Devil’s Canyon Trail

My 5^th trip here and first solo. Soloing gives such a different vibe. You find yourself stopping to look and listen, making sure nothing is stalking you. But it’s a great trail weather you make it all the way to the falls or just down to the first campground. The terrain changes a few times from being open under the blazing sun to being shrouded beneath the big pines. I’ve seen rattlers and racers here but nothing aggressive. Coming out is work and the day after my glutes are feeling the work. Think from now on I’ll make this a once a year hike.

Given how far up Angeles Crest Highway it is, there are far less people up here. Importantly: far less RUDE people up here. But it’s probably not worth the drive, unless you just have to knock it off your list.
Don’t listen to anybody else: the paths are NOT dangerous if you’ve ever hiked anywhere ever in your life ever before. But they ARE fairly boring after the first mile or so. Since you descend into the canyon, the views get progressively more boring (unless you really like looking at trees). The ending point, a camp clearing down in the canyon (apparently frequently used by hunters), is highly anticlimactic — but a good place to sit and eat lunch, if you like food or whatever.
Other tidbits: Good amount of shade. Good chance of seeing deer. Some chance of seeing a black bear if you go early enough. Very little trash. Easy-​to-​follow trail. No graffiti (yes, that’s a major problem on most trails around LA, unfortunately).

I came here with my friend today. The paths are DANGEROUS. Pretty much goat paths through and through. Very little room for error, it is very easy to slip and slide down the mountainside. In other news, We saw a doe on the trail! She was adorbs. Be prepared for gnats, they will swarm your face and try to go in your mouth, ears and nose. Bugging you relentlessly in an attempt to get you to fall to your doom. On the way to the waterfall, there is a little area where people have a bonfire. If you see it, you are on the right track. Basically: be careful where you step, don’t leave your garbage behind, wear bug repellant, bring extra water and be prepared to sweat bullets. Have fun!

I wanted to find a trail that was secluded and didn’t have mass crowds following me my entire hike.
This trail is not too much further than most of the other «popular» tourist hikes available in the surrounding area, however, it is very isolated. My buddy and I hiked over 4 hours and never saw or heard a single soul. This fact alone makes the hike worth the small drive.
As far as difficulty, the original hike down is pretty straight forward. There are some steep cliffs with very little room for error at certain points. While this isn’t immediately frightening for the average hiker, I wouldn’t recommend it for the faint of heart. Just be sure to watch your step! It will seem easy at first because you are going down the whole time. Remember, the way back up isn’t your run-​of-​the-​mill trek.. You must make your way back up the same route you originally came down. Keep this in mind and be sure your in good enough shape to complete the hike.
Bring lots of water and stay hydrated. Most importantly, be sure to buy a day pass for parking or you will be fined. You can pick one up for $ 5 at Big 5 and other participating locations.
I how you enjoy it as much as did!

One of my favorite places. I’ve been here three times now, but only yesterday did I finally get to the waterfalls. We followed the Devil’s Canyon Loop route from Christopher Brennan’s canyoneering guide (found here:
), which was written 16 years ago; the path is now far more overgrown than what he describes. There was water the whole way down Devil’s Canyon and a trickle most of the way up Skull Canyon. I hear that both of those were totally dry before the recent rains.
The hike down to the trail camp is nice and easy, with a well-​maintained trail. There’s a big flat spot by the river with a fire pit and plenty of space for tents and hammocks. We did it in about an hour on Friday afternoon and spent the night. After that point, the trail disappears except for occasional use trails marked by rock cairns. The path is easy to lose and overgrown in many spots, and it disappears completely about a mile downstream from the trail camp. It’s tough bushwhacking, with lots of river crossings and heavy brush. We were very thankful to have a machete – in fact, some parts may have bordered on impassable without it.
The waterfalls are totally awesome and worth it! There’s a route down the upper falls by traversing the left hand side until you’re almost at the end of the pool. It’s a 20 foot downclimb from here with no good route, but one of the rocks has a deep crack that you can use to tie off a length of webbing. Unless you’re prepared to tackle a difficult bouldering problem, the webbing is necessary. The climb out through Skull Canyon was very difficult. Lots of overgrowth, lots of waterfalls to climb over, and tons of that awful loose rock that’s all over the San Gabriels. The third waterfall in particular required us to go around it (on the left side, as Brennan describes) but even that bypass was difficult and dangerous because of the lack of reliable handholds. It took us about four hours to climb out from the waterfalls. We started from the trail camp at 8:30 and barely made it to the highway by sunset (5:00).
DO NOT attempt the full Devil’s Canyon loop unless you’re prepared for a tough and technical hike. Pack light, bring a machete and some webbing, and wear shoes that dry quickly and grip well on wet rock (I would have killed for a pair of approach shoes). If you’re up for the challenge, it’s a fun and rewarding route.

