My hike up Echo Mountain this past weekend may have been a personal first, but the trail is certainly no secret.
What remains of the Echo Mountain railway stop
In fact, if you're looking for a respite from civilization, the trail to the top of Echo Mountain is probably not your best option. There were very few points on either the way up or the way down when I wasn't within the line of sight or earshot of other hikers or mountain bikers. This didn't necessarily make the hike itself any less pleasant, but I did feel a bit like I had just learned a secret, only to find out I was the last person to be told.
To get to the trailhead of the Sam Merrill Trail, drive to the old Cobb Estate at the northern end of Lake Avenue in Altadena. Walk past the stone pillars at the front of the estate and continue down the driveway, looking on your right for the sign that says Trail. (If you miss the sign and continue following the driveway, you will come upon a couple of other trails, neither of which is the Sam Merrill Trail.)
It takes about an hour to hike to the top of Echo Mountain. Once you arrive, you will see the crumbling foundation of a structure used to store gas that was pumped up to the Echo Mountain complex. A little further, one discovers the remains of the Echo Mountain stop on what used to be the Mt. Lowe Railway (pictured above). More than anything, the ruins stir your imagination of what the site must have been like over a century ago. One of the plaques shows a picture of a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the opening of a new amenity at Echo Mountain House. Apparently, proprietor Thaddeus Lowe was given to pomp and circumstance, and the slightest development at Echo Mountain was excuse enough for another ceremony.
Unfortunately, there was no sign of the three million candlepower searchlight that Professor Lowe purchased from the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. Lowe's publicist, George Wharton James, claimed that the searchlight could be seen from Catalina Island. Who knows whether this was true or not, but it definitely made me wonder about what Echo Mountain must have been like when it bustled with the activity of tourists arriving by train.
Make sure to check out the slideshow of pictures taken at Echo Mountain.
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