A Photo Tour of Monrovia's New Hillside Wilderness Trail

Following up on yesterday's description of the new trail in Monrovia's Hillside Wilderness area (see here: https://goo.gl/sUf7BT ), I actually took the trail today. Here is a photo description of my trek from the Ridgeside entry point to the Cloverleaf entry point. Note that some of the pictures show itty-bitty trail signs. These are temporary and will be replaced with serious signs soon.

This is the Ridgeside entry point. It looks like a driveway because it is that too.

Oh no! Looks like it's closed, but it isn't. The lock threw me off. Open the gate and ride up Clamshell Road.

At the top of Clamshell the road goes to the left and the trail to the right. The road rejoins the trail later but don't take it because it crosses private property.

Take the trail until you get to this cutoff on the right. See the itty-bitty direction sign? Hopefully the official one will be bigger.

Soon you come to seriously steep switchbacks. A skilled mountain biker could handle it, but I'm not a skilled mountain biker, and I value my neck. I walked my bike down.

This is where the private road rejoins the trail. It comes in on the left and you can't see it in this picture. The old, easy road to the Cloverleaf entry point is in the left middle of the picture. The trail is the road on the right. It may be hard to see, but there is a cable blocking the way to the old road. It's the city's way of asking you to please take the road on the right.

I don't mind admitting that I got off my bike here and walked it down. After all, I wouldn't want my poor bike to get hurt.

Nice view into Arcadia.

The road on the right is what I came down. The road on the left goes to Arcadia's Wilderness Park. I'm not going to go that way today.

A nice easy stretch for a bit.

We encounter the old road to Cloverleaf again. Notice the cable, again to encourage you to stay off the old road and take the path on the right.

After some ups and steep downs we come to the Cloverleaf gate, just inside of which is this building. Notice the green post? That's a drinking fountain that also lets you fill water bottles. Cool!

Okay, here's the gate. Notice the panic bar on the pedestrian door. That'll let you get out if you are stuck inside after hours. You think you're done when you pass this? You're not.

The trail does not follow the road. Just past the gate it veers to the right. Take this route because if the gate at the end of Cloverleaf (the road on the left) happens to be closed, you'll have to backtrack and take this route anyway.

Okay, this is the Cloverleaf entry point. Can't see it? Well, its right where you see the storm drain in the curb. Just to the right of a private road, where you see the mailboxes. Hopefully it will better marked when the final signs are put in place.

And that's it. I had a great time.

- Brad Haugaard