Hiking the Towsley Canyon Loop Trail
Table of Contents
Towsley Canyon is one of Santa Clarita’s most popular hiking destinations. Tucked in the southern corner of the SCV, the trails in Towsley Canyon Park take hikers, bikers, and runners through narrow canyons, weaving about shady oak groves and open california grasslands.
The Towsley Canyon Trail delivers a slice of pleasant California wilderness, with up close examples of Santa Clarita’s unique geology.
Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon can be accessed from The Old Road, just north of the Newhall Pass. It is within easy driving distance of both Santa Clarita, and the San Fernando Valley, making this Towsley one of the best hiking spots in northern Los Angeles county.
Related: East and Rice Canyons, located just south of Towsley, provide a similar hiking experience.
Trail Statistics
Distance: 5.15 Mile Loop
Difficulty: Moderate
Time To Hike: 1.5-3 Hours
Dogs Allowed?: Yes-keep them on a leash, and pick up after them.
Bathrooms?: Yes
Water?: Yep! But be sure to bring plenty of your own.
Slot Canyons?: Oh heck yeah
Views?: You’ll see the Santa Clarita Valley like you’ve never before.
Towsley Canyon Hours: Sunrise to Sunset. No night hiking.
Fee?: $7, if parking in the fee lots. Parking is free otherwise.
Weddings and Events?: Event reservations can be found at the Towsley Lodge
Towsley Canyon Hiking Trail Map
I didn’t get around to mapping the Canyon View Trail, but it follows a ridgeline below the track of the loop trail. This trail is both shorter, and easier, while offering similar views.
Hiking Towsley’s Loop Trail
Towsley Canyon is administered by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Agency-an organization dedicated to preserving open spaces in the Los Angeles area.
Similar hikes to Towsley can be found in neighboring canyons, like East and Rice Canyons, and in Pico Canyon. Wildlife in the canyon includes abundant deer, as well as foxes and mountain lions.
In the Autumn, Towsley becomes a local leaf peeping destination as the Oak Trees turn to their Fall colors.
For hikers visiting Towsley canyon, you have two trail options-the Canyon View Trail, and the Towsley Loop Trail. To hike a shorter, gentler trail, choose the canyon view trail. If instead you desire something more challenging, with more elevation gain, and grander views, I suggest the Towsley Loop Trail.
Either trail will be a rewarding experience. But, when I visited Towsley in mid October, I opted to hike the Loop Trail.
As I am want to do, I ended up hiking the Towsley Loop Trail backwards. Most people start going the opposite direction, beginning at the Narrows, and then heading uphill. Instead, I began my hike at the free parking lot, and took the ‘Towsley Canyon Trail’ heading southwest.
No matter which way you take it, the views from the trail are beautiful. In the bottom of the canyons, hikers pass by shady, oak lined creek beds. At the ridge top, eye-filling views of the Santa Clarita Valley await you-a vista like no other.
Related: The 9 Best Hiking Trails in Santa Clarita
Hill Climbing
At the 1.2 mile mark, the trail turns north to begin climbing up the mountain. This section may be the toughest part of the whole loop. Stopping mid climb, you may notice that a bench has slid down the hill on a slow descent to the creek bed.
Steep but short, this part can be challenging for some. Soon, the trail eases up to gentle switchbacks. Looking west, you might notice some pine trees growing in the higher slopes of the canyon.
These wild growing pines are found nowhere else in the SCV, owing their existence to the cooler, wetter microclimate of the Newhall Pass.
As you round the bend, the canyon opens up to views of the city. These will follow you as you hike along the ridge top. All along the trail are benches and logs-good spots to soak in the view. Wild Oak trees grow abundantly, offering rejuvenating shade on a hot day.
If you look carefully, you can just make out the Haskell Canyon Open Area-another one of the area’s hiking trails. Further beyond, obscured by mountains, sits the pointed peaks of Vasquez Rocks. One side of the ridge looks down into the city-another to the canyons of the Santa Susanna Mountains.
Expect to share the trail with both runners, and mountain bikers. Be sure to yield to anyone moving faster than you to avoid jams and accident.
As you begin heading downhill, hikers will soon enter the tight jaws of the…
The Towsley Narrows
At the opening to Towsley Canyon stand the Towsley Narrows. Like the gates of Helms Deep, the Narrows guard the canyon. They represent a threshold, separating a natural world from the human. On one side lies Santa Clarita, the other a rolling, sunny California landscape.
Hiking through the Towsley Narrows is unlike most other hikes in Santa Clarita. For a brief moment, you might imagine yourself in the deserts of Utah, where slot canyons are commonplace.
Related: Hiking the Fiery Furnace.
If one only had an hour to spend at Towsley, I highly recommend visiting the Narrows. Within this slim canyon, hikers can rock hop and scramble around. The tilted landscape of Towsley is cut and on display-a perfect cross section of the rock. From a distance the narrows look like a Dam-you can imagine a reservoir backing up into Towsley.
Higher up, birds nest in the crevices and solution pockets. Life in this canyon takes full advantage of erosional features. I discourage humans from climbing these cliffs-despite their angle, the rock is friable, and is prone to breaking. Us rock climbers call this ‘Choss’.
Rotten Eggs? Nope, just sulfur.
If the wind is just right, hikers in Towsley Canyon might just get a strong whiff of rotten eggs. The stench is most powerful in the section of trail above the narrows.
‘Whoever smelt it, delt it’, the saying goes. But in this case, it’s not your hiking partner’s double bacon cheeseburger coming back with a vengeance. Instead, it’s the earth itself, releasing fumes from some underground chamber.
Don’t be alarmed by the smell. The smell of sulfur is common wherever oil naturally occurs.
What you’re probably smelling is hydrogen sulfide, a compound that forms naturally alongside natural gas and crude oil. In the open air of Towsley Canyon, the gas is not likely to be concentrated enough to cause hikers any harm.
Black Gold and Natural Gas-Towsley’s Geological Treasures
Santa Clarita, for all it’s suburbs, traffic, and strip malls, wouldn’t be what it is today if not for the unique geology that underlies Towsley Canyon.
You see, Towsley Canyon sits on top of numerous geologic formations-the Pico, Modelo, Saugus, and Towsley formations, to be exact. The Pico, Modelo, and Towsley are sedimentary marine formation, having formed millions of years ago in an oceanic environment.
Over time, as sea levels fluctuated, and the continents drifted, these formations came to be twisted, uplifted, and deformed into the mountainous landscape before you. The rich oil deposits held within were brought to the surface.
These seepages are plainly visible in the canyon bottom, where oil, natural gas, and asphaltum bubble up through natural weaknesses in the rock layers.
Long before Towsley became a popular hiking spot, Chevron set up shop. For nearly a century, oil was pumped out of the canyon, creating a long lasting boom out of which formed Santa Clarita, California.
While hiking in Towsley Canyon, hikers have the opportunity to get up close to the unique geological nature of this area. At multiple points along the loop trail, oil, natural gas, and bitumen (aka Asphaltum aka Asphalt) seeps up to the earth’s surface.
Conclusion-Why You Should Hike Towsley Canyon
Hiking in Towsley Canyon is a wonderful opportunity to get a good workout in, see some nice views, and get an up close look at the Newhall’s unique geology. Both easy and more difficult hiking trails ensure that anyone can find the hike that they need. In my opinion, Towsley is worth it just to visit the Narrows-a rock formation not commonly found around these parts.
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