Trail Review: Mount Wilson Trail to First Water
Trailhead: Mt Wilson Trail, Sierra Madre, CA 91024
Parking: free street parking on E Mira Monte Ave.
Distance: 3.6 miles out & back
Difficulty: Challenging
The Mount Wilson Trail is actually a longer, 7.25 mile trail up to Mount Wilson (14.5 mile round trip). But this shorter hike is a good starting point to gauge the trail's difficulty and still enjoy some views from the National Forest.
The parking for this trail is just street parking, but it was not that difficult to find a spot along E Mira Monte Avenue. From Mira Monte, you'll briefly head up the paved Mt Wilson Trail Road until you see a giant gateway with the big sign for Mount Wilson Trail.
From here, the trail is pretty straightforward. There is one turnoff for "Charlie's New Trail" about a mile in, but if you take that path, it just brings you back to the Old Mount Wilson Trail further down the way, but still before First Water. So feel free to go that way if you want! It'll still get you to the same place. (Looking at a terrain view on Google Maps, it appears that the New Trail consists of a lot of switchbacks so it would add some more to the total mileage of the hike as well.)
The trail has a pretty consistent incline the whole way up to First Water. It's not super steep but it's enough to be a challenging hike, especially on a hot day. Be sure to bring plenty of water. It wasn't crowded but there were still quite a few people coming and going around mid-morning. There were also a number of runners that we had to clear the way for so keep an eye out. Some of them came barreling down and definitely wouldn't have been able to stop if people were in the way...
About 1.3 miles in, you'll pass the intersection where Charlie's New Trail meets back up with Mount Wilson Trail. There's a laminated white sign telling you so:
Another quarter of a mile or so and you'll find the First Water turn off. There are some posted signs marking the spot and giving you some history.
Taking the left path would continue up to Mount Wilson. To see the First Water junction, take the right path. The trail will descend a bit into a small canyon with lots of trees and shade. The trail ends at the stream, or what would be a stream if California wasn't constantly in a drought. I would venture to guess that you might see some water here in the spring.
But since there wasn't any water when we were there, we were able to walk down a bit along the stream bed and sit on some rocks to eat our snacks. We also saw a family of deer crossing along the canyon further into the mountains. It was a nice, quiet, shaded resting spot.
Once you are done at First Water, head back up to the Mount Wilson Trail and then down the way you came to get back to the trailhead!
Bottom Line: A challenging, shorter hike along a much longer trail to Mount Wilson.
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