Big Santa Anita Canyon — Attraction in Sierra Madre

Very close to Monrovia and Arcadia, this place is perfect for weekend hiking. Not very difficult tracks and goes from rocky to fairly dense bushes. We went for the Hermit falls Trail, which went down pretty sharply in the woods down to the river bed. We had to cross the pebble river and then hike up the rocks to reach the falls. There is a nice place to enjoy water at the end of the walk. We went on a pretty hot day but amazed to see the rush of people over the hills. Someplace we experienced long wait to let people pass by in the narrow stretches of the trail. Our car had to be parked on the approach road to this place. There are old cottages along the route and have some good places to have a picnic. It is important to carry enough water or hydration as the dry weather can lead to cramps. There are no places for filling up bottles. However please do not leave away trash in the process. Overall its a nice outing which needs to improve and accommodate such number people during weekends...

We did Sturtevant falls trail which is about 3.6 miles out and back from chantry flats parking. The first .6 mile of the trail is a steep pavement road which can be a bit challenging while coming back from the hike. Rest of the hike is really pleasant with minimal elevation gain and is shaded throughout. Falls at this time (June end) have less water given the rains this year. But the pool is quite refreshing. Parking here is a headache. We reached around 11 am and had to wait quite a lot to get a free parking space. People had parked on the road way before the actual parking starts. So I would suggest reaching here super early or later in the afternoon when most of the crowd is going back. Overall, a very nice hike. We had 3 kids with us aged 6, 4 and 2.5 yrs. The elder ones had no problem walking the entire trail. We will definitely come back when there is more water...

I got here on a weekend while it say's it was open and ended up doing a 10 mile hike to Mt. Wilson. While on the trail you will pass the old Stuevant campsite i think i used it as the halfway mark, i recommend using stuff on your skin to keep bugs off because while i was almost there theres a part that has bugs that will just fly around you and bug making you want to go back but i managed to just get past them and make it to the end. It's a long trail but it isn't too dangerous. Theres a part where you'll probably be at a ledge and i thought the whole thing was kind of hidden but it's really cool to adventure through. The way back is way simpler and faster i think. And oh right after the ledge part theres a few places you could go in the water and relax for a while if needed. You could bring sandwhiches & also; theres no trash cans or...