Distance: 10.2 miles round trip on trail and cross country
Summit Elevation: 4664' (High Point on Mt. Lowe Road)
Elevation Gain: 2094' (Gain), 3615' (Loss)
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 1.67
Round trip time: 7 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 84 oz.
Parking/Fees: Adventure Pass
Difficulty: Moderate
Sean and I met at the Chaney Trailhead for a loop from Dawn Mine, up Millard Canyon and Grand Canyon (who knew the San Gabriels had one), through the Mt. Lowe Campground, then down the Tom Sloan Trail and Millard Canyon Trail, and Sunset Ridge Trail. All of this was new country for me, but the main purpose was to place a trailcam in San Gabriel bear country. Sean had seen adult bears and cubs around both Millard and Grand Canyon. The trail crew was working this morning and gave us a lift to the top of the Dawn Mine trail saving us a couple of miles.
We descended the short trail and explored the lower and upper adits of Dawn Mine. Both were gated to protect the public from themselves. I got a photo of a mine shaft from the top adit by putting my camera through the gate. The upper adit required a class 3 scramble aided by large tree roots. There is also an annex further up the trail. After visiting the mine, we went up Millard Canyon to the junction with Grand Canyon. The trail into Grand ended after a few hundred yards and the cross country began. It was pretty easy going for a wild canyon. There were boulder and tree obstacles, and some light bushwhacking, but it was rather pleasant. Not too far up the canyon, we found a small stream of water that created several pools. There were a lot of animal tracks on both banks around one popular looking pool. We made a mental note and came back later to place the trailcam there. We continued up stream until we found the ruins of two cabins.
Old mine gear
Sean climbing to the upper adit
Mine shaft in the upper adit
Cross country in Grand Canyon
One of two cabin ruins
Despite full sun, it was dim in Grand Canyon from the dense tree cover. The auto flash on my camera would go off whenever I took a photo. The cabins were interesting, but we were looking for something special. Sean had information about a bear cub carcass that had been discovered in the canyon a year earlier. He had general directions but not precise coordinates so we had to do some backtracking and searching. Eventually, we found it. The trip stats were slightly inflated because of our search. OTOH, I didn't start my track until a short distance down the Dawn Mine trail, so the stats aren't that far off. The bear cub carcass was pretty decayed but a lot of fur remained and one claw was well preserved. The original party that discovered it named it "Little Stiffy" because rigor had already set in. While the name choice might be unfortunate, it was in fact stiff as a board. There was no indication of how it might have died. We took photos, then let it rest in peace.
"Little Stiffy"
Past the cabins, we found some aircraft wreckage. Sean said it was supposed to be a military trainer that crashed in 1947, but I couldn't find the report with a cursory web search. We took a short side trip to visit Alpine Falls, which was bone dry and impossible to climb. We also made a short visit to Grand Canyon Falls before starting up a bypass on the right side. The exit from the canyon was a little sketchy, but we made it out and rested at Mt. Lowe Campground. The campground was deserted. Next, we climbed up to Mt. Lowe Road, then started down the Tom Sloan Trail. Sean is part of the volunteer crew working to restore the trail and it is almost done. We passed the crew working it and took another break at Tom Sloan Saddle. From there, it was all downhill on the Millard Canyon Trail. The final connection was the Sunset Ridge Trail back to the road and the cars. It was a nice loop and I think we found a promising spot for the trailcam. I am looking forward to returning in a couple of months to see what lives in the canyon.
Plane wreck debris
Alpine Falls
Exiting the canyon
Brown Mountain from the Tom Sloan Trail
Pool in Millard Canyon
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