Day 4+ of June 2022 Trip to California, San Gabriel Peak and Others

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The remaining days of my June 2022 trip to California for gathering/party/reunion with my friends. While I won’t go into the details of such activities, I will share some photos and thoughts of a few attractions we checked out near Los Angeles.

Mount Lowe

Hike to San Gabriel Peak

After our road trip from San Jose through California’s iconic Pacific Coast Highway, some of my friends suggested we do something nature-related near Los Angeles, so I proposed this hike to San Gabriel Peak.

I first came across San Gabriel Mountains during my trip to Huntington Gardens last year, where a poem referred to the soaring “San Gabriel Mountains”, which the gardens sat at their feet. In the western part of “San Gabriel Mountains”, just a short drive from the city of Pasadena, its namesake “San Gabriel Peak” with a 1878m (6162ft) elevation is the highest peak in its vicinity. It’s also a very accessible peak, which could be reached from “Eaton Saddle” via a 5km out-and-back with 314m elevation gain.
Given that parking may be limited at “Eaton Saddle” since we had a few cars, we planned a one-way hike from “Eaton Saddle” to “Bill Reily Trailhead”, with some of our cars parked at nearby “Red Box Picnic Area”. In my opinion, this hike had scenery (the towering views from San Gabriel peak), a bit of history (the nike missile silos at Mount Disappointment), and it’s not too strenuous, which should be the perfect introductory to outdoor hiking to some of my friends.

Unfortunately, the southern California sunshine in the month of June meant it was a very hot day. There were few shades along the trail, which made things less comfortable, say, than a stroll at Santa Monica Beach or Griffith Observatory. The 300m of elevation gain, together with exposure along the trail (as perceived by some of my friends) turned out to be too much to some of them. I bet this trip inadvertently kept them away from the outdoors, at least for the moment.

In the end, we went on a Saturday but surprisingly, parking was plentiful at “Eaton Saddle”. As for the hike itself, there’s actually not much to talk about. It’s an unmaintained road to Markham Saddle (which involved a short tunnel, p5 below), after which it’s a trail with 15% average gradient to San Gabriel Peak.

San Gabriel Mountains to the Northeast
Mt San Antonio in the background right.
Valley
Pasadena beyond the mountains.
San Gabriel Peak
Mount Markham
Tunnel
Mountains
Mount Deception
Mount Deception and Mount Disappointment

As for the summit of San Gabriel Peak, it’s not much more than some clearing among the bushes. There was a bench (p1 below) but it’s made of metal, which was baked under the sun. The views were great, but on the other hand, my friends were somewhat too exhausted to appreciate them.

Summit San Gabriel Peak
Mount Wilson Observatory
Distant Mountains
Mt San Antonio and Cucamonga Peak
Mountains to the Southwest
Los Angeles Suburbs to the South

Surroundings of San Gabriel Peak

After the summit of San Gabriel Peak, the descent wasn’t very remarkable. The nike missile silos (p1 below) were all filled with concrete and frankly easily mistaken for a helipad given its H shape.

Decommissioned Missile Silos on Mount Disappointment
Mt Disappointment Road
Telecommunications Site on Mount Disappointment
Switchbacks along Bill Reily Trail

Petersen Automotive Museum

The next day, some of my friends proposed checking out Petersen Automotive Museum in downtown Los Angeles. Compared to my visit to National Automotive Museum in Reno, this one was much more commercialized (like Ford or Volkswagen could ‘buy’ their way to have their latest models exhibited). In addition, there’s an underground floor (the Vault) with some of the more notable exhibits (which required a separate ticket, where photography wasn’t allowed). In the end, I would say the Vault felt like a small but proper automobile museum.

2018 Skynet Moto-Terminator
A more compact design than the motorcycle for Batman.
Aston Martin DBS V12

One featured in Bond movies. A couple of cars were used in filming to depict different levels of damage.
Neptune Submarine
Used in a Bond movie. Luckily it’s not OceanGate.
1989 Batmobile

Based on the description, the jet engine was for visual effects. The car was actually powered by a 1967 Chevrolet Impala engine.
Personal Transport Pod
1996 Corbin Sparrow.
Car
If colored yellow, this was perfect for the single-eyed minion.