The Eaton Canyon Natural Area and it’s associated hiking trails are among the most popular trails in all of southern California with over a million annual visitors. Unfortunently, this surge in popularity has also resulted in a surge in municipal waste that has built up in the canyon over recent decades. As of spring 2019, Eaton Canyon was home to 5,000 – 8,000 pounds of municipal waste. Various environmental organizations have attempted to clean up the canyon dozens times, but the trash always returned. Sadly, this has created a situation where Eaton Canyon is frequently regarded as a “trashed, over crowded, and loud canyon.” This is a gorgeous piece of land, and hearing such words being spoken about this place is heartbreaking. The folk over at MyEatonCanyon.com are not going to let that stand.
At any given moment in the 2010s decade, roughly 1-3% of all canyon litter was visible to hikers on the main trails and near popular destinations. Every time a major cleanup crew came through and cleaned the canyon, they pulled out this “1-3%” of litter. These cleanup crews may have thought they were cleaning the entire canyon in one single sweep, but in reality they were only getting a percentage point of what was really out there. Even worse, all of the trash cleaned up by cleanup crews one weekend could return by the very next weekend. As much as 2-15 pounds of new litter enters the canyon each and every day. The other 97-99% of the canyon litter was located 10 feet or more from the main trail, invisible to passing hikers and scattered all throughout the canyon. When we say it was scattered all throughout the canyon, we mean it. It was everywhere. Huge amounts of trash was located on the hillside below the Pinecrest gate, throughout the entire wash, inside all the various back canyons, located within homeless encampments opposite of the Nature Center, caught up in gullies below the Mount Wilson Toll Road, and hidden under random bushes and trees far from any trail. The trash was spewing out of storm drains from city streets above, buried under mud and flash flood debris, and hidden away inside large collections of boulders near the Midwick entrance. The trash was surrounding the high voltage powerlines up Coyote Canyon, being thrown into the bushes in the main parking lot, and even finding it’s way into trees throughout the canyon. For years, this trash was building up and harming canyon wildlife. For years, this trash avoided the eyes of every single participant of cleanup crews. No more. It’s all gone.
Check out this comparison between what people think litter levels were like in the canyon versus what we’ve cleaned up in the last 3 years. Each dot represents 5 pieces of litter pulled from the canyon. Let us reiterate: This litter was everywhere. It was like an infection. It is safe to assume that there was about 100x as much litter in the canyon as anyone thought there was.
Eaton Canyon is now Southern California’s cleanest hiking trail.
We do not make that statement lightly. Through the combined efforts of local residents and unofficial volunteers in recent years, Eaton Canyon has become southern California’s cleanest hiking trail experience. The sheer level of litter in the canyon has dropped off dramatically since 2019, with over 20,000lbs of trash being pulled from the canyon, 11 homeless encampments being removed, and all 900 acres carefully examined and cleaned. Hundreds of pounds of trash dating to before 1990 has been removed, with thousands of pounds dating to before 2010 also being removed. Every back canyon, every bush, every rock, and every tree has been searched for litter. Nearly 2,000 hours of volunteer time has been given to the canyon, with about as many miles walked to preserve this natural beauty.
Just one problem: litter keeps reappearing!
Just because this is southern California’s cleanest canyon doesn’t mean a battle isn’t being waged to keep it that way. Now more than ever residents have stepped up to take on this issue. With the canyon being more popular than ever as well, a tug-of-war challenge has begun. As aforementioned, a whopping 2-15lbs of trash reappear in the canyon every single day. This number is lowest during the hot September weekdays, and it is highest during the cool Sunday mornings in May. As more trash enters the canyon, it is up to us to get out there with buckets, bag and gloves and get to work. If residents can keep the main trails as free of trash as possible, more dedicated cleanup crews can spend more time in the weeds pulling out trash that would otherwise go unseen. You may find trash sitting right on the main trails if you were to visit today. We highly encourage you to not ignore it and to instead come with the tool needed to clean it up.