Inspiration Point

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera (can you believe it?) on this 10-mile hike, but here are a few crappy cell phone pics of the hike, and a little play-by-play. The trailhead is at the top of Lake Avenue in Pasadena. Go past the Cobb Estate gate, stay to the right and look for the signs to Echo Mountain. We started at 7:45am and got up to the Echo Mountain ruins in an hour. From there we took the San Merrill trail, up and up and up...

Here's the view from about 3.5 miles:

...with white rock mountains above:

Neat burnt trees, and a view of the northern valley:

  We were above the helicopters!

 

My hiking friend Mithra!

Sunset Point:

A nice shady path for about a mile to the fire road:

At the fire road, basically the 5-mile mark:

   

Finally at Inspiration Point! 

There were some picnic tables, and of course the "telescopes" (basically just metal tubes). 

 

 

  

We looped back down the Castle Canyon trail, which is a skinny trail to the left as you're facing the Inspiration Point sign. 

We found a little creek which was heavenly in the heat!

     

The Castle Canyon trail ends just 10 feet south of the junction to the San Merrill trail. You can take either one up, but I think the route we did was the best, because the heat was worse as the day went on, and the Castle Canyon was slightly more shade and a bit steeper. 

The hike was wonderful! It took us about 5 hours. We finished around 1pm. The last 2 miles were the most brutal because we were tired, out of water, and it was high noon with insane heat. So warning to the wise: Bring about 6 liters of water for 2 people and a dog!

I would definitely recommend this hike! It is difficult, so make sure you are healthy and willing, and the weather is cool!

The view from Inspiration Point: