July 25, 2018
In one of my first submissions to “On The Road” on April 12th I documented a hike my step-daughter(aka my nurse) and I took to Mt. Lowe. Unfortunately, as is usually the case when the kid and I hike together, the view was not optimal(though interesting in it’s own way). There was a solid cloud deck over the basin and the clouds ended up whipping over the summit once we got up there(the links are broken on the original post, IT WAS ALL MY FAULT, but I provided links in the comments). Being that the kid was on-call at the hospital and her mom had to work Thanksgiving afternoon, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday instead. I decided to redo the hike to Mt. Lowe Thanksgiving morning if the weather was clear. I woke early and checked the local news webcams(ABC7) and it was really clear, so I headed up to the trailhead. It seems that a few other folk had the same idea, I ended up having to park across the road from the trailhead since the lot(more like a wide spot in the road) was full.
The trail follows the Mt. Lowe fire road from the Mt. Wilson road, through the Mueller tunnel, until you reach the saddle between Mt. Markham and San Gabriel Peak. Then a single track trail climbs the west side of Mt. Markham to the saddle between Mt. Markham and Mt. Lowe. The trail then climbs the north side of Mt. Lowe to the summit.
Read MoreThe trail follows the Mt. Lowe fire road from the Mt. Wilson road, through the Mueller tunnel, until you reach the saddle between Mt. Markham and San Gabriel Peak. Then a single track trail climbs the west side of Mt. Markham to the saddle between Mt. Markham and Mt. Lowe. The trail then climbs the north side of Mt. Lowe to the summit.
View from Eaton Saddle just prior to reaching the tunnel.
This is the view looking south down Eaton Canyon, this is the first indication of how good the view will be once you get to the summit. You can see the trailhead to the left and Mt. Markham to the right. Catalina Island is visible to the left of the eastern slope of Mt. Markham.
