2 min
Overview
Between the cities of Whittier and Hacienda Heights, roughly bordered by the Pomona Freeway, Orange Freeway, and the 605, lies a low, small member of California’s transverse mountain ranges known as the Puente Hills. The Hills are dotted by a sprawling system of parks and open spaces that provide easily accessible beauty and outdoor recreation for its citizens, and it might surprise you to learn that the primary reason for these parks’ existence is the largest landfill in the United States. The Puente Hills Landfill began its existence in 1957 as the privately owned San Gabriel Valley Dump. It became a regional sanitation facility in 1970 and, as far as landfills go, this one was pretty forward-thinking. The Puente Hills Landfill began reducing its load by aggressively utilizing recycling and material recovery facilities, is able to generate electricity from the methane in the landfill, and in 1994 they formed an incredibly progressive plan for the nearby land. The landfill would become a public park after it closed in 2013, and it would also help form and sponsor the Puente Hills Habitat Preservation Authority to preserve, maintain, and improve the environment of the Puente Hills. Today, the Habitat Authority manages 3,680 acres in the Puente Hills, and many of the trails are popular with hikers, trail runners, equestrians, and mountain bikers. Turnbull Canyon, in the northern-central part of the preserve, is an east-west canyon with relatively steep drainages. The canyon has a creek at its bottom that supports a narrow strip of riparian woodland dominated by sycamore trees, while the slopes are covered in coastal sage and native and non-native grasses. The loop route described here is an excellent introduction to the canyon and Puente Hills in general, and will likely surprise Angelenos who are convinced there’s no good hiking between the San Gabriels and Santa Anas. This trail begins at the Turnbull Canyon trailhead, east of Whittier on the circa-1915 Turnbull Canyon Road. There is a small dirt parking area
Trail Stats
6.8 km
277 m
385 m
172 m
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