AllTrails Rubio Canyon Trail, 1.9 miles out and back.

Barbara and I headed to Altadena for what we thought would be a short, pretty hike through Rubio Canyon tucked in the foothills west of Eaton Canyon and east of the Cobb Estate Trailhead. The hike was short–about a mile in and out, and pretty—the rock formations were glorious, the trees green, and the creek trickled with clear water, but this was a clear-the-mind adventure that demanded all attention on footing. The trailhead at Pleasant Ridge Drive began innocent enough, but the sandy, loose trail never expanded wider than a yard and required boulder-acrobatics at points along the trail. The last eighth of a mile there was no trail at all, just a series of large rocks drawing us deeper into the canyon. End point? We had enough when we hit a mile. So...fun. Two historic things to know about the canyon: first, Rubio Canyon was the point of embarkation for the Mt. Lowe Railway rising up to Thaddeus Lowe's "White City" in the sky at the top of Echo Mountain, 1893–1937, and evidenced by remnants of concrete pillars built to support the tracks for the funicular. Second, the glorious, granite canyon walls that surrounded us were formed 65–245 million years ago. If we weren't so busy watching our feet, we could have spent the hike gaping in awe at the utter sheen of the canyon. Tricky as hell, there were points on the trail where we scrambled up and around boulders to edge between canyon walls and the drop below to pick up the path ahead. While Eaton and Cobb are filled with hikers on weekends, if you want privacy this is the trail. We met only three other sets of hikers. Not recommended for dogs (the rocks can be sharp) or children (the footing is unstable), but if you're in the mood for adventure this is the ticket. On another hiker's advice, we followed the Camp Huntington Trail along Rubio Creek for our  return and stopped for a spin on the mountain swing (because I can't resist a hidden swing.) AllTrails marks this hike as "Moderate"—sure, if you're a pro...or 20. Great sense of gratitude and accomplishment when we were done.