⊗ Allison Mine Loop

October 12, 2017 tarannosaurus

Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Southern California → Los Angeles Area → ⊗ Allison Mine Loop

⊗ Technical Route ⊗

Warning: Do Not Attempt Without Proper Training – click here for details

Location: Eastern San Gabriels, Northeast of Los Angeles

Distance: 8.3 miles total, 0.6 miles technical

Elevation Ascent/Descent: 2070 feet/2070 feet

Time Required: 7-9 hours

Rappels: 3-5, lengths up to 80 feet

Red Tape/Notes: No permit required; Adventure Pass needed to avoid a (possible) ticket when parking at the trailhead. Great beta and beta references can be found on ropewiki.

What’s Nearby?: The Huntington, Eaton Canyon (Hike), Eaton Canyon (Technical), Little Santa Anita Canyon, Bailey Canyon, Rubio Canyon, Mt. Lowe Railway, Millard Canyon/Dawn Mine Loop

This route would be more enjoyable as an overnight, since the “standard” route starts at the Allison Mine site, which is an excellent and remote backcountry campsite, with plenty of mines to explore. Unfortunately the loop requires the better part of a day, so if you choose to do this in a single day (as we did), you likely won’t have enough time to fully explore the mines. Also, if you do this as an overnight, you can take the longer route via the Heaton Flats Trail to Iron Mountain and add 6 more rappels, which are apparently lovely, and then spend the night at the campsite by the mine. We found the “standard” route extremely difficult to locate, and finally had to resort to using our gps to find it (we generally try not to use it if we don’t need it). We would have lost the trail multiple times if we hadn’t downloaded the gpx for the route; I’m not sure if it was the time of year we visited, or if the route simply hadn’t been taken in a while, but it was obscure. Also, it would be very painful with overnight packs on. The 900 feet of elevation gain in half a mile was a real quad burner. But the mines were very fun to explore and the canyon descent was pretty, so it was still worth it. Definitely planning to do it as an overnight next time, though.