Trail Stats
Mileage	2.8
Trailhead	2200'
Hermit Falls	1520'
Total loss/gain	680'
Gain/loss per mi.	514'

Big Santa Anita Canyon, with its thick riparian forest, gurgling streams, and abundant shade, offers a sylvan sanctuary for delightful hiking.

This hike to Hermit Falls is virtually all upside-down (that is, you hike down hill, then you hike up). I usually avoid upside-down hikes, but the rewards of visiting these water-worn pools makes the trip worth while. The first half of this trail can be combined with other trail options (such as the Hoegees Camp Loop and Sturtevant Falls), or you can just use the trail to hike to Hermit Falls and back.

Season:

John Robinson rates similar hikes in this Canyon as November through June while Jerry Schad rates them as all year. I did the hike in the middle of a hot day in July (triple digits in the San Gabriel Valley) and found it not to be too bad in the shady canyon bottom, but on uphill trek going back, the sun and heat were stifling. I had to walk real slow, drink lots of water, and take breaks whenever I could find shade. Not fun.

Getting to the Trailhead:

From the Foothill Freeway (I-210) in Arcadia, take the Santa Anita Avenue exit and drive north to Chantry Flat, 4.6 miles. A National Forest Adventure Pass is required for parking. The vehicle gate for Chantry Flat Road is open from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 p.m. (as of about 6-19-06. It used to be 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M.). Access Note: Due to destructive weather and bureaucratic incompetence, Chantry Flat is subject to periodic and extended closures. Best to check with the Forest Service (626-574-5200) or the Sierra Madre Police Department (626-355-1414) before hitting the trail. See Access Note below.

Trail Description:

Start from the entrance of the lower parking lot at Chantry Flat. Walk past the locked gate and see a sign calling this route the Gabrielino Trail. Hike down the paved road. After rounding the first sharp bend (0.2 miles), you'll see the trail junction on the right.

The sign at the junction reads: Sturtevant Falls 1.8 [pointing down the road, north] First Water Trail [pointing right, south] Hermit Falls 1.2 [pointing right, south] (View large image)

Jerry Schad says, "Descend on the precipitous switchbacks (watch your step!) to the stream below." Actually, I did not find anything "precipitous." It is a well-traveled, narrow trail in decent condition. However, there's lots of poison oak, all the way to Hermit Falls, so be careful. After three switchbacks (about 15 minutes from the road) you reach a trail junction near the bottom of the canyon. The sign reads:

      First Water Trail
      Foot Travel Only [pointing upstream, north]
      Horse Trail [pointing downstream, south]

Turn right, south. Even though the sign says "Horse Trail," I saw no indication of horses, thankfully.

After a couple minutes you'll cross the creek and take an immediate right (south). Another sign reads: "First Water 3/4 Junct. Chantry Flat 3/4 [pointing west], Gabrielino Trail-Roberts 3/4 [pointing upstream north], Hermit Falls 3/4 [pointing downstream, south]." The odd thing is that there is a map sign at the same location which puts Robert's at 1/3 and Hermit Falls at 1/2. Something's amiss. My hunch is the first of the two signs is correct.

Continue down steam. In the next five minutes you'll pass three cabins and cross the creek to the west bank (View photo looking back upstream past a cabin). The trail ascends the slope above the steam. After another 9 minutes you'll see an unmarked side spur going down to Hermit Falls. An old gaging station — a large metal cylinder rising out of the ground — marks the location.

The falls consist of three pools joined by two water chutes (the top pool is pictured on the right). The upper two pools are easily accessible, but be careful climbing around the water-smoothed and sandy rocks, they can be slippery. This is one waterfall where you will have to settle for looking down on the main fall cascading into the deep, lower pool. I did not find any safe route to the bottom pool (see "For Further Exploration" in the notes below for a discussion of exploring below the falls).

Return the way you came (or see Alternate routes below).

