?BillinGlendaleCA
About 4 years ago, my stepdaughter in the wanning days of nursing school hiked with some friends up to Sturtevant Falls. After my hikes to Eaton Falls and Brown Mountain Dam, I thought it’s be a nice hike.
About 2 years ago in the early spring I decided to hike up there. The trail starts at Chantry Flats at the end of a narrow road that hugs the west side of Santa Anita Canyon. The trail begins by following a road down into the canyon and then proceeds up the canyon to the falls. Along the wooded trail there are a number of debris dams, not unlike the other canyons in the southern San Gabriels, but there are also cabins.
There were the ruins of cabins on the hike to Brown Mountain Dam, but the cabins here were still in use. Being that it was late April, the falls were not overly energetic so I got some photos and the plan was to double back about a quarter mile and take the trail that went along the hillside south of the falls.
As I headed up the single trak trail with my walking stick leading the way I noticed something move in my path. A small snake was moving into the brush at the side of the trail with a distinctive diamond pattern on it’s back. I decided that I’d turn back to the main trail back to the parking lot.
So why am I recounting a hike from 2 years ago? It’s too hot to hike outside and it’s pretty smoky due to the Bobcat fire. The Bobcat fire started in a day use area on the West Fork of the San Gabriel river near Cogswell Dam and burned both north and south from there. On it’s southern flank, it’s also moved into the Santa Anita Wash where these photos were taken 2 years ago.
A note on the photos, I’ve included both visual and IR photos. The visual photos at the falls have had the sky replaced since the sun was in that portion of the sky.
This is the first in a serries of debris dams along the Santa Anita Wash. The top of the dam was just at the right height to level with the trail to get a reflection. The trail continues around to the left and you can see it just to the right of the cabin.
On The Road – ?BillinGlendaleCA – Santa Anita Wash – It’s all gone now.Post + Comments (19)