Finally Made It To Mt Wilson!

I had originally planned to do this hike on January 8, which I’m sure you remember is when it was literally on fire during the Eaton fire. I didn’t think this hike would be open this year, but I was excited to see a different trail than the main one was open, so I made a plan and flew down for the day to do it (I’m from the Bay).

I took an early flight from SJ to Burbank, rented a car, and drove over and started my hike at 9:15 am. I went counter clockwise (against what AllTrails shows), which started by going down on sturtevant trail. I was thinking that I was happy that I won’t have to come back up this trail at the very end of my hike, so I think this was the right call.

The trail is really nice and goes along a stream for most of the way to Mt Wilson. The main falls are really pretty and I was happy to see a good amount of water on them (hopefully that will help us have less fires for the rest of the year).

When you get to the top from this trail and see the first domes for the observatory, take an immediate right – where AllTrails says Echo Rock – as that’s where the Mt Wilson sign is. I totally missed it and had to backtrack after some helpful fellow hikers told me where it was.

The Cosmic Cafe was not open, but there’s plenty of spots to sit, a spot to refill your water, and bathrooms at the top. I was doing the loop trail, so I headed to the parking lot on the other side and was met with immediate burned trees everywhere (see pic), so the fire got VERY close to the observatory. It was a bit surreal hiking through there.

As you get lower on the trail, there’s more new growth – including poison oak, so watch out for that! Overall this was a great hike – highly recommended! After my hike I went to Pie N Burger for their awesome boysenberry pie – also highly recommended!