Upper Brown Mountain Road to the saddle in August 2011

Not the steepest trail, but a great distance hike that starts on the eastern side of the Arroyo Seco, overlooking Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For the first 2.5 km (1.5 miles), you’ll wonder if you’re actually on a nature hike as the trail starts off on pavement and stays within sight of houses. Once you pass the El Prieto trailhead, however, the trail immediately begins to climb and switch back, and any doubts you have will be quickly dispelled. You’ll see ample evidence of the destruction caused by flooding in the past two years as sections of the trail were severely damaged or washed away entirely.

Fire damage

The first thing evident once the trail begins to climb is the amount of fire damage from the Station Fire of a couple of years back. The ground vegetation has grown back but most of the trees are skeletons. The views, however, make up for the lack of shade trees. From Pasadena to the higher peaks like Brown Mountain and Mt Lowe, there are 360 degree panoramas constantly as you hike upward. Without shade, the trail is dry and dusty, but that also keeps the vegetation at bay as this is definitely not a well-maintained route and there are many places reduced to single track by the encroachment of nature. This is also a very popular route with mountain bikers, so be careful not to enter any blind corners without paying attention for those heading downhill.

The saddle

The saddle is the junction of the Brown Mountain Trail with the trail that comes up from Millard Canyon to the east. It is a flat area with shade trees and a great breeze and naturally becomes the place for people to take a break whether on bicycles or on foot. At the time we hiked, the trail upward toward Brown Mountain had a closed sign but the trail down to Millard Canyon parking lot was open. Somewhere nearby was the end of the El Prieto trail, but we weren’t able to find it. The dogs enjoyed a extra helping of water as the day was still quite warm and we soon headed back down the trail toward Pasadena. This is a great trail if you want to log distances without too great of a climb and it is very local to Pasadena with parking at the trailhead.

Water

This is a very dry trail with very little shade, so bring plenty of water. Beyond the El Prieto trailhead, where there is a stream crossing, there is no water available. We always bring even more water than we need, usually in an extra bottle, just in case something unexpected happens to us, or if we find someone in trouble and lacking enough water. While you’d think people would know they need water for hiking, we’re always surprised by how many people we see far from a water source carrying little or no water.