San Gabriels & Mount Wilson
Angeles National Forest · near Pasadena / La Cañada · Los Angeles / SoCal
Gravel & Bikepacking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Best season
- Fall–spring (hot summers, winter snow up high, fire closures)
What is here
- Terrain
- mountain
- Amenities
- Historic Mount Wilson Observatory · Huge climbs above LA · Angeles NF road network · Front-range campgrounds
- Best for
- Big mountain climbs minutes from the city
- Features
- Climb to Mount Wilson Observatory · Massive front-range ascents · LA basin panoramas · Angeles NF backcountry
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Big sustained climbs · Summer heat & fire closures · Traffic on canyon roads · Winter snow/ice up high
- Good for a first timer
- No
Gravel & Bikepacking detail
- Ride types
- day-gravel · adventure
- Surface
- mixed
- Remoteness
- 2
- Riding
- Big mountain climbs straight out of Los Angeles — paved-and-dirt roads up the steep San Gabriel front to Mount Wilson's historic observatory, with the whole basin sprawling below
- Terrain note
- 1,000–5,700 ft; steep mixed roads; big climbs; smog inversions below, clear up top
- Camping
- Yes
- Intl tip
- Big-mountain riding minutes from Los Angeles — the San Gabriels rise abruptly above the city. The signature climb tops out at historic Mount Wilson Observatory (5,700 ft, since 1904) via pavement and dirt (the classic Toll Road), with the whole LA basin below. Vast Angeles NF road network for deeper adventure. Demanding: big climbs, summer heat, fire closures, winter snow up high (fall–spring best). Front-range campgrounds. LA's essential high country.
- Trip lengths
- day
The guide
The San Gabriel Mountains rise abruptly from the northern edge of Los Angeles — a wall of steep, wild peaks that puts genuine b…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to San Gabriels & Mount Wilson — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.22, -118.06