Day 704: Wilson Canyon Park - In the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor - Los Pinetos Trail - Wilson Dam

Wilson Dam

Day #704 * Hike #848 * New Track #681

Saturday October 20, 2012

Wilson Canyon Park - Sylmar, CA

In the Rim of the Valley Trail Corridor

Los Pinetos Trail - Wilson Dam

My Tripometer: 2 Hours * 3.5 Miles * +550 Feet

 

 Wilson Canyon Park (notice the fee box to the right)

Directions:
Jump on the 210 Freeway East from the 5 and take the 2nd exit on Roxford Street.  Turn left to go under the freeway and then follow the road to the right (Olive View Drive).  Drive down about a mile.  Turn left when you see the park entrance as shown in the picture above.  Follow this road all the way up the hill.  There will be a fork up there, we turned left and parked in a large, empty gravel lot.

 Trailhead

 Looks like a legit trail straight ahead...

Ayden could not pedal on this thick sand so we turned back.  From the trailhead, you will reach an intersection.  Essentially, we turned left which will wrap you around Wilson Dam.  I suppose the dirt road we were on is considered the In the Rim of the Valley Trail.

 Nice horsey!

 Cool shaded picnic area

 Looks like we are on the Pinetos Trail.  We continued straight...

 We turned left up this steep dirt path

The trail conditions for mountain biking were horrible!  The sand was so thick!!  This is good for horses but no good for bikes.  We walked this entire hill and overall, we probably hiked about half of this entire track...

 We finally made it to a nicer road, still quite sandy though

The right seemed like it would lead you into an interesting area of wilderness but at this point, Ayden was quite frustrated.  Thus, we turned left and ended up walking our bikes.  We ditched the bikes for a bit because we could see across the dam and noticed a white vehicle parked next to our car.  We hiked to try to gain a better vantage point but by then, the car was gone.  There are many side trails to explore here.  Thankfully it was not hot today because this area would likely be brutal in the summer and the reward is very minimal...

 More uphill walking...

 rejoining civilization

We made a loop out of it.  Shortly after this snapshot we encountered a hospital and a paved road.  We were able to pedal again up the road, past the dam and back to the car.  Once there, this is what I found...

Seriously!!!

 

At the entrance of the park is a drop box to pay $5.00 for parking.  I did not notice this when driving in to the park so on my way out I donated $5.00 for our enjoyable experience!  I will contest this ticket and hopefully they'll let this ridiculous $70.00 go...