Trail Notes:

• Access Note - 6-13-06: Chantry Flat now open. After years of closure, the trailhead is now open again as of June 3, 2005. The torrential rains of January 2005 caused major damage to the road to Chantry Flat forcing its closure (see photo). According to the Forest Service the road was supposed to be reopened on April 15, 2006. Then they said more rains have damaged the road again and it won't be opened until the end of the summer 2006. But now it's open. There are still two sections of the road that narrows to a single lane, yet to be repaired. So anticipate more closures to come. See the Forest Service Web site for supposed updates, but realize that they are grossly inept in providing timely information to the public. Best to call them at 626-574-5200.
    Read Tribune Editorials:
        - Chantry Flat road closure taking too long (2-7-05)
        - A taste of paradise (6-10-06)
• Trail Conditions - Update 6-13-06: The upper portion of the First Water Trail on the sunny slopes is somewhat brushy with mustard and other weedy plants invading the trail space. With Chantry having been closed for years, it appears that the trail has not had much maintenance or traffic. The portion of the trail along the creek has some deteriorated spots and we had to carefully dodge the poison oak, particularly as we neared the falls. Lots of wildflowers in bloom.
• Other Exploration: You may be curious if there is a way to circle around down stream and then come up stream to reach the lower pool of Hermit Falls. It's not easily achievable. Here's what I found: From Hermit Falls, if you go back up to the main trail, you can continue down it, south (although as of 6-13-06, it has been deteriorating and is dicey in spots with a steep downside slope, and is being invaded by poison oak). After about 0.2 mile you see a cabin below. If you take the side spur down past the cabin, you reach the creek. You can forge your way up stream through ivy and thorny blackberry vines, stepping over fallen tree limbs and dodging stinging nettles. In about 100 yards from the cabin, the canyon narrows and the stream is channeled between two sheer rock walls. To continue, you would have to wade up the creek and climb up and over some large boulders blocking the route. It does not appear to be a doable route without appropriate equipment and technical skills.
        If you climb back up to the cabin, the main trail continues downstream. The topo maps shows that in another half mile or so the trail runs adjacent to Santa Anita Dam reservoir to intersect the service road for the dam. But the sign on Chantry Flat Road indicates that the road to the dam is strictly off limits to the public.
• Alternate routes: If you want an alternate route, adding about a mile to the hike, try this: After visiting Hermits Falls, return back up the trail to the First Water 3/4 Junction. Instead of retracing your steps up to the road, continue to hike upstream .75 mile to Roberts Camp. You'll pass several more check dams and rustic cabins in route and enjoy more sylvan beauty. Once at Roberts Camp, veer left, cross the bridge and walk up the road 0.6 mile back to Chantry Flat. This makes your entire hike 3.5 miles (Jerry Schad includes this route as part of his Hoegees loop hike). Or from Roberts Camp you can continue up canyon 1.25 miles to 50-foot Sturtevant Falls, then return to Roberts Camp and up the road. This makes your entire hike 6.0 miles. See Sturtevant Falls hike description.
• Bugs: 7-14-03 - There were some flying bugs around the falls, kind of pesky but not too bad. Had no problems with mosquitoes. Snake: I saw I snake crossing the sunny trail about a minute after turning onto the trail from the paved road. (It was about 24 inches long, narrow body, dark brown or blackish with yellow strips running the length of the body. It looked like a Mountain Gartersnake.) I was a little surprised that after it crawled off the trail it turned back and kind of challenged me, as if to say, "Get going, this is my turf."
• Creek crossings: Crossing the creek in the several places along the route can be a little dicey with some possibility of getting wet or injured if you loose your footing. And creek crossings may be hazardous after a heavy rain.
• Topo map note: The USGS map (Mt. Wilson Quadrangle) does not show Hermit Falls, but the Gaging Station on map is the location of the upper pool of the falls.
• Elevation: Tom Chester cites the elevation of Hermit Falls at 1593'. Christopher Brennen places it at 1460'. The USGS map shows the elevation of the Gaging Station, which is at the upper pool of the falls, at about 1520'. It could be that Brennen's 1460' is taken at the bottom of the falls, which would be 60' from the top pool, using the topo map's number. That 60' is reasonable.
• People Traffic: 7-14-03 - I hiked this trail on a summer Monday. When I arrived at Chantry Flat, there were only a few cars in the lot and nobody around. There was a family of four walking down the road as I was making a trail note at the junction. As I began the trail down, five forest fire fighters passed me going up. They were doing physical training, or "PT" as one of them called it. Two more solo hikers where going up as I was going down. At the Falls, there were three young men who had been swimming. While at the falls, a lady, three teen-age girls, and a couple young girls arrived to swim. As I was leaving the falls, two young men were arriving. I encounter nobody else for the rest the trip. Total: 22 people in 7 parties.
       6-13-06 - On a nice-weather Tuesday a week and a half after Chantry Flat was re-opened, we passed a few people on our way down. At the waterfall was a group of 6 young people who had spent the night. Their camp area was strewn with clutter, trash, and liquor bottles, but they assured me that they would clean it up when they left.
• Trash: 7-14-03 - As I was hiking down, I was bothered by the litter along the path—a water bottle here, a food wrapper there. At Hermit Falls the amount of trash strewn about was distressing—glass liquor bottles, bear cans, soda cans and plastic bottles, food containers, potato chip bags, candy bar wrappers, plastic silverware, underwear, socks—it was disgusting! I just can't understand how people can be so inconsiderate and barbaric. I would love the Forest Service to set up an operation and catch these slobs red handed. I cleaned up the area and carried out two shopping bags of trash.

