\/p>\n
This historic hike visits the ruins of the one-time \u201cWhite City\u201d atop Echo Mountain. From the steps of the old Echo Mountain House are great clear-day views of the megalopolis.<\/p>\n
Pasadena and Altadena citizens have been proud to share their fascination with the front range of the San Gabriels. This pride has extend\u00aced to the trails ascending from these municipalities into the mountains. Local citizens, under the auspices of the Forest Conservation Club, built a trail from the outskirts of Altadena to Echo Mountain during the 1930s. During the next decade, retired Los Angeles Superior Court clerk Samuel Merrill overhauled and maintained the path. When Merrill died in 1948, the trail was named for him.<\/p>\n
Sam Merrill Trail begins at the former Cobb Estate, now a part of Angeles National Forest. A plaque placed by the Altadena Historical Society dedicates the estate ground as \u201ca quiet place for people and wildlife forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
From the Foothill Freeway (210) in Pasadena, exit on Lake Avenue and travel north 3.5 miles to its end at Loma Alta Drive. Park along Lake Avenue.<\/p>\n