Monrovia Trail Ends in Good News

Bureaucratic neglect, trail user fees, severe storms . . . it hasn’t been a great year for Southland trails and those who enjoy them.

So I’m particularly pleased to report some good trail news: Introducing--drum roll please--the new Overturff Trail, a honey of a footpath that seems destined to become a favorite in the San Gabriel Mountains.

The path leads through Sawpit Canyon, owned by the city of Monrovia, which also coordinated trail-building efforts. The city’s Community Services Department, aided by a state grant from the environmental license-plate fund and the hard work of the California Conservation Corps and many volunteers, just put the finishing touches and signs on the trail.

Directions to trail head: From the Foothill Freeway (Interstate 210) in Monrovia, exit on Myrtle Avenue and proceed two miles north. Turn right on Scenic Drive, jogging right, then left, and turning north as Scenic becomes Canyon Boulevard. Continue another mile to the Monrovia Canyon Park entrance. Leave your car near the signed trail head or farther up the road in the main part of the park.

Admission to the park is $1 per vehicle on weekdays, $2 on weekends. The trail is open Thursday through Monday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

The hike: Walk up Sawpit Canyon Road toward the face of Sawpit Dam, erected by the Los Angeles County Flood Control District in 1929. The road (paved at first) soon turns to dirt as you ascend steadily along the wall of Sawpit Canyon. On your left, behind a chain-link fence, is Tallman H. Trask Boy Scout Camp (closed to the public).

After a mile’s climb, at a bend in the road, look left for two stone pillars and a sign for Overturff Trail. The path descends briefly to Sawpit Creek, crosses it, then switchbacks uphill to Razorback--a sharp, narrow divide between Sycamore and Sawpit canyons. As you cautiously cross Razorback, enjoy the great views down into the canyon.

The trail resumes climbing the brush-covered hills toward The Gap, a man-made divide. What from a distance appears to be some pagan object of worship turns out to be a pipe sticking out of The Gap. The pipe, which dates from the last century when it was part of the Monrovia waterworks system, was a vacuum break, designed to prevent a vacuum lock in the lines.

Past The Gap, the path is a pleasant, creek-side jaunt beneath a shady canopy of oaks and bay laurel. Overturff Trail drops into Twin Springs Canyon, where a creek has sculpted what appears to be a natural bridge.

You’ll soon pass a junction with a right-forking trail leading to Sawpit Canyon Road. Continue straight on the steep trail, cross a tributary of Sawpit Creek, and you’ll bear left on a spur trail to the Deer Park Lodge site. Near the foundation ruins of the lodge is an old corral, with fence posts fashioned from water pipes--an ingenious use of material at hand.

For a change of pace, you could descend back to the trail head via Sawpit Fire Road, a faster (albeit less scenic) way to go.

Hike with John McKinney’s guidebook: “Day Hiker’s Guide to Southern California” ($16.95). Send check or money order to Los Angeles Times Syndicate, Dept. 1, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053.

San Gabriel Mountains

Overturff Trail

* Where: Monrovia Canyon Park

* Distance: Monrovia Canyon Park entrance to Deer Park Lodge site, 6 miles round trip, with 1,000 foot elevation gain.

* Terrain: Deep canyon, oak woodland.

* Highlights: New trail, sylvan glen, bubbling brook.

* Degree of difficulty: Moderate

* Precautions: Narrow razorback ridge with a steep drop-off. Creeks run very high right now; use caution when crossing.

* For more information: Contact the Monrovia Community Services Department at (818) 357-5046, or Monrovia Canyon Park at (818) 359-9446.