Edgar McGregor

On Monday, March 27th, clean-up crews set out to clear an abandoned homeless encampment located ~80 yards up the east trailhead of the Altadena Crest Trail in Eaton Canyon. The encampment belonged to a homeless person found dead of hypothermia in a ditch about 20 yards below the Pinecrest Gate a month prior. No personal items aside from an iPhone were found during the clean-up.

The trash found there included copious amounts of plastic, electronic waste, half-buried bedding, cans of butane, batteries, lighters, and broken bicycles. In all, twenty 50-gallon bags were filled totaling over 1,000 lbs. of municipal waste. Much of the small canyon that the encampment was located in experienced mud flows when heavy rains fell, and some trash may still be buried under the mud. Clean-up crews will return to the location periodically to check for any trash that resurfaces. To the park staff’s knowledge, this is the only encampment in the upper half of the wash. 

In October 1993 during a northerly Santa Ana wind event, a campfire started by a transient along the Mount Wilson Toll Road spread to nearby brush, setting it on fire. While fire officials were busy with several other fires burning throughout Southern California, the fire descended the San Gabriel Mountains and ultimately burned over 100 homes lining the canyon. Homelessness is a continuing issue within the canyon, with over a dozen abandoned encampments having been cleared so far this decade. The county is aware of three other encampments located near the Nature Center that are also abandoned. 

Before photograph by Mitch Marich, after photograph by Edgar McGregor 

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Photo: © Dave Szamet

A powerful Pacific storm made landfall in Southern California on Friday, February 24, 2023, and Eaton Canyon took the brunt of the system. The storm brought a whopping 40″ (3 feet, 4 inches) of snow to Mount Wilson according to the National Weather Service in Oxnard. At the bottom of the canyon, Eaton Dam reported 7.93″ of precipitation for the entire event, bringing the water year’s rain total to 29.73″ of accumulated precipitation. This makes the 2022-2023 water year the wettest rain year in the canyon since since 2005 when 70″ fell in lower Eaton Canyon.

Snow levels were reported to be down to 2,500′ at times, with up to an inch of snow falling at Henninger Flats. Old Pasadena reported 8.11″ of rain, 7.49″ of which fell during 48-hour period from February 24-25th. This makes the 2023 #SouthernCaliforniaBlizzard the 11th wettest 2-day period in Pasadena’s 118 year long weather record book. Flash flooding within Eaton Canyon itself was limited due to low snow elevations and the lack of any particularly heavy downpours throughout the system. It is increasingly obvious that rain rates, not necessarily rain accumulations, are the most important factor for producing dangerous flash flooding within the canyon. The December 14, 2021, January 10, 2023, and February 24, 2023 storms all brought 6″ – 8″ of rain to Eaton Canyon, but that precipitation fell in a much shorter amount of time during the December 14, 2021 storm and resulted in a much more significant flash flood.

Maximum wind gusts included 34 MPH at the Pinecrest Gate, 50 MPH at Henninger Flats, 74 MPH at Mount Disappointment, and 86 MPH at Barley Flats Road behind Eaton Canyon along Hwy 2 in the Angeles National Forest.

The Altadena Mountain Rescue Team (AMRT) reported that 2 individuals were trapped in the canyon after dark on the 25th as the trails were too slippery to hike up. Once again, we do not advise hiking in Eaton Canyon during inclement weather. While rescues happen at all times of the year, rescues are most common in winter when inexperienced hikers underestimate the power of mother nature. Always check the forecast and let others know where you are going and when you’ll be back.

More images of our incredible snowstorm all courtesy of AlertCalifornia webcams:

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The 2022-2023 winter will go down in southern California as being a cool and wet winter, a rarity among the rapidly warming desert southwest. During the 21-day period stretching from December 27 through January 16th, Eaton Canyon picked up an incredible 13.31″ of rainfall. Immediate storm impacts to the park from this event were outlined in a previous article located here. 

January 2023 in downtown Pasadena picked up 13.45″ of rainfall, our wettest month in over 13 years. Of all the winters of the past decade, only the 2018-2019 water year saw more rainfall than the 2022-2023 water year has, but we still have quite a way to go before the season is over. A very green spring is anticipated this year as a result of all the rain. Be sure to check out all the flowers, mushrooms and new growth in the canyon!

Here is a chart showing monthly precipitation in Old Pasadena since the start of the 21st century:

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