Quick Stats: 5.4 Miles & 1,417′ gain via Sam Merrill Trail from The Cobb Estate. LPC #2
After having climbed Rocky Peak twice, Sarah and I were starting to set our sights on adventures that were a little longer, a little higher, and a bit more challenging. I had started clicking around on different trails in All Trails to try and find somethings that fit the bill. I also decided to write a few of these up on a whiteboard in our home office as future goals, and kind of sort them by mileage and elevation.
Next up on the list was Echo Mountain via Sam Merrill Trail. I had read reviews on All Trails that said some people were a little uneasy about some parts of the trail because of the drop off from the edge and how narrow the trail is, so this sounded like a way to up our adventure a bit.
Beginning from The Cobb Estate in Altadena, we started up the Sam Merrill Trail. This trail seemed like the sort of antithesis to Rocky Peak Trail. Out in the Santa Susana Mountains, we really didn’t see anyone, and we had the summit to ourselves. Here in Altadena we had to find parking, and the trail is really well trafficked. Not that it is a problem– just different than our first adventures.
The trail is very easy to follow as it winds its way up toward the summit of Echo Mountain. When we reached the top of the Sam Merrill Trail, we were amazed to see bits of Los Angeles history. The Mount Lowe Railway and the ruins of an observatory, resort, and more were waiting to be explored at the top.
As we made our way past these scant ruins, we kept making our way toward the “summit” of Echo Mountain. Funny story, though: Echo Mountain is a summit with a prominence of 0 feet, because the summit is really just a sort of flattened out area below other mountains. At the same elevation of the “summit” is the start of other trails, like “Castle Canyon” which will take you up to Inspiration Point. After climbing a very traditional mountain like Rocky Peak, this summit was a little disappointing in this regard. There were more ruins at the top, though, including an echo-phone for you to yell into, which is what gave Echo Mountain it’s name: The acoustics.
Still a fun place to be, and checking a summit off of my list! After our last trip to Rocky Peak, we got a simple little battery powered engraver and decided to leave a little mark on the summit of Rocky Peak. Up there, tucked behind some ruins, is our rock:
After hanging out on the summit for a while we made our way back down the same way we came up; enjoying the view of the trail below as we made our way down.
