This is a trail the upper half of which I hadn't hiked in about ten years. The trailhead is at the top of Lake Avenue in Pasadena, and the trail zig-zags up the hill 2-1/2 miles to Echo Mountain, the site of the famous White City resort complex of the 1890s. Only foundations and some sections of rail from the incline cable trolley and the Mt. Lowe Railway remain today, but it has a fascinating and storied history. From there the trail continues another 2-1/2 miles to the Mt. Lowe fire road, where you meet the upper end of the Idlehour trail. Inspiration Point is a short walk from there, and you have the option of returning the way you came or continuing down the trail through Castle Canyon back to Echo Mountain and Lake Avenue. An asterisk indicates a non-native species.

Short-leaved cliff aster
Malacothrix saxatilis var. tenuifolia
Asteraceae

Bigelow's spike-moss
Selaginella bigelovii
Selaginellaceae
[Named for John Milton Bigelow, 1804-1878]

Bird's-foot fern
Pellaea mucronata var. mucronata
Pteridaceae

California bay
Umbellularia californica
Lauraceae

California-aster
Lessingia filaginifolia var. filaginifolia
Asteraceae
[Named for Christian Friedrich Lessing, 1809-1862, his brother and their granduncle]

California buckwheat
Eriogonum fasciculatum
Polygonaceae

Coastal woodfern
Dryopteris arguta
Dryopteridaceae

California croton
Croton californicus
Euphorbiaceae

Toyon
Heteromeles arbutifolia
Rosaceae

Feltleaf everlasting
Pseudognaphalium microcephalum
Asteraceae

Mission cactus *
Opuntia ficus-indica
Cactaceae

Telegraph weed
Heterotheca grandiflora
Asteraceae

Sugarbush
Rhus ovata
Anacardiaceae