Hike Log Hermit Falls 7-14-03 10:30 AM A: Trailhead (2200') 10:34 B: Trail Junction (road) 10:51/:54 C: Trail Junction 10:56 D: Cross Creek / Trail Junction 11:08 E: Cross Creek 11:18 / 1:04 F: Hermit Falls (1590') Explore trail downstream 1:15 E: Cross Creek 1:22 D: Cross Creek / Trail Junction 1:26 C: Trail Junction 1:48 B: Trail Junction (road) 1:54 A: Trailhead (2200')

View Large Topo Map

Related links on Dan's Hiking Pages:

• Hoegees Camp Loop Hike - Big Santa Anita Canyon
• Sturtevant Falls - Big Santa Anita Canyon
• Waterfalls - in the San Gabriels

Links:

• Trails From Chantry Flat - by Tom Chester. Detailed mileage for the various trail sections for Chantry Flat and connecting trails.

• Chantry Flat - by Tom Chester. A summery and history of recent road closures.

• Water Falls of the San Gabriels Mountains - by Tom Chester. A list all the major waterfalls in the SGM. Tom provides various interesting information about the classification of water falls, etc.

• Flora of Chantry Flat / Santa Anita Canyon - by Bob Muns presented by Tom Chester. List of 248 plants. Includes Latin name, common name life form intro, flower period, and habitat.

• Big Santa Anita Canyon - A good site with lots of information: trails and maps, history, stories, cabins, photos, and links.

Books:

• Wild L.A.: A Hiker's Guide - by John McKinney (Olympus Press). "Hermit Falls." Good hike description. Puts it at 3 miles round trip with 400 feet in elevation gain. Falls height: 30 feet.

• California Waterfalls - by Ann Marie Brown (Foghorn Press, 1997). "Hermit Falls." Good trail description.

• Afoot and Afield in Los Angeles County - by Jerry Schad (Wilderness Press) - Area A-6, Trip 2: Hoegees Loop. Good trail description of first half of the trail with historical background. (Does not include Hermit Falls.)

• Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriels - by John Robinson with Doug Christiansen (Wilderness Press). See hikes 41 through 44. Good trail descriptions with historical background for the canyon. (This Hermit Falls hike is not covered.)

Last Hiked: June 13, 2006