Inspiration Point

Jenny, Sherrie, Jackie and I all had a great hike today. We drove less than 5 minutes from my house to the top of Lake Ave. We climbed up to the 2.7 miles to Echo Mountain. Then we went up to Inspiration Point. Jackie had the good sense to split off from us at Echo Mountain given that this was her first big hike since the birth of her beautiful son Jim.

The Echo Mountain trail starts at the top of Lake Ave in Altadena at  the Cobb estates. The land was donated to the Forest Service by John Muir High Students in the 60's. I guess they took the school's name sake seriously. Echo Mountain is where the Echo Mountain Resort was in the late 1800's. It must have been amazing.

The hike up to Echo Mountain is pretty doable. But it was really cold when we meet at 7 am. No really, it was about 32 degrees. There were already quite a few people on the trail at that time of day. I was glad we left early, even though I was cold. Of course with 4 layers of shirts, a hat, gloves, hand warmers that my Mom made, warm socks, I was actually pretty good. The hand warmers are great because they are easy to take on and off, or just push up my sleeve a little if I am hot. Also good for holding a tissue, which I always need when it was cold. 

Jackie did great. In fact, of the four of us, I was the only one huffing and puffing. But Jackie was smart to head back this time. No need to over do on the first time out. Hopefully she will join us again soon and go the whole way.

Nice picture taken by Jackie

Sherrie, Jenny and I then continued up Castle Canyon Trail to Inspiration Point. There were very few people along this trail and I can see why. It was absolutely beautiful, but much steeper than the lower trail. It was such a beautiful clear day that we could clearly see out over the whole valley. In fact, we could even see Catalina Island.We actually saw a fair amount of snow at the top of hill. It was pretty slow going for the last half mile or so. I was breathing pretty hard, but kept moving for the most part. We only made a quick stop at the top for a snack because it was too cold to hang out.

We then walked along the fire road a ways, then onto Sam Merrill Trail back down to Echo Mountain. At first the trail gets really shady and cold. Luckily you get into the sun after a little while. The sun felt really good at that point. Again, even though it was cold, I am glad we left really early. Once we got back to Echo Mountain, there were a lot of people and a few mountain bikers. Then we headed back down to the car on Lake. 


Next time we do this hike, I would like to add the loop up to Mount Lowes. That should add another 3 miles and a lot more elevation. I need to recover from this walk first. Sherrie and Jenny were very kind to let me set the pace. I needed to keep it pretty slow. I have a LONG way to go still. When I get better at this, doing the loop from Echo Mountain to Inspiration Point twice in a row would be a great way to get in shape.
Summary of our hike:


-  Distance: 10.4 miles
– Elevation Gain: 2740 feet.
– Time: 4 hours, 40 minutes

Here are some nice maps of the trip I have borrowed from elsewhere:

Nice Trail map from the Foothill Flyers:
http://www.foothillflyers.org/funruns.html#mtnmap

2740 feet up. Pretty good climb. I was pretty slow up that last part.

Cool looking map of the hike

I am happy to see that Nicole and Jim are also getting in some good hiking. They did a 1,000 foot climb at Appalachian Trail, Lehigh Gap, Palmerton, PA.