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Completing the canyon requires trespassing on city land and climbing over a gate. There is an option to leave LSA Canyon earlier, but I don't know the specifics of this option.
Apr 28, 2023 — Chris hijacked my peakbagging trip by tossing Little Santa Anita Canyon into the mix, but I was far from upset about the addition of a technical canyon. It's been almost a year since my last one, and this was a great run in the San Gabriel Mountains to break my dry spell, pun intended since the water was flowing nicely today. We both were aware there are some great canyons in these mountains, but it's crazy they're so accessible from the Los Angeles sprawl. The approach for Little Santa Anita Canyon begins along the Mount Wilson Trail. We parked along Mira Monte Road since there's no parking at the actual start of the trail. Make sure to curb your tires, or risk a fine!
After a brief walk along the pavement, we started up the trail. Basically rushing since it was already a bit late in the day, we became excited to dunk our immediately sweat-drenched bodies in the canyon water. The Mount Wilson Trail is wide and well-maintained, wrapping in and out of the gullies and slopes of the San Gabriel Mountains foothills. Little Santa Anita Canyon came into view below us about halfway up, the water below enticing and a few of the rappels to come becoming visible. After a bit over a mile, we reached a junction with the First Water spur trail, taking it down to the head of the canyon. We geared up in wetsuits and started through the initial set of granitic scramble obstacles to the technical section only a couple of hundred feet down the canyon.
I'll let the photos below outline the rappels, which I've numbered based on the Ropewiki for LSA for consistency. The canyon turned out to be well-traveled enough that we didn't need to replace any webbing, and none of the drops exceeded 50 feet. It was an excellent, relaxing half-day outing.
LSA Canyon starts by dropping down five rappels within the watercourse, only a couple forcing us into the water. There was some fun scrambling and of course, poison oak and rattlesnakes. LSA Canyon opens briefly before Rappel 6, and stays a bit wider through Rappel 9. Then the canyon becomes nontechnical for a half mile or so, where there's plenty of ample boulder-hopping and downed tree-dodging within the creek.
After Rappel 12, the canyon opens up briefy again. This is important to note because many parties may wish to leave LSA Canyon here. Continuing down the watercourse leads to what Chris and I thought were the most beautiful rappels for the day, but this exit requires trespassing on Los Angeles County Public Works land. If you choose to leave, look for an exit slope on the right (34.178188, -118.0432987). We didn't do this, so I can't speak to the exit quality, nor did I manage to snag a photo of it. Assuming you choose to complete the canyon, it narrows further and there are a few little scrambles. Rappel 14 dropped us into a large pothole, a gorgeous section of the canyon. After Rappel 15, a short drop, we were clear of the technical stuff and hiked through the widening canyon until we reached the top of the public works dam. To reach the suburban roads ahead, you need to climb over the gate, then under another gate.
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