Hiking Slide Mountain in California
Table of Contents
“Outside In the Cold Distance
A Wildcat Did Growl
Two Riders were Approaching
And the Wind Began to Howl”
-Jimi Hendrix, All Along the Watchtower
Slide Mountain, located just north of Santa Clarita, California, sits high in a rugged mountain wilderness. Arising from the waters of Pyramid Lake, Slide Mountain can be seen for miles. Hiking Slide Mountain is one of the best places to find remote wilderness only an hour from Los Angeles.
Unique to Slide Mountain is a Fire Lookout, topping it’s lofty peak. With a view spanning hundreds of square miles, the Slide Mountain Fire Lookout stands guard over the mountains. Dedicated volunteers scan the horizon in search of wildfire-a constant threat in parched California.
Hiking to Slide Mountain is a great way to see lookouts in action as they work to protect communities, and our public lands.
Related: The 9 Best Hiking Trails in Santa Clarita
Trail Stats and Faqs
Distance: 10.8 Miles Round Trip, out and back
Elevation Gain: 2,360 Feet
Difficulty: Moderate
Bathrooms?: Yes, at Frenchman’s Flat, and a small bathroom at the summit.
Water?: Water can be filtered from Piru Creek, or may be found in a trail side milk crate.
Access Fee?: A Forest Adventure Pass must be displayed while parked at Frenchman’s Flat
Slide Mountain Map
The Hike
In many ways, the hike to Slide Mountain does not feel like your typical Southern California hike. It felt like many combined hikes, drawing notes from both the Sierra Nevadas, The Grand Canyon, and the California Coast.
The hike begins at Frenchman’s Flat, a popular staging area for hikers, hunters, and anglers. To get to Slide Mountain, park at the locked gate. There are bathrooms here, and parked vehicles must display an Adventure Pass, or risk a ticket.
As of early November, 2019, work was being performed on the Pyramid Lake Dam, just a few miles up the road. As such, a security guard was there to inform me where to park.
Unless you are a Fire Lookout, or you have business at the Dam, hikers cannot drive to the actual trailhead to Slide Mountain. Instead, you gotta hoof it an extra 1.6 Miles to the trailhead.
I enjoyed walking along the road. Piru gorge reminded me of walking at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and I was able to get a better look at the wildlife in Piru Creek. Seeing Semi-Trucks roll by nearly 1000 feet overhead was also a cool sight.
You’ll know when you reach the trailhead-it will be on your left, beginning a jeep trail heading up the hill. There is another gate here. Cross it, and continue up the mountain.
At this point, the trail begins to steadily climb. The grade of the trail is not extreme, but it doesn’t relent. My calves began to burn, but it just gave me an excuse to rest and enjoy the view.
At about the 1 mile mark, the jeep trail ends at a wide, flat corner in the trail. This is where Fire Lookouts would occasionally park their cars. Beyond this point, the trail narrows to single track.
Chapparal, and a Water Cache
As the Trail continues up to the Fire Lookout, it angles its way through drainages and switchbacks. The mountain side is choked with plant life-just about every chapparal species grows on these slopes.
Mormon Tea, Yucca, Blood Red Buckwheat, along with sage, and numerous oak trees, crowd for space on these slopes. A desert hike indeed, much like Vasquez Rocks. Life is thriving on Slide Mountain.
Higher up, the geology comes more into view. Uplifted rock beds create capsizing boats, their bows pointing to the southwest. Crumbling sandstone cliffs shed large boulders off the flank of Slide Mountain.
Hiking Slide is thirsty work, and the Fire Lookouts know it. To help weary hikers, you’ll find a milk crate filled with water bottles about halfway up the trail. If you’re running low, please take one!
Slide Saddle
2.2 miles up the mountain, the trail comes to a saddle. This portion might have been my favorite part of the whole hike. A wide, flat area-take a quick detour south, away from the main trail. This wide bench, alive with Yucca and grasses, brings the horizon into view.
Looking south, the mountains and suburbs of Santa Clarita can be seen. Below you, the wandering, rough track of Piru Creek cuts its way among lofty peaks. On the upper slopes of neighboring mountains, Pine Forests find a home.
The Saddle is a good spot to rest. From here, the trail once again begins climbing the final stretch to the summit, where the Slide Mountain Lookout Tower awaits. In just 1.5 miles, and a few more switchbacks, you’ll be enjoying one of the best Summits in SoCal.
Slide Mountain Fire Lookout
After the bench, the final stretch to the summit is less steep. Now is a good chance to get a better look at the local geology-you’ll pass by large rock outcrops.
The trail winds 360 degrees around the mountain before reaching the summit. Looking down between the summit of Slide, and Dome Mountain, a steep canyon separating the Piru Creek drainage straddles Slide.
From way down on the Grapevine, the Slide Mountain Fire Tower looks like the smallest building atop a gigantic mountain. Up close, the quaint two story lookout wields a local gravity.
First built in 1969, this year marks the Lookout’s 50th birthday. In its early years, Slide Lookout was regularly operated by Forest Service Personnel. With a 360 degree view, Lookouts could watch over a huge swathe of country.
