Sierra Madre to Mt Wilson
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 14.17 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,872 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 4,869 ft
- Max elevation
- 5,687 ft
- TrailRank
- 39
- Min elevation
- 981 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 6 hours 25 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2620
- Uploaded
- May 30, 2011
- Recorded
- May 2011
near Sierra Madre, California (United States)
Viewed 2742 times, downloaded 38 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
This is a wonderful hike for a nice spring day. The trailhead begins on a residential street. And then after hiking about 7 miles you're on top of Mt Wilson and breathing fresh mountain air! Also, there's now a very nice sandwich shop at the top of Mt Wilson. It was cold and foggy at the top today, so I bought a hot chocolate with marshmallows. And that made me very happy! There are long stretches of this trail that are exposed directly to the sun. So don't hike this trail if it's too hot outside.
Comments (2)
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awesome hike, if you live in the pasadena area you have to to it at least once.
This hike is challenging, mostly because it's long, but very satisfying. If you do it in the winter you might find snow at the very top, the last 500 feet or so. When I did it, it was sunny and 70 degrees in Sierra Madre and sleeting at the top. And, to make it worse, the coffee shop was closed. Still, the experience was great, and the observatory at the top is historic and neat to visit. There is an alternate route down. You head east of the top of Mt. Wilson down a steep trail that ends up at the Chantry Flats picnic grounds. To get back to your car in Sierra Madre, there is a trail going vaguely southwest that climbs a bit but isn't too long (1.5 miles?). I think you can find it on the trail maps available at Chantry Flats.