Saturday Mt. Lowe Railway Hike Kicks Off Guided Hike Series

The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy is leading the first in a series of along the old lower route of the Mt. Lowe Railway.  The public is invited.

The hikes are meant to showcase the historial Mt. Lowe Railway, which carried tourists in the early 20th-century both to a now-crumbled tourist pavilion in Rubio Canyon and to historical hotels and taverns up higher in the mountains.

Hikers can today easily visit these historical sites, and by doing so with conservancy docents, can learn more about the history of the sites.

The conservancy sent out the following information about the first two hikes of the season:

• Sat., Sept. 17, 9 a.m.: Mount Lowe Railway to the falls. Meet at the trailhead off Rubio Vista Drive (click here for directions).
  
  Join AFC and teacher Lyle Hatridge on a trail following the former route of the Mount Lowe Railway, which brought Angelenos and tourists to the popular resorts on Mt. Lowe and Echo Mountain at the turn of the 19th century. The trail is one mile each way.  It is demanding at points, with several high narrow steps near a sheer drop and a scramble over rocks in the creek near the end.

• Sat. Sept. 24, 9 a.m.: Unexplored Rubio Canyon. Meet at the intersection of Loma Alta Drive and Camp Huntington Drive, just east of the bridge (click here for directions).
  Much of Rubio Canyon had been inaccessible to the public for decades when the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy and its partners preserved the canyon in 2011. Explore this untrammeled land with a hike along a trail first carved in 1888, and learn of the canyon's rich history as the home of the Huntington Boy Scout Camp and the Mount Lowe Railway. Docent Ginny Heringer will lead the hike and point out native plants.

For more on last year's hikes and the conservancy's acquisition of land in the area, check out the following links:

Gallery: Rubio Canyon Trail's Forgotten Engineering Masterpiece

Local Land Conservancy Celebrates Purchase of Third Rubio Canyon Parcel