Using a vigilant eye, binoculars, and an Osborne Fire Finder, smoke plumes are identified, located, and reported to Forest headquarters. Lookout Towers have proven to be an effective system. Slide Mountain, along with Vetter Mountain, is one of the last remaining towers in the Angeles National Forest.
The Fire Towers in the Angeles fell into disuse, however. The Forest Service wouldn’t spare the resources to maintain them. By the 90’s, these tower were all but forgotten. That is until the Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association (ANFFLA)came into the fold.
Entirely volunteer run, ANFFLA has worked hard to bring the Angeles Fire Towers back online. They began with Vetter Mountain, before taking over Slide Mountain in 2003. Now, volunteers are able to man these towers for much of the year.
During my visit, one volunteer was operating at Slide-a dedicated firewatch who had driven all the way up from Redondo Beach. He was kind enough to let me inside the tower, where I could ask questions, and admire the view.
And the view really is impressive. Not only can you plainly see Pyramid Lake, Piru Creek, and Lake Piru, but the skyscrapers of Downtown Los Angeles could be seen far to the south.
Become a Volunteer Fire Lookout!
If you find that the Fire Lookout Lifestyle is right for you. L.A. locals can devote some free time to volunteering as a firewatch. You can join one of the many volunteers keeping watch over the forest, protecting both our public lands, and communities from the threat of wildfires.
I must confess-I volunteered as Slide Mountain way back in 2013. This hike was not my first visit to the Lookout, but I decided to make the trek for nostalgia’s sake. My tenure as a fire lookout did not last long before life got in the way, but I found the experience to my liking.
A lookout is the perfect job for shy introverts like me. I got to sit up in a remote, hard to reach place where no one could bother me. I would spend my time reading, scanning the horizon with binoculars, and taking weather readings.
Given different circumstances, I’d volunteer again. For the time being, I am happy talking about it on the internet.
The volunteers do more than just look for smoke. Among their duties, Lookouts also maintain the trail, cut a firebreak around the tower, and restock water and other resources. Lookouts also provide an interpretive resource, being happy to share information about local history and ecology.
For all their hard work, Fire lookouts get to skip the long walk along from Frenchman’s Flat, and can instead park right at the trailhead!
If you are interested in volunteering, you can find more information here. Training sessions are held each Spring, where volunteers learn about history, radio operations, and of course, fire watching.
Piru Creek-Rugged Los Padres Wilderness
Slide Mountain sits just above the lower reaches of Piru Creek-a 71 mile stream that runs the eastern edge of Los Padres National Forest. Piru rises near Pine Mountain to the northwest of Slide and flows east, before turning south at Pyramid Lake.
Below Pyramid Lake, Piru Creek is notable for being one of the only SoCal water courses that flows year round. This is in part due to a steady release of water from Pyramid Lake, intended to preserve the ecosystems below the dam. The result is a lush and lively riparian habitat, home to fish, birds, and large game.
Piru Creek is visible for nearly the entire hike up Slide Mountain. As Piru flows away from Frenchman’s Flat, it enters a narrow, winding mountain gorge. Here, the walls close in, creating a nigh untouched wilderness between Frenchman’s and Piru Reservoir.
This stretch, totaling 18 miles, may just be one of the most underexplored canyons in the Los Angeles area. Looking down from Slide Mountain, I was reminded of Utah’s Famous Goosenecks-a similarly windy and remote stretch of river.
Piru Creek is only a sample of a remote and rugged landscape remaining largely untouched. The backcountry stretch of mountains from Pyramid Lake, to Santa Barbara has been said to be some of the most remote in California.
Fishing in Piru Creek-Catch and Release
Piru Creek, as it turns out, is a popular trout fishing spot. As of this writing, all of the fishing easily accessed from Frenchman’s Flat is Catch and Release only. This rule is in place to protect Trout populations in Piru Creek.
Trekking a little further into the backcountry, anglers can find plenty of tasty trout for the taking. It just takes a little more work to get back there. I’m inspired to embark on a backcountry Trout fishing mission.
Pyramid Lake
To the North of Slide Mountain lies Pyramid Lake-a large reservoir created by the damming of Piru Creek. It is a frequent stop for motorists travelling along The Grapevine, and sees plenty of use from boaters and anglers.
Together with Piru Dam, both the upper and lower reaches of Piru Creek have been “tamed”-yet the rugged reaches between the two dams remains relatively wild.
Hiking on a hot day, the blue, glittering waters of Pyramid Lake will look pretty nice. Almost makes you wish that you were going for a swim, rather than hiking up a hot, dry mountain.
Pyramid Lake will be visible for most of your hike. I used it as a marker to help judge my progress-the more of the lake that comes into view, the higher you are up the mountain.
TL;DR-Why You Should Hike Slide Mountain
Slide Mountain, though not quite a hidden gem, doesn’t receive as much hiker traffic as it deserves. I think that more Los Angeles hikes should make the trek up Slide. The historic Slide Mountain Fire Lookout Tower is worth seeing, and the views of the rugged backcountry are inspiring.
As I said, this hike has a bit of everything-desert canyon walls, forested mountain slopes, and even trout fishing pools! Slide may sit right next to a major highway, but the hike feels rugged and remote regardless. This is a good hike to find a better view of the backcountry that sits just beyond the urban fringe.
Slide Mountain is a challenging hike, but the payoff is well worth it.
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