LA - Mount Hillyer Day Hike

Photo courtesy of modernhiker.com.

Location: Silver Moccasin trailhead, just north of Chilao Visitor Center

Difficulty: moderate, 8 miles total, 1000 feet of elevation gain

Earn that holiday barbecue with this relatively easy, scenic hike in the high country of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The Chilao area features lightly forested rolling hills that are strewn with boulders. Hillyer is one of the easiest mountain summits to reach in the San Gabriels, with a total climb of only about 1000 feet.

We’ll meet at 8:00am at the Chilao Visitor Center, which is 27 miles up the Angeles Crest Highway (CA-2) from La Cañada and clearly signed. Depending on how busy the area is, we’ll either leave cars in the parking lot there (adding roughly a mile of hiking round-trip) or drive up the road and park closer to the trailhead. We’ll make this decision at 8:15 so please arrive by then to join the hike. Either way, all parked cars must display an Adventure Pass. (The trip leader will have a couple extras available for purchase, but please don’t rely on this.)

A great description of the route is here: https://modernhiker.com/hike/hiking-mount-hillyer/

Round trip is about 8 miles. As always, come prepared with the ten essentials listed here. This isn’t the most shaded hike and temps will definitely be warm-to-hot, so bring plenty of water and sun protection. Trip leader is Matthew Bokach, who can be reached at orobourical@yahoo.com.