Brown Mountain Dam — Attraction in La Cañada Flintridge

Great hike! 8.2 miles total to and from the dam with only about 650 feet elevation gain total. It took me 3 hours total but I wasn’t in a rush and the return trip was an hour of that since it’s all slightly downhill on the way back. You will need to cross the stream a total of 18 times. 7 of those are man made bridges you could drive a car across and the rest are rocks or logs placed down to cross over. Only 3 of the crossings I had to get my feet wet as there was no other option, but it was only 3-4 inches deep at max and we have had a lot of rain recently in mid Feb 2022. It’s a beautiful hike that follows parallel to the running stream, with tons of shade, and it’s dotted with all sorts natural and man made landmarks. At one point I saw an old 50s era car half way up the mountain that had to have fallen from the Angels Crest Highway above long ago (what a fall!).

Gould Mesa is halfway to the Dam so use that as your halfway point. There were a few mountain bikers resting there and even two campers setting up for the night so it was busier at that section than I expected considering I started my hike at 8AM. The Paul Little campsite is right at the Dam so once you see the last campsite area you know you have arrived.

In terms of parking there are two options: the lot on Windsor is about a mile from the trailhead and not my suggestion. Best place to park is near the entrance to JPL where the trailhead starts. There is enough space for hundreds of cars so it should never be full there. I would recommend! Hardest part is the distance and impossible to get lost since you are in a narrow canyon and pretty much just have to follow the water...

We started this hike at the Gould Mesa trailhead. It starts at the electrical plant, you can see it on Google maps. You walk down a pretty well paved hill to the Gould Mesa campground. Then you go left to the Paul Little Picnic area 2-miles. The hike from then on is pretty easy. Some rocky paths and water crossing though. I had to help my 6 year old across a few times. Once you pass the picnic area you will come to the dam. The hardest part for me was coming back up the hill at the end. You start descending down to the campground and have to come back up. This was hard for us because we are heavy set, my daughter isn’t but still hard for a 6 year old. It was a beautiful hike and very peaceful when we went at 2. It got a lot busier on our way back. There were a lot of mountain bikes. If biking please use your bell to alert others you are coming. I highly recommend this really nice hike also there were some gnomes in a tree-...

This isn't a difficult hike but definitely worth it . It's about 8 - 9 miles round trip. Definitely needs to be done in the morning before the heat. We started at about 1:30 pm, but we did get a fairly good amount of shade. There's one location at the campsite with a bathroom. There's poison oak all around, however it has been well maintained and kept away from the paths. But still be careful. Trekking poles are not necessary but snacks and water are recommended. You might want to wear waterproof shoes there's plenty of streams to cross that will take you to the waterfall. The highlight of the hike was reaching the waterfall. The location was shady and although it was a toasty afternoon, we were able to cool down. Although we saw many hikers, the waterfall area wasn't crowded at all so we were able to take pictures and rest for a while. If you like waterfalls, add this hike to your list. ...