Devil's Punchbowl is a tilted sandstone formation on the northern slopes of the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

, in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, at an elevation of .

Park

The Devils Punchbowl Natural Area is a Los Angeles County park, also within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest. It is located south of the Pearblossom Highway (CA Route 138), near the towns of Littlerock and Pearblossom. The Devil's Punchbowl Nature Center is operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation. The center focuses on the flora, fauna, and geological features of the park, and the center offers school programs, parties, guided park tours, as well as telescope programs with an 11-inch telescope. The Bobcat Fire burned through the park in September 2020, destroying the nature center. The Devil's Chair at Devil's Punchbowl Park

Trails

The trails within the park showcase the geologic features along the

Punchbowl Formation The Punchbowl Formation is a sedimentary sandstone geologic formation in the northern San Gabriel Mountains, above the Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County, southern California.San Andreas Fault. There are connections to major longer trails leading to the high country in the National Monument. * Devil's Punchbowl Loop Trail is a 1-mile loop hike from the Nature Center that highlights important geological features. * Burkhart Trail is a lightly trafficked 13.7 mile route heading north from park. * The Devil's Chair Hike is a 7.5 mile round-trip hike to a perched viewpoint in Devil's Punchbowl. The Pacific Crest Trail also traverses the park on an endangered species detour to help protect the

mountain yellow-legged frog The mountain yellow-legged frog (''Rana muscosa''), also known as the southern mountain yellow-legged frog, is a species of true frog endemic to California in the United States. It occurs in the San Jacinto Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, a ...

Geology

The primary attractions of the park are its geological formations, including the

Punchbowl Formation The Punchbowl Formation is a sedimentary sandstone geologic formation in the northern San Gabriel Mountains, above the Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County, southern California.Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...

period. The Punchbowl is a deep canyon categorized as a plunging

syncline In structural geology, a syncline is a fold with younger layers closer to the center of the structure, whereas an anticline is the inverse of a syncline. A synclinorium (plural synclinoriums or synclinoria) is a large syncline with superimpose ...

: a v-shaped folding of the earth's

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...

caused by compression. The mountain peaks above the park are 8,000 feet in elevation, compared to the park's Nature Center at 4,740 feet above sea level. The Punchbowl Canyon is 300 feet deep at the vista point. The peculiar uptilted rock formations found in the area are layers of sedimentary rocks formed long ago by water depositing loose material in horizontal layers. Later they were squeezed into their present, steeply tilted form by ongoing uplift action along the Punchbowl and Pinyon Faults and by pressures along the San Andreas Fault. The Punchbowl Fault is to the south of the rock formation, while the Pinyon and San Andreas Faults are to the north.

Flora

Madrone tree, Devils Punchbowl Natural Area

Driving into the park, beginning on the flats of the Antelope Valley, there is almost a complete absence of large shrubs or trees. The road then climbs into a belt of Joshua trees and California junipers. Entering the park boundaries, the Joshuas are left behind and replaced by Pinyon pine Woodland, with shrubs of the Desert

Chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

as an understory. The streambeds, both Punchbowl Creek at the bottom of the bowl and other watercourses in the Antelope Valley, have their own type of vegetation with cottonwoods, willows, and other plants that require more water. The next plant community above the park is the Coulter Pines and Yellow Pine Forest of the higher San Gabriel Mountains. Above these trees, White Firs are silhouetted against the sky on the high slopes and peaks.

Fauna

Many types of mammals live here but most are

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

and are seldom seen. Gray foxes may sometimes be seen in the early mornings or at dusk, and you may occasionally see deer crossing the road. Bighorn sheep, though rare, have been seen in the area, and chipmunks and

California ground squirrel The California ground squirrel (''Otospermophilus beecheyi''), also known as the Beechey ground squirrel, is a common and easily observed ground squirrel of the western United States and the Baja California Peninsula; it is common in Oregon and ...

s are active during most of the day. A few common birds are on display, and many additional species migrate through the area at various times of the year. The park's reptile and amphibian fauna represent a unique blend of types found in both deserts and mountains. Examples of some common local reptiles and amphibians are on display in the nature center on site.

Rattlesnake Rattlesnakes are venomous snakes that form the genera ''Crotalus'' and ''Sistrurus'' of the subfamily Crotalinae (the pit vipers). All rattlesnakes are vipers. Rattlesnakes are predators that live in a wide array of habitats, hunting small anim ...

s are also common but are wary of people and are rarely encountered. Insects and spiders are seasonally abundant. They may be seen on flowers and shrubs throughout the park, especially during the spring and summer. A representative collection of the various orders of insects is also on display.

Filming location

The German heavy metal band

Accept Accept may refer to: * Acceptance, a person's assent to the reality of a situation etc. * Accept (band), a German heavy metal band ** ''Accept'' (Accept album), their debut album from 1979 * ''Accept'' (Chicken Shack album), 1970 * ACCEPT (or ...

filmed a video for their song "Stampede" at the location.

References

External links

*
Tchester.org: Devil's Punchbowl Hiking informationHikingGuy: Devil's Chair HikeAlltrails.com: Devil's Punchbowl & Devil's ChairLeo-Trips.com: Devil's Chair Trail Photo Gallery
{{authority control Canyons and gorges of California San Gabriel Mountains Parks in Los Angeles County, California Angeles National Forest San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Nature centers in California Regional parks in California Climbing areas of California Geology of Los Angeles County, California Landmarks in Los Angeles County, California