When David Harris hoofed the trails of almost every known hike within the vast San Gabriel Mountains, he was literally walking in the footsteps of a legend.
The painstaking effort lasting from about 2017-2020 paid off when Harris’ update of the popular John W. Robinson book, “Trails of the Angeles: 100 Hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains,” was released in March by Wilderness Press as the 10th edition of what some call the hiking bible for Los Angeles-area mountains.
Robinson, who passed away in April 2018 at age 88, wrote the softcover trail guide in 1971 that is now, thanks to Harris as co-author, in its 50th year of publication after selling more than 100,000 copies. The new edition preserves Robinson’s breezy prose and historical nuggets but adds 18 new hikes and eliminates outdated trails, Harris said.
The trail book offers a variety of hikes, from easy, 1-mile jaunts to five-day backpacking trips, spanning the east-west mountain range from Placerita Canyon near Santa Clarita to Cucamonga Peak in Rancho Cucamonga. Each lists specific driving instructions to the trailhead and detailed directions showing how to navigate the trail, using landmarks, turning points, photos and GPS coordinates. An iOS app, etrails, displays the trails on a digital map on an iPhone or iPad.
Harris, 47, author and co-author of seven hiking guidebooks, including “Afoot and Afield Los Angeles County” (fourth edition), “Afoot and Afield Inland Empire” and “San Bernardino Mountain Trails” (seventh edition), kept in the book Robinson’s original tales of pioneer hikers, naturalists and gold-seekers, including waitress Nellie Hawkins slinging hash at a canyon inn immortalized by a mountain peak bearing her name.
“I feel so fortunate to follow in his footsteps. I feel an obligation to do justice to the work,” Harris said on March 30, 2021, while he was staying in Joshua Tree doing research on his next trail book.
Harris, an Upland resident and father of three, is an engineering professor at Harvey Mudd College, part of the Claremont Colleges. He used spreadsheets to mark characteristics of each trail, from length of hike, to elevation gain/loss and trail status. Many trails in the front country of the Angeles National Forest remain closed until April 2022 due to the Bobcat fire in 2020. These are noted with an asterisk.
While wildfires have limited or cut off access to some hiking trails, the coronavirus pandemic has unleashed tens of thousands of first-time visitors into Southern California’s wilderness. And some newer spots have become fan favorites that he added to the book, Harris said.
“During COVID there has been a whole new renaissance of people getting outdoors. So that makes this book a timely publication,” Harris said.
Car lines have been spotted this month at Chino Hills State Park and just last week, at Joshua Tree National Park on a weekday. In 2020, people took to the outdoor trails as a socially distanced way of exercising.
“We had a lot of places get overused and many people don’t know how to properly care for the land when they are hiking,” said Casey Schreiner, founder and editor of ModernHiker.com, the most read hiking site on the West Coast, and author of “Discovering Griffith Park: A Local’s Guide.”
“But the more people exposed to nature is generally a positive thing,” he added.
Aside from stalwarts, such as hikes to Liebre Mountain, Mount Baldy and Mount Wilson, Harris included 18 new hikes, many dotted along the gentler slopes of foothill preserves, focusing on the eastern flank. These include:
• Eaton Canyon Falls (Hike 21), located within the Los Angeles County-run Eaton Canyon Nature Area in Pasadena. “It wasn’t a big deal in 1971, but nowadays it’s one of the most popular trails in the range,” Harris said. Harris quotes naturalist John Muir, who said these falls produce “a low sweet voice, singing like a bird.” Face-coverings are mandatory. Reservations are required at least 24 hours in advance. Email: EatonCanyon@parks.lacounty.gov.
• Jackson Lake Loop (Hike 84), Off Highway 138 and then Angeles Crest Highway, west of Wrightwood. “In the spring, chickadees sing and lupine, paintbrush, and wallflower lend color to the woods,” he wrote.
• Claremont Hills Wilderness Park (Hike 87), the most heavily visited wilderness park in the range. He included it because it is family-friendly and easy to get to. “It is wonderful having trails close to where you live, where you can enjoy someplace beautiful without taking the whole day to do it,” Harris said.
• Etiwanda Falls (Hike 88), in North Etiwanda Preserve in Rancho Cucamonga. Aside from the waterfall, “it is a great place to watch for lizards, birds and wildflowers,” Harris wrote.
• Marshall Canyon in La Verne (Hike 86): “I love that area. I really like the oaks in there, where you go through shaded tunnels,” he said. He’s twice seen bobcats on this trail, he said.
The book includes a fold-out map of the entire San Gabriel Mountains, with the hike numbers in red. Do hikers still use paper maps?
“I never go hiking without a paper map,” said Schreiner, who often takes along the Robinson book as well. “I tell people your phone is great but if you have a paper map it will never run out of batteries or lose connection.”
Harris agreed. “Fold-out maps are a good way to see the trails at a glance,” he said.
Of course, trail guidebooks also help you find your way to the trailhead, aiding in that special connection to wilderness so close yet sometimes so far for 22 million Southern Californians.
“Part of the beauty of being out there is the connection with the land,” Harris said. “It makes you feel more at home where you live when you look up and see those places.”
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Upland author revises popular San Gabriel Mountains hiking guide - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
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