Eaton Canyon Trail

On our list of the best activities in Los Angeles.

Out of the Eaton Canyon Nature Center off Altadena Drive, a dusty fire road narrows after about a mile into a rockier trail that follows the creek up the canyon, ending at a forty-foot waterfall that drops into a pool people wade into on hot days. The out-and-back covers roughly three and a half miles with little elevation gain, easy enough for most fitness levels, though the parking lot fills early on weekends. Hikers are warned to turn back at the falls -- the unmarked scramble above them has been the site of fatal falls.