Eaton Canyon...just another story or a bold blast of truth you decide.
Alright onto the canyon...Eaton. A watery get away in the heart of los angeles. Some may choose to
cliff dive instead of rappell some of the cliffs here. That is a young mans sport and you have to have giant balls for it in which that I do not have. I lost my balls in the summer of '94 a dog bit them off, but that's another story lets just all thank God that the main piece is still in tact. So moving on...During the course of this canyon I have broke two cameras and do not have many pictures as a matter of fact some of the best stuff in this canyon I could not get for my camera's broke very early in the hike. How you ask. well I dropped them into water. So what you are gonna wanna do is head toward altadena I hope and exit the freeway going north on Altadena Drive i believe or perhaps I am wrong I will leave a link in the external link thing at the bottom for you to check out for yourself. Again as I posted on the previous canyon alot of freaks. Anywhere people are there will ineveitably be freaks some good some really wild. These freaks however are not the rape types though so don't worry they are more like the I'll knife you in the back and steal your money types. Alot of trash and grafiti at the begining of this. the areas that are easy to get to seem to be that way as a matter of fact nothing can compare to santa paula canyon as far as the amount of trash and poo yes I said it poo real unquestionble human poop layin around in vast piles permeating the air, which is too bad for it is quite a beutiful place, but eaton, well it's not that bad, some trash as you get to the last two rappells at the bottom of the canyon. Well, we parked it on pretty much the only visible parking place there on the right hand side and now here is where it gets quite complicated. You gonna wanna get out of your car and walk to right, pass two houses and cut through the yard of the third house. Make sure you don't get caught the guy that lives there, he will in fact shoot you, but its part of what makes this an adventure. Some people get their kicks skydiving I prefer taking my chances with eaither getting shot at, killed, or possibly raped...call me wierd if you will, but it is how I get my jollys. Or you could skip this part and just take the trail that proceeds down into the canyon there. Pick your poison. So once you get into the main canyon you will want to head upstream. Soon in about ten maybe fifteen minutes you will come accross a trail on the right hand side it proceeds up a vast mountain. A large storm washed oiut some of the tail back in the great winter of 98. It was a wild time 98 fueled mainly by storms, sex, and passion. whoo...that was quite a year, but again a story for another time. I must keep a focus. Stay strong Jordan stay strong. Ok I'm back. Sorry. Once on this trail it is quite a hike to get to the main canyon, but no need to worry for you will be rewarded with vast and glorius views of what some call shrangrila but what I call Los Angeles. There is a fine spot to stop and perhaps eat a lunch after about an hour and a half. You will know when you get there for pine trees adorn the surrounding area where you will be reward with state of the art picnic tables and bathrooms. Here you will surely feel like a king as you eat whatever lunch you have prepared for yourself. There is nothing in the world like eating a sandwich on the top of the world only a few know of what I am talking about...Tenzing Norgay, Sir Edmund Hillary, George Mallory, Abraham Lincoln, Edison, Einstein, to name a few. Just to give you an idea of what it feels like to eat a sandwich in a higher altitude, very comparable to what these guys have done. So a little something to give you some motivation to eat a sandwich at this spot. Anyway all I know is I felt very good after eating my sandwich here and I thought about these guys and their accomplishments and felt as though I too had been given a little taste of what these guys must have felt like. So here after you are refueled and recharged its off for some more hiking. another hour at least. After about an hour maybe less perhaps 40 minutes you will come across a fine place for a break. You can not miss it. It is so stuningly beautful to the naked eye that you just might cry and if you do not cry then I ask you are you not a human being and if you are a human being can you not feel? Where is your heart I ask where? Here is where I broke down and wept. Wept like a newborn baby being ripped from the clutches of it's mother who in turn is then accused of witchery and burned at the stake all the while the baby watches. There is no pain greater than that, but my reference is that of tears of joy, but I wanted to give you a general idea of how many tears were wept exactly...the answer is alot. So here it took me quite a while to regain composure. it was hard believe you me. After weeping for an hour or so it took me at least that to pull it together. On a side note there is much wild bay leaf that grows here if you crumple a leaf up and take a couple good inhales it really clears the sinus and give you quite the headache. There is also much wild Tobacco if one were so inclined could smoke some of it after drying it. I was not inclined to do so but others maybe. So very soon after the insanely beutiful spot there you will come upon a dry stream bed but do not fret for water will soon appear as you head down. Boulder hoping, that is the name of the game here. If you hate boulder hoping then stop now and turn around for God sake. So after about 40 minutes to an hour of this you will come to the first major obstacle and what I like to call the point of no return. A giant natural water slide presents istelf right before your eyes maybe ten feet high maybe fifteen God only knows. I do not that is for sure but that is my estimate. I had to build of the couage for this one and so I did and took the plunge into a lush green pool of water that gets greener as summer cometh to a closeth. Algae thats the word that I am looking for an elusive word that slipped my mind when trying to remember why is it green why? Plankton was my first thought, but no something inside me told me in a way that was so clear that I could not deny the truth that indeed plankton was not the right answer, what that voice said was no Jordan that is not right. It was so clear and powerful that it shook me to the very fibers from which I was created to the point where I no longer knew who I was what I was doing here and why? That magical question from which all others are derived, the question why? Then the word Algae popped in my mind and once again all was right with the world for I had the answer to the question I had asked. So here right after this is another slide not nearly as big and as vast as the first but big enough. Soon there after there are many swims through long narrow sections of the canyon. and then comes the first rappel proablly 50 to 60 feet or so. It goes traight into a vast pool of water. My camera broke actually both of them got wet right before this point to I have nothing to reference this to. I will attempt this canyon again soon to get some shots but until then perhaps a lengthy description will suffice. So rappell off that thing into perhaps 5 or 6 feet of water swim to the shore and then you come to a water slide that is perhaps 15 feet or 20 feet high a nice size you either slide it or jump it is pretty deep. Then right after that my favorite art or this canyon. It is about a 60 ft rappell into a cavern with a waterfall flowing right into it. there is a rock overhanging making it look almost like a cave in a way very beutiful. Very deep you could probally jump from here as well but too freaky for me. We rappelled it. This is a fine spot for a break. This is definately the highlight of this trip here. There are then many other jumps into deep pools to be made. the biggest proablly being 15 feet or so and many narrow sections with small fish in them. You will be wet for most of the day. So Once you get past all the jumps and swims you come to the last two rappells. I was about to set up my rope when I saw this kid go flying past me off a 60 foot ridge into a deep pool of water at that point a bunch of other kids proceded to do the same and I began to feel like an idiot and decided to hike around the falls there. which you can do as there is a trail to the right. The final descent is about 60 or so feet and a large crowd of onlookers will propablly be watching you as you descend into a shallow 3 to 4 ft deep pool. They will usually point and laugh as you descend shouting obscenities at you as you struggle to maintain your composure. It is at this point I recommend using the finger. It works quite well and it definately gets the point across. Then from there its back to the old car. more pictures to come...
Getting There
Located in Altadena. Exit the 210 freeway going north on Altadena Drive there will be signs posted and on your right you will see a dirt pull off that is a good spot for parking.
Red Tape
Freaks watch out for them. Do not make any eye contact with the locals here. If you find that you have made some eye contact immediatly look away before it's too late.
Camping
Add Camping text here.
External Links
http://www.dankat.com/advents/loweat.htm
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