The Silver Moccasin Trail is a trail located in 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 ...

, northeast of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It begins at

Chantry Flat Chantry Flat is a designated "Recreation Area" within the Angeles National Forest, about three miles (5 km) into Big Santa Anita Canyon, and is closely associated with the towns of Arcadia and Sierra Madre, CA. The flat itself houses a large ...

Recreation Area above the city of

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of th ...

, traversing upward and down through several canyons and along the high ridges of the

Angeles National Forest The Angeles National Forest (ANF) of the United States Forest Service, U.S. Forest Service is located in the San Gabriel Mountains and Sierra Pelona Mountains, primarily within Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County in southern Calif ...

. This trail connects Mt. Baden-Powell,

Mount Burnham Mount Burnham is one of the highest peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains. It is in the Sheep Mountain Wilderness. It is named for Frederick Russell Burnham the famous American military scout who taught Scoutcraft (then known as ''woodcraft'') to R ...

Throop Peak Throop Peak ( ) is a peak of the San Gabriel Mountains, in the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest, in Los Angeles County, California. The high peak provides views of both the Mojave Desert and the Los Angele ...

and Mount Hawkins. It comes to its highest point of at Mount Baden-Powell after which point it descends to its terminus at Vincent Gap on the

Angeles Crest Highway The Angeles Crest Highway is a two-lane (one lane of travel in each direction) highway over the San Gabriel Mountains, in Los Angeles County, California. Its route is to/through the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and the Angeles Nationa ...

near

Wrightwood Wrightwood is a census-designated place in San Bernardino County, California. It sits at an elevation of . The population was 4,525 at the 2010 census, up from the population of 3,837 at the 2000 census. Wrightwood is located northeast of Lo ...

Background

The landscape of the Silver Moccasin Trail varies from lowland chaparral slopes, to oak-lined canyons, to the fir and pine forests of Mt. Baden-Powell, where several Southern California councils of the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

have placed a monument to their founder, Lord

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the worl ...

. The Silver Moccasin Trail started as a series of Indian trails originally created by the local Native Americans (probably

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

), but its use was continued by Anglo settlers who either hunted or hiked along its route. In 1942, the

Los Angeles Area Council Founded in 1915, the Los Angeles Area Council (LAAC) (#033) served most of the City of Los Angeles as well as several other cities in the greater Los Angeles area. It was one of five Boy Scouts of America councils in Los Angeles County, California. ...

of Boy Scouts established a designated route as the Silver Moccasin Trail, and any Scouts who complete the hike, usually involving several days travel, are qualified to receive the Silver Moccasins Award. Boy Scouts, especially those who are enrolled in "hiking troops," walk this trail usually as part of a five-day backpack trip. The LA Area Council, BSA map that was printed before 1953 (has the name "Flores" in the corner) showed a 60 mile route. It started at the end of the Pacific Electric rail line At Grand View Avenue (6 miles from Chantry Flat). The trail ended at Camp Pepperdine (elevation 6150 ft elevation) near Jackson Lake. The map identifies the six USGS topographic maps for the trail (Sierra Madre, Mt. Wilson, Alder Creek, Waterman Mtn, Crystal Lake, and Mt Baden Powell Quadrangles). The map showed the Mt Baden Powell summit as a short side trip off the main trail. Alternate starting points, or trailheads, have been established for the SMT more than likely due to overuse or overcrowding at Chantry Flat, which has somewhat reduced the adventuresome attractiveness of the younger, less-traveled version. However, sections of the trail which are only to in length while reaching the Baden-Powell summit qualify it as a (flatland) hike due to gains in elevation which are about . The Baden-Powell portions of the hike are also beneficial for acclimation to altitudes for beginning hikers who may experience mild

altitude sickness Altitude sickness, the mildest form being acute mountain sickness (AMS), is the harmful effect of high altitude, caused by rapid exposure to low amounts of oxygen at high elevation. People can respond to high altitude in different ways. Sympt ...

between and .

Segments

The following segments are listed from the Chantry Flats starting point to the Vincent Gap terminus and show "via routes" and the one-way mileage: * Chantry Flat to West Fork CG via

Gabrielino Trail The Gabrielino Trail is a United States National Recreation Trail that runs through the Angeles National Forest with trailheads at Windsor Avenue in Altadena, California on the west end and Chantry Flat, just north of Arcadia, California, on the e ...

... * West Fork CG to Angeles Crest Hwy via Shortcut Canyon ... * Angeles Crest Hwy to Chilao Flat through Charlton Flat ... * Chilao Flat to Three Points passes

Horse Flats Horse Flats is a region of the San Gabriel Mountains in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles. It is known for its US Forest Service campground (open April 1-November 15) and for the excellent granite bouldering near the campground. ...

CG ... * Three Points to Cloudburst Summit via

Pacific Crest Trail The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), officially designated as the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, is a long-distance hiking and equestrian trail closely aligned with the highest portion of the Cascade and Sierra Nevada mountain ranges, which lie ...

... * Cloudburst Summit to Islip Saddle via Pacific Crest Trail ... * Islip Saddle to Mt Baden-Powell via Pacific Crest Trail ... * Mt Baden-Powell to Vincent Gap via Pacific Crest Trail ...

References

External links

* {{coord, 34, 18, 23, N, 118, 00, 37, W, display=title National Recreation Trails in California Angeles National Forest San Gabriel Mountains San Gabriel Mountains National Monument Protected areas of Los Angeles County, California Scouting monuments and memorials Arcadia, California Wrightwood, California

Background

Segments

See also

References

External links