Sturtevant Falls Hike
How long does it take? 7am—3pm.
How far is it? 3 miles up and 3 miles back.
How steep is it? 1000 feet down, 1000 up, 1000 down, 1000 up.
How much $$? Drivers pay $5 for a Forest Adventure Pass.
Best part? Walking along the creek and going under the falls.
Worst part? The last mile up the hot asphalt driveway.
GEO’s
Sturtevant Falls Hike is close to home, popular with
many groups, and wet. It was designed for the novice
hiker who wants to sample "the hiking
experience" without spending the usual 12 hours
away. The canyon is lush with greenery and the sounds of
a creek----a quick getaway from the smog and heat.
Inexperienced hikers will march past most of the beauty
in a hurry to get to the destination. Little do they
realize the whole canyon is the destination. Pause and
admire this hidden treasure.
The trailhead at Chantry Flat is at the very end of Santa Anita Avenue over in Arcadia, so it only takes about 30 minutes to get there from school if we leave by 7:30am. Once there, some parents choose to drop off their passengers and return at 2:30pm. Other drivers buy Forest Adventure Passes from the GEO officers and lock up the car. We usually begin by 8:30am. If we arrived any later the parking lot would be full. This place is popular with every scout and hiking club. Some people use this trail to backpack all the way to the top of Mt. Wilson. Thankfully, we don’t go that far.
The
hike begins with a half mile segment of asphalt driveway
that leads 1000 feet to the bottom of Santa Anita
Canyon. This part is dry and steep and easy going down.
When you get to the bottom where two creeks
merge----there’s an oasis of trees and shade! This is
where William Sturtevant built a resort a century
ago----all gone now. Little stone cabins are situated
alongside the trail. These cabins remain accessible only
by hiker and pack mule just as they did when first built
around 1910. People still live in these cabins year
round so pay attention to the "private
property" signs. Every so often, the trail passes
by concrete dams. These were built to slow flooding and
erosion when torrential rains occur. It must be scary to
be in those cabins when car-sized boulders start
bouncing off the canyon walls during the heavy rains.
The dams force the water to collect in quiet pools where
many ferns and leafy plants prefer to live.
Just before the trail turns the bend and dead ends at Sturtevant Falls, we turn and go up the left side of the canyon wall and follow a narrow trail that takes us right to the edge of the falls as they tumble over 90 feet below. This is where some people get lost, because there are two trails: one for hikers and one for mules. They connect back up again in about a mile. The narrow trail is called the Falls Trail and this is the prettiest part of the hike. Parts of it are carved from the near vertical walls of the mountainside. The creek dances down a series of granite waterfalls for about a mile. We cross the creek several times and enjoy the dense shade, before leaving the creek and climbing a steep set of dry switchbacks to get to Cascade Picnic Ground.
At
Cascade, there is a picnic table and a stinky pit toilet
where the trail returns to the creek. We stop for about
an hour for lunch. We return the way we came, stopping
at places along the Falls Trail. The best area to stop
is the top of Sturtevant Falls for the refreshing breeze
that blows through the notch. Then, we follow the trail
down to the bottom of the falls where hikers are
encouraged to jump into the pool and stand under the
falls. Even in summer, it feels cold. Don’t even think
about swallowing the water. For this reason, bring
plenty of bottled water and a change of clothes. You
never know what kind of nice car somebody plans to use
to carpool you home. We end up staying at the base of
Sturtevant Falls for an hour so there’s plenty of time
to warm up in the sun at the edge of the pool. Expect
lots of other people there. This is one popular hiking
destination.
The hardest part is the end. After following the stream to the asphalt driveway----it’s up, up, up----1000 feet to the parking lot. By that time, it’s 2pm and blazing!
