Manzanita Mountain and Placerita Canyon
Placerita Canyon State Park Locate the trailhead. Placerita Canyon State Park is on the edge of the Angeles National Forest in Newhall. Getting there just involves getting off the 14 just after the 5/14 split on Placerita Canyon Road and turning off a few miles down at the park entrance. There is also parking near Walker Ranch for a much shorter walk up to the waterfalls. It's good it's so easy to find since I managed to take off without directions, camera, or house key. I went to go hiking to the falls. This is a rather tame trail gradually gaining some minor elevation over 2.5 miles. It turns out the park actually has a few other trails wandering about the place. Before going up to the falls, I turned up a trail that claimed to be to a peak in less than a mile. Manzanita mountain isn't much of a peak and has a great big fire break going up the ridges next to it that many people have trekked up. It quickly leaves the "mountain" behind. I climbed ...