Docent-Led Hikes: Spring 2012
Join the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy for a series of hikes in Altadena’s Rubio Canyon in the spring of 2012. Docents will cover a range of topics, including local geology, local history, the mechanics of the Mt. Lowe railway, and historic trails.
For each hike, we strongly recommend hiking boots, long pants, a long-sleeved shirt, a hat, and water in a day pack or holster to keep your hands free. You may encounter rattlesnakes, tics, and poison oak. Dogs are not allowed because some sections of the trails are narrow. All hikers will be required to sign a waiver at the trailhead.
Check the schedule below for details – click on each hike to reveal a description. See you on the trail!
Sunday, March 25, 9 a.m.: Mt. Lowe Railway
Docent: Michele Zack, author, Altadena: Between Wilderness and City
Meet: Pleasantridge Drive and Rubio Vista Drive, Altadena
Trail Description: About a mile each way. The hike is demanding at points, with several high narrow steps near a sheer drop and a scramble over rocks in the creek near the end.
The Mount Lowe Railway was a major attraction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bringing Angelenos and tourists to popular resorts on Mount Lowe and Echo Mountain. Today, the trail at Lake Avenue is the major conduit to the site of those once-famous resorts, but you’ll take the back way: following the former route of the railway to the site of the Rubio Incline, which carried passengers up the steep mountainside for the remainder of their journey.
Local historian and journalist Michele Zack, author of history books about Altadena and Sierra Madre, will bring the history of the railroad and early settlers to life.
Saturday, March 31, 9 a.m.: Mt. Lowe Rail Mechanics
Docent: John Harrigan, author, Mt. Lowe Power
Meet: Pleasantridge Drive and Rubio Vista Drive, Altadena
Trail Description: About a mile each way. The hike is demanding at points, with several high narrow steps near a sheer drop and a scramble over rocks in the creek near the end.
The Mount Lowe Railway was a feat of engineering when it was constructed in the late 19th century: the third in a series of scenic mountain railways in America, with a funicular system built by the man who designed San Francisco's cable cars. Learn about the technical workings of this incredible railroad in a hike along its former route with John Harrigan, an electrical engineer and the author of Mt. Lowe Power.
Saturday, April 7, 9 a.m.: Geology of Local Foothills
Docent: John Wros, environmental geologist
Meet: E. Loma Alta Drive and Camp Huntington Road, Altadena
Trail Description: About a mile each way with a 500 foot elevation gain.
Tucked away at the foot of one of the fastest-rising mountain ranges in the United States, Rubio Canyon holds a number of clues to that range's development. The deformed bedrock walls illustrate a tortured evolution, which continues today -- a portion of the active San Gabriel Fault runs through the canyon. Learn about the canyon's 1,200-million-year history and predictions for its seismic future with environmental geologist and rock hound John Wros.
Saturday, April 14, 9 a.m.: Mt. Lowe Railway
Docent: Dan Abendschein, Editor, Altadena Patch
Meet: E. Loma Alta Drive and Camp Huntington Road, Altadena
Trail Description: About a mile each way. The hike is demanding at points, with several high narrow steps near a sheer drop and a scramble over rocks in the creek near the end.
The Mount Lowe Railway was a major attraction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bringing Angelenos and tourists to popular resorts on Mount Lowe and Echo Mountain. Today, the trail at Lake Avenue is the major conduit to the site of those once-famous resorts, but you’ll take the back way: following the former route of the railway to the site of the Rubio Incline, which carried passengers up the steep mountainside for the remainder of their journey.
Dan Abendschein, the editor of the Altadena Patch news site and a local trails enthusiast, will lead the hike.
Saturday, April 28, 9 a.m.: New Lower Rubio Canyon Trail Loop
Docent: Paul Ayers, local railroad historian and trails expert
Meet: 1101 E. Loma Alta Drive (just east of Camp Huntington Road), Altadena
Trail Description: This is an easy hike of about 1.5 miles with a 300 foot gain.
The “every other Friday" Rubio Canyon trail restoration crew has restored a trail based on a 1952 construction road that leads from Loma Alta Drive up through lower Rubio Canyon, to a tractor road built in 1926 by Southern California Edison. This hike will take participants up that trail to the SCE road, providing a good view of the land the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy preserved in the canyon in 2011. Then we'll follow the SCE road down to Rubio Creek. Along the way, trails expert and railroad historian Paul Ayers will point out landmarks of the Mt. Lowe Railway and trail-building artifacts.
