Echo Mountain via Sam Merrill Trail

Description:

• This is a popular and accessible hike that starts right where Lake Avenue ends at its intersection with E. Loma Alta Drive. From there you walk 0.2 miles east to the trail head of the Sam Merrill Trail, where you head down into the creek bed and then climb up the east side of Los Flores Canyon. The next 2 1/2 miles are uphill to reach Echo Mountain. At the top are the ruins of the cool and very steep Mt. Lowe Railway, which ran from 1893 to 1936 and once made this place a famous tourist destination. You can also walk around the grounds of Ye Alpine Tavern, long ago destroyed in a fire.
  
  The views from up here are really grand; there is also access to a wide network of trails in the San Gabriel mountains from here.
  
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