Back in southern California, middle of the winter, and its 80°F. Sounds like as good a time as any to take my sister down her first canyon. I chose Little Santa Anita because it sounded like a pleasant beginner canyon that has year-round flowing water. We left the house before 6:30p to miss most of the traffic (the most dangerous obstacle on this canyoning trip...), then drove the main drag through the quaint (for LA) town of Sierra Madre and on to a residential area at the base of the San Gabriels where we parked. The sun rose as we got our gear together and walkers greeted us as they passed. We walked up the trail which contoured into the Little Santa Anita drainage before steadily climbing. It was not even 8am and I could not believe how warm it was! I was sweating! We got expansive views of the enormous LA Basin as it faded into the smog in the distance before the trail finished switchbacking and entered a larger canyon. A well-marked trail led straight to the spring in the valley floor. I was delighted to see fresh flowing water- this canyon would not be as interesting without it. From here we strolled downstream for 5 minutes or so to the first obvious drop and suited up.
After a quick crash course in anchors and rappelling I descended the first drop followed by my sister. We easily got in the swing of things and descended several drops in rapid succession. The vegetation was pleasantly lush. It was just a shame the pools were not deeper and there was not more water in the falls. There was also a light use trail which spared us having to bushwhack at all. Between the warmth of the day and the knee-deep pools we really didn't need the wetsuits! Most of the drops were down waterfalls but there were also several awkward boulder choke rappels.
At the end of a nice succession of drops the water sunk into the bedrock and we walked along the dry canyon bottom, working our way past the first exit and several more obstacles. The grand final was a super nice chute waterfall (unfortunately dry) which descended into a fantastic pothole (also unfortunately dry). A few more small obstacles and it become obvious we were well overdue to remove our wetsuits. We walked out the very interesting Sierra Madre Dam and through some exceptionally fancy neighborhoods back to our car. We made great time and finished before lunch. Although it was my sister's first canyon she was a natural at at. Thanks to her for a fun half day out.
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