Explore the San Gabriel Mountains with This Authoritative Hiking Guide Escape the rapid-paced urban life of Southern California, and step into the open, rugged terrain of the San Gabriel Mountains. Here, amid forest, chaparral, and stream, you’ll revitalize yourself in nature’s unhurried environment. Visit Eaton Canyon Falls, the most popular waterfall in the Angeles National Forest. Enjoy a family-friendly hike to a historic fire lookout site on Vetter Mountain. Challenge yourself on the San Antonio Ridge, the hardest traverse in the Angeles. Now in its 10th edition, Trail of the Angeles by David Harris and John W. Robinson has been the region’s trusted hiking guide for more than 45 years. It describes 100 spectacular trails—ranging from one-hour strolls to challenging two-day backcountry trips—in the mountain range that looms large over the Los Angeles Basin. Featuring 18 new hikes, Trail of the Angeles guides you into almost every corner of the San Gabriels. Inside You’ll Find: Descriptions of 100 hikes, including 18 new outings - Trip difficulty evaluations, season recommendations, length, and elevation gain/loss - Historical photos and descriptions, including the first American Indian footpaths, early pioneer homesteads, and landmarks still visible from the Great Hiking Era - “Trails That Used to Be”: ghost trails that have vanished or are now impassable - BONUS: A folded full-color map detailing all the hikes described in the book “The 10th edition of what some call the hiking bible for Los Angeles-area mountains.” ―Steve Scauzillo, Los Angeles Daily News David Harris is a professor of engineering at Harvey Mudd College. He is the author or coauthor of seven hiking guidebooks and five engineering textbooks. David grew up rambling about the Desolation Wilderness as a toddler in his father’s pack and later roamed the High Sierra as a Boy Scout. As a Sierra Club trip leader, he organized mountaineering trips throughout the Sierra Nevada. Since 1999, he has been exploring the mountains and deserts of Southern California. David is the father of three sons, with whom he loves sharing the outdoors. Author John Robinson hiked the San Gabriels for more than four decades and was considered the foremost expert on the trails of these mountains. He wrote the first edition of “Trails of the Angeles” in 1971 and soon followed with “San Bernardino Mountain Trails,” in addition to three High Sierra hiking guides and five books on Southern California mountain history and lore. Liebre Mountain HIKE LENGTH: 7 miles out-and-back; 1,700' elevation gain - DIFFICULTY: Moderate - SEASON: All year - MAP: Trails Illustrated Angeles National Forest - PERMIT: n/a Features The long whaleback of Liebre Mountain sprawls at the northwest corner of Angeles National Forest, where the Coast Ranges, the Tehachapis, and the San Gabriels all meld together in a wrinkled jumble. From Liebre’s broad summit, you look north across golden-brown Antelope Valley to the Tehachapis, curving from west to northeast in a great arc; and if the day is clear, the southern ramparts of the Sierra Nevada are visible on the distant skyline. Southward, you peer into the gentle ridge-and-canyon country of the Cienaga and Fish Canyon watersheds. The mountain itself is named for the 1846 Mexican land grant Rancho La Liebre; Liebre is Spanish for rabbit. This is delightful mountain country, especially in spring, when snow patches linger on north slopes, the California black oak is clothing itself with reddish leaves, and aromatic white sage is blooming in the foothills. This is the home of the gray pine, a hardy dweller on semiarid slopes, easily identifiable by its gray-green needles, large cones (second in size only to the Coulter pine), and multiforked trunk. Also on the mountainside are big-cone Douglas-firs and some rather large scrub oaks. Occasional junipers and pinon pines bear testimony to the blending of mountain and desert here. This trip follows the historic old Horse Trail, now part of the Pacific Crest Trail but once used to drive horses from the Tejon Ranch to Los Angeles, steeply up the forested north slope of Liebre Mountain from Horse Trail Flat to the summit. Do it in leisurely fashion to fully appreciate the desert view and the unique combination of forest trees and chaparral. It’s a long drive from Los Angeles, but the mountainside is remote, peaceful, and beautiful―well worth the effort. Description From Interstate 5, exit east on Highway 138. Go 4 miles, then turn right on the Old Ridge Route (County Road N2). Go 2.2 miles, then turn left onto Pine Canyon Road (also County Road N2). In 4.3 miles, at a crest of a hill just beyond mile marker 13.60, turn right (south) on a rutted dirt road. Follow the road 0.1 mile to its end at the Pacific Crest Trail (GPS N34 44.306 W118 39.357). If the road is washed out and your vehicle has low clearance, consider parking on the shoulder of Pine Canyon instead. At the upper edge of the parkin