"If you're lucky enough to be in the mountains, you're lucky enough."
~ Plaque given to me by Jenny
Making a list and doing a number of hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains was on my Updated Bucket List. I have hiked the Ben Overturff Trail to Deer Park previously, with Donna in August 2011, and to Deer Park via the Sawpit Canyon Fire Road with Tracy in March 2012. But I wanted to do it again in my YEAR 77 so I recruited Art W, Gary N, and Harry to join me. We made the hike today, August 30, which was a clear morning but predicted to be a very hot day. The Ben Overturff Trail is named for a historical Monrovian who made the canyons and Deer Park a popular recreation area in the early 1900s. The reconstructed trail follows the original path as much as possible through Sawpit, Sycamore and Twin Springs Canyons. It winds through some of the most beautiful and undisturbed wilderness left in the San Gabriel mountains, and culminates at Mr. Overturff's famous lodge site at Deer Park.
We left our car within Monrovia Canyon Park, and began the hike just past the Ranger Station at the first kiosk. We walked the steep asphalt road up to Sawpit Dam, which was constructed in 1927, and then to the Trask Scout Camp, which was dedicated in 1972 and offers scout programs on a year-round basis. The photos below show a map obtained in Monrovia Canyon Park showing, among other things, the trail we took to Deer Park - a 7-mile round-trip and 2,000 foot elevation gain; the Sawpit Dam sign and a view of the dam from below; and the sign for the scout camp.
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At the scout camp the asphalt road becomes a dirt road and continues up the mountain. A short way past the scout camp is Overturff Junction and the beginning of the single track trail which we took the rest of the way to Deer Park. In addition to our scenic plant and tree surroundings, we saw a big black bear across the canyon from our trail - fortunately he didn't see us. About 3/4 of the way to Deer Park we past Twin Springs Junction, and then almost at the Park was Deer Park Junction, both of which have single-track trails which take you out to the Sawpit Canyon Fire Road. As with many of these San Gabriel Mountains lodges from the past, there was not much left of the Deer Park lodge. Just looking at the foundations that remain, and imagining the recreation activities that took place there so many years ago, is worth the trip. After visiting the ruins at Deer Park we took the trail at Deer Park Junction and returned to the car via the fire road. We were hot and tired when we passed the Trask Scout Camp on the way down, and the big swimming pool we could see sure looked inviting. You are really out in the wilderness on this hike and the mountains were beautiful. I believe my old legs tired quicker than my hiking companions, and the bladder in my back pack leaked all my water out, but never-the-less I (and they I think) enjoyed the hike. It took us about two hours to make it to Deer Park, and a little over one hour to make it back to the car. We began the hike at about 8:00 am when it was about 75 degrees, and got back to the car about 11:15 am when it was 102.
Photos below from the left: 1st row - The kiosk at the Ranger Station entering Monrovia Canyon Park; Art W, Gary N, and Harry at the Saw Pit Dam; me discovering early in the hike that all the water had leaded out of my backpack; all of us at the beginning of the single-track portion of the Ben Overturff Trail. 2nd row - A view of Art W and Harry coming up the trail; views of the remains of Deer Park Lodge, with Gary N posing in the second photo, and Gary N, me, and Art W at the Deer Park Trailhead as we began our descent on the Sawpit Canyon Fire Road.
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A Little History: From the late 1800s to the early 1940s, it was popular for people in the Los Angeles area to hike on weekends for their enjoyment to various lodges in the San Gabriel Mountains. Deer Park Lodge was such a lodge. Deer Park is at a little oak-shaded recess a little ways off the fire road within Monrovia Canyon Park that goes on up to White Saddle. The Park area was discovered by Monrovia building contractor Ben Overturff about 1905. He built a stone cabin there, and Deer Park Lodge became a popular weekend get-away for city dwellers from about 1911 to 1945, until Mr. Overturff had to abandon it due to his declining health. As the lodge fell into disrepair and damage from unauthorized use, the U.S. Forest Service finally demolished it sometime in the 1970s. Only the foundation remains today.