First responders and parks officials held a press conference April 17 to warn about the dangers of hiking in Eaton Canyon. Left to righ: Capt. Bob Taylor, Pasadena Fire Dept., Capt. John Benedict, Altadena Sheriff’s Station, Russ Guiney, director, L.A. County Parks & Recreation, Lt. Duane Allen, Altadena Sheriff’s Station, Ranger Mike McIntyre from USFS, Capt. Bill Niccum from L.A. County Fire Department, unidentified LAFD. Photo by Laura Monteros.
by Laura Monteros
Don’t. That was the operative word at the joint press conference at Eaton Canyon Nature Center on Tuesday afternoon.
Don’t. That was the operative word at the joint press conference at Eaton Canyon Nature Center on Tuesday afternoon.
- Don’t try to hike up to the second waterfall, there is no developed trail.
- Don’t believe what you see on the internet, the hike is beautiful but perilous.
- Don’t believe the people who tell you it’s okay. It’s not.
People need to know that the stories about a trail to the second falls are false, Capt. John Benedict of the Altadena Sheriff’s Station said. “Don’t try it,” he warned. “It’s not worth losing your life over.”
Representatives from Los Angeles County departments of Parks and Recreation, Fire, and Sheriff joined Pasadena Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service in announcing a new public education effort to inform people about the dangers of the area above the first Eaton Canyon waterfall. Director Russ Guiney from Parks and Recreation led the conference.
With 60 rescues in the last 12 months—40 of those responded to by the Altadena Sheriff’s Station according to Benedict—the agencies are trying to get the word out to hikers that the unmarked, unofficial, and unmaintained trail above the first waterfall is not navigable. Two of the accidents resulted in death and 20 in injury, and two of those hikers had to be flown out.
Though stats for 2010 were not available, the participants said there had been an increase in rescues in Eaton Canyon in 2011. Capt. Bill Niccum of the County Fire Department attributed this to other parts of the Angeles Forest being closed after the Station Fire, and social media on sites such as Yelp and YouTube that extol the natural beauty of area and convince people there is a trail that can be climbed.
The strategy to combat this misinformation is to distribute three short public service announcements (PSA) to traditional media, on YouTube and other social networking sites, and to hiking groups. Rebuttals to reviews and videos that entice people to try the hike will be posted as well. Currently, park rangers walk the area, and there are signs at the beginning of the trail from the Eaton Canyon Nature Center and on the Forest Service trail.
What makes the trail so unsafe is that, in the first place, there is no identified trail to the second waterfall. Secondly, the trail made by previous usage is rugged, steep, and consists of loose decomposed granite and shale that gives way when stepped on. Sherry Rollman of USFS said that there is a 70 percent slope throughout the San Gabriels Mountains.
Capt. Bob Taylor from Pasadena Fire said that most rescues are of people who get stuck at White Ridge on the way to the waterfall. “They can’t go down and they can’t come up.”
Mike McIntyre of the U.S. Forest Service quoted John Muir that the San Gabriel range “is more rigidly inaccessible in the ordinary meaning of the word than any other that I ever attempted to penetrate. The slopes are exceptionally steep and insecure to the foot….” McIntyre stated that there has never been a USFS designated trail, and the Forest Service will not put one in, because the area is not geologically stable.
“There’s a crucial need to be responsible when you hike,” McIntyre said. “Don’t attempt to cut across, don’t believe the social media, check the Forest Service website.”
The danger to oneself and others was stressed, though there have not been significant injuries to rescuers so far. In a tragic incident last year, a teenage girl, who was with her family at the first waterfall, sustained severe head injuries from rocks dislodged by hikers at the second waterfall. (Video here.) A park ranger told Altadenablog that the girl had thrown her body over her younger sister and friend to protect them.
“Trying to climb the ridge is not worth the risking the life of yourself and others,” Taylor stressed.
Kim Bosell of Parks and Recreation said that 487,000 people enter the canyon through Eaton Canyon Park, and Taylor noted that this is the beginning of season, which reaches its height in summertime.
According to Niccum, rescues are a service of the county and rescued hikers are not billed. Though records available on where the rescued people live weren’t available, a member of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team told Altadenablog that the last three rescues were of people from Burbank, Eagle Rock, and Dominguez Hills.
The area of Eaton Canyon is covered by multiple agencies, but Taylor said that the call is often assigned based on which cell phone site the call comes in from. Whichever agency arrives first takes the role of incident commander. He said it takes an average of two hours to get rescuers on scene.
Inside the Nature Center, a man who had just returned from a hike up to the first falls with his two daughters mentioned to a couple of the park rangers that they had seen some hikers at the second falls. “How do you get up there?” he asked. “Don’t,” the rangers replied.
