As I’ve mentioned before, I absolutely love hiking so this past weekend my boyfriend and I went on a exciting hike only 30 minutes from campus! The trail was located in Millard Canyon in the Angeles National Forest, right near by Altadena, CA.
Dawn Mine, the destination at the end of the trail, was a gold mine that was used back in the 1900’s. However, now it is abandoned and open for exploring! The 6 mile roundtrip trail takes you through the canyon and by following the stream you reach Dawn Mine. My favorite part of the trail was that instead of being a typical trail, there were a ton of boulders in the way and there wasn’t always a clear path to follow. Therefore, we had to do some bouldering to make sure we kept going the right direction by following the river, and even crossing it if necessary!
A section of the trail with a lot of boulders!
A cool tree we found on the way to the mine!
Once we saw the old rusted engine sitting outside the mine, we knew we went the right way! We found the entrance to the mine, and made our way inside. Getting to go inside was an incredible experience. At first I was a little scared since the mine was pitch black, but we brought flashlights to help navigate through all the long tunnels. Back in the early 2000’s the mine got flooded, so we also had to navigate across some logs in the entrance tunnel to avoid getting our shoes soaked. The first tunnel required some ducking, but once inside we could stand up and walk around through all the different tunnels.
The mine was much bigger than I expected! Besides the first section we explored, we exited the entrance tunnel and climbed up to a second entrance tunnel which was about 25 feet above the first one. This entrance was for the upper section of the mine, which wasn’t as big as the lower section, but it was completely dry. The upper section still had long dark tunnels worth exploring!
A map inside the mine!
Looking into one of the upper tunnels!
Overall, it was one of my favorite hikes I’ve been on and I would highly recommend it, especially for anyone with an adventurous side. Los Angeles has a ton of fun hikes that are worth setting time aside to check out!
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