Echo Mountain is a mountain promontory 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 the Angeles National Forest above Altadena, 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, ...

Geography

Echo Mountain was shaped from an alluvial fan between Rubio and Las Flores canyons. It is geographically defined by Castle Canyon to its

leeward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

side, Rubio Canyon at its foot, and Las Flores Canyon on its windward side. Echo has a mean elevation of . It is most visible as a short mountain extension whose ridge protrudes below the peak of Inspiration Point. Echo Mountain's name is derived from the number of repetitions one's voice could emit into Castle Canyon. Boy Scout projects were made to find the "sweet spot" where the largest number of repetitions could be heard. During the days of the Mount Lowe Railway "echophones" were set up to assist in voice projections near the best sweet spots.

History

On 6 January 1993, Echo Mountain, also referred to as Mount Echo, was delineated as part of the Mount Lowe Railway monument area listed by the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

on the National Register of Historic Places. On top of the mountain are the ruins of "White City", a resort along the scenic Mount Lowe Railway, which could easily be seen from the valley below. From its point and down an incline to its foot in Rubio Canyon was the Great Incline funicular of the Mount Lowe Railway, whose white cars could be seen ascending and descending Echo.

Trail access

Echo Mountain can be reached by the

Sam Merrill Trail The Sam Merrill Trail is a major hiking trail in the Las Flores Canyon of the San Gabriel Mountain Range north of Altadena, California, which leads to the top of Echo Mountain. It was built by Charles Warner and the Forest Conservation Club of P ...

located at the top of Lake Avenue, or via the fire road which extends from Millard Canyon to a point along the old right of way, which will lead to the backside of the promontory.

References

External links

* * * {{cite web , url=http://www.mtlowe.co , title=Mount Lowe Volunteers , accessdate=2012-02-22 San Gabriel Mountains Mountains of Los Angeles County, California Altadena, California Angeles National Forest Mountains of Southern California