Join Wild Wild West Hardcore Slowpoke River Canyon Hikers

You'll get invited to our Meetups as soon as they're scheduled!

Upper Devil's Canyon from Chilao

May 9
Sat 7:00 AM
Location
No location was chosen
Estimated attendance
 4  people attended.
5.00 5.003

Who organized?
Anne K.

THE RIDESHARE POINT is about 1/4 mile north of the 210 on Angeles Crest Highway (Hwy 2) in La Canada. (about the 4700 block if you're looking on a Thomas Brothers map). Park on Angeles Crest Highway (on the east side of the street). There is a service street that parallels Angeles Crest Highway, and a residential neighborhood on the other side of the service street. It is a Sierra Club rideshare point, so there are usually at least a few cars parked there. The rideshare point is about 20-30 minutes from the trailhead, which is 25-30 miles further up Angeles Crest Highway (I don't remember exactly how long that drive takes, but it's between 1-2 hours). You will not need an ADVENTURE PASS if you leave your car at the rideshare point and CARPOOL with someone, but you will need one if you drive to the trailhead.


THIS IS AN EXTREMELY CHALLENGING HIKE!!!! NOT FOR BEGINNERS OR ANYONE NOT IN GOOD ATHLETIC SHAPE!!

This is a STRENUOUS EXTREMELY SLOW PACED hike. 8 miles rt, 1600' loss/gain. The trailhead is Chilao off the Angeles Crest Highway. Upper Devil's Canyon is very beautiful and rugged. The farther we go downstream, the more beautiful and rougher it gets. LOTS of boulder hopping, stream crossings, and poison oak. There are two beautiful waterfalls at the end of the hike.

What makes this hike so challenging is that it is an UPSIDE DOWN HIKE. This means that we start out going downhill into the canyon, then have to hike uphill on the way out. Since the canyon is rugged, we will have hiked about 9 hours before we even get to the part of the hike where we have to hike about two hours up switchbacks going up the steep hill. I am SUPER SLOW going up hills!!!!! I don't like uphill, but this canyon IS WORTH THE EFFORT!

Bring 2-3 quarts water, lunch, dinner, hiking boots that can get wet, 10 essentials (including a flashlight just-in-case). The 10 essentials are on the home page of this site.

THIS IS A LONG STRENUOUS HIKE! PLEASE DON'T SIGN UP FOR THIS HIKE IF YOU HAVE PLANS FOR LATER THAT EVENING!

There are a couple photos of this canyon on page 2 of the photo album.

Photos of this Meetup

See all photos

Talk about this Meetup

  • Bob in Pasadena
    Posted May 12, 2009 10:46 AM
    Bob in Pasadena
    Hi Anne, Sorry I missed this one, but was out of town for the weekend. Looks like a pretty rugged canyon. Lots of great critter-pics ! Rattlesnakes are always interesting, and seeing a bear is rare .... but a lady-bug convention?
  • Don T.
    Posted May 11, 2009 9:31 AM
    Don T.
    Monday update-so far no signs of PO, yay!

Who attended?

  • 4 attendees
    • “ You guys were great! Nice and fun group, perfect weather, beautiful rugged wilderness, and we got to see a few critters! Poor bear- I hope he/she recovers?!?! I hope to hike with all of you again soon! ”
    • “ Excellant, awesome and a long day. Thanks everyone for a great trek and to the poor injured bear for a good hiking story. I barely survived, but did finish my hike to Mt. Wilson which was 13.7 miles. Ugh. ”
    • “ It was pretty awesome. Everybody had a cheerful attitude and Anne was very protective of everybody. We walked through a whole bunch of poison oak and didn't get effected by it at all because Anne brought the right stuff to protect us. The only thing I wish I would've had was a machete for the poison oak and the Yaka. One of the Yaka leaves pocked me in the leg so hard that now I have a three inch bruise. One of the leaves almost poked my eye out. : ) For the last one and a half miles to the end of the canyon there was so much water that I decided to hike bare foot. That was fun. My feet were a little sore after but it was worth it. If you decide to go bare foot, you need to find yourself a Lord of the Rings looking walking stick for a third leg to keep your balance. It would've sucked to slip off of a rock and fall in the water with your backpack. But that would have probably bin fun too. We saw: Injured Brown Bear, Fuzzy Red Ant, Baby Rattle Snake... The hole trip was an adventure. ”