Due to the drought, there is absolutely no flowing water but the remoteness of the trail makes it worth it. You can tell that the trail is hardly used due to vast amounts of vegetation growing on it, and for a weekend we were the only people hiking it. We originally came to try and go fishing, but got a whole lot more than we expected. While about 3 miles into the trail, we come across a young black bear on the other side of the hill where we were hiking. Seeing us, it seemed unfazed and just let us be. Overall the hike isn’t that hard, and took us an hour to the end, and 2 hours back to the trailhead. If you are expecting flowing water and something at the end, this definitely isn’t the trail for you.
BRING:
— 3L+ of water, if worse comes to worse stagnant pools of water to filter from.
— Sunscreen and bug repellent.

I hiked the whole trail down to the waterfall. I took my time with a couple of friends. We backpacked down to the camp and set up shop. Slept the night and then woke up bright and early to hike the disarrayed trail to the waterfall. The trail is not often used, which makes it feel more adventurous since the trail has been messed up by fallen trees, overgrown shrubs, and so forth. We went off trail a few times following the river, which always found the trail again. There are piled rocks that mark the trail, but it was easy to lose the trail. The hike could be done in a day if you raced through it, however, take two days so that you can really take in the surroundings. It gets really beautiful near the tiny river and the ascend trail is laborious but the view is great.

This is a great trail; easy and quite long with a LOT of history (if you count the Manson Family as historical). Devil’s Canyon was a favorite spot for Charles Manson– where he sang, slept sometimes, and swam under the waterfall. It is a beautiful place, BUT BEWARE OF BEES. I got tore up by them and had to turn around.

One of my first hikes on the 2North. The trail is super narrow but its fine because it’s not overcrowded. The hike begins with you descending down leaving the return hike to be pretty much an uphill climb. The hike is about 4 hours roundtrip. The views of the mountain side is stunning. Just make sure you bring a good amount of water and plenty of bug spray.

The name is the most attractive thing about this trail muahahahaha… but that’s not it. We went down, down, down for about an hour and 20 minutes. Most of the trail is shaded by conifers and some broadleafs. There are some parts where you are out in the sun so take shades and sunblock. For about 45 minutes you descend into the canyon below. Much of the trail down is on steeply inclined hillside. Since you always have to step carefully on these stretches you get a good workout and also some blisters eventually. Many spots are crumbly so be careful. It doesn’t take long before you get a good look at the canyon below. There is a really gorgeous view of pine covered slopes and barren slopes. Fires have ravaged this area so it is not as beautiful as can be but it is still quite a sight to behold. There are a couple of hills right in the center of the canyon which really make this canyon a lovely sight.
This trail is pretty adventurous. There is a warning sign at the beginning regarding loose rocks and fallen trees. To be honest the trail is pretty safe but there are times you need to hop over fallen trees. One of the fallen trees was very thick and made it difficult to continue on the path easily. The trail is well kept and easy to follow all of the way down to the canyon. However, the trail is harder to follow in the canyon itself and you need to cross the stream several times. Yes, there is a stream! It is not as nice as the Switzer stream but it provides soothing sounds as you continue along it. We walked pretty much all the way to where the small hills in the center of the canyon were. We stopped when the trail became harder to follow and when the weeds were denser.
The way back is very adventurous. The trail is harder to follow going back. About three times we got lost briefly but found the trail eventually. One of these times though we had to go up a steep hillside to get back on the trail. Much of the way back is going up so it took us longer to get back. There are supposed to be cascades and a 20 foot waterfall about 2 miles after the trail ends. We were exhausted though so we turned back. The trail is not truly kid friendly so exercise much caution if you bring kids along. There are annoying bugs here but it’s not really that bad.
Of note this day was one of the most beautiful and amazing things I have ever experienced. In parts of the forest there were thousands of lady bugs flying around and crawling over everything. Kind of like the Monarch butterfly sanctuary in Michoacan, Mexico.
Many have mentioned how secluded this trail is and most of the day we were alone which was invigorating. Parts of the way at the beginning you can hear cars so it doesn’t seem as secluded and it’s hard to forget you are near a major city. On the way back we ran into three parties of hikers.
To get here from La Canada, drive 27 miles up Angeles Crest Highway (2), to just past the entrance to Upper Chilao Campground. You will see a parking area on the left side of the road and a very obvious signed trail marker on the right side of the road.