Читать книгу 101 Hikes in Southern California. Exploring Mountains, Seashore, and Desert онлайн

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Placerita Canyon’s fascinating history is highlighted by the discovery of gold there in 1842. That event, which touched off California’s first (and relatively trivial) gold rush, predated by six years John Marshall’s famous discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Northern California. By the 1950s, Placerita Canyon had become one of the more popular generic Western site locations used by Hollywood’s moviemakers and early television producers. First the state and then county eventually acquired the canyon as parkland.

To Reach the Trailhead: Take Exit 3 for Placerita Canyon from Antelope Valley Freeway (Highway 14) at Newhall, and drive east 1.5 miles to reach the park’s main gate, which is open from sunrise to sunset. Nearby lie the nature center and a paved path leading under Placerita Canyon Road to the Oak of the Golden Dream, the exact site (according to legend) where in 1842 a herdsman pulling up wild onions for his after-siesta meal discovered gold.

Description: This trip begins at the signed Main Trailhead near the Nature Center and parking lot. Go straight ahead on the Canyon Trail, which soon veers left. Pass an unsigned junction on the right leading to a water tank, and continue east up Placerita Canyon.