As we begin to transition into the winter season here in California, I was searching my brain for good "between-season" weekend or day trips that we have gone on recently. Contrary to popular belief (at least with my family), I'm not always outside exploring. I wish I could be, but life is never perfect (big sigh, but what is perfect anyways?). The past month and a half I have been traveling every weekend, which just drains me since we have so many new projects going on + a full time job. On top of that, not all those traveling weekends were outdoors, and since I am really excited about "Bishop Climbing Season" (ha!) I have been spending quite a bit of time out there too, but I'm sure my readers can only handle so many "This is why Bishop California is Awesome" posts.. or maybe I'm wrong? I certainly know I could subscribe to a blog about Bishop Climbing! However, sometimes it's nice not to travel every weekend. For weekends like that, we tend to go on "day trips" which usually includes anything within a 1-2 hour driving range.

Towsley Canyon Loop Trail is one of those half-day, day-trip activities. Michael and I have been up there a few times because we like to go to Santa Clarita since it's so close. So if you are within a 1-2 hour driving range of Santa Clarita, consider going on this lovely little hike/bike ride. You can even make a nice day of it afterwards spending some time in Santa Clarita.

Here's how we usually enjoy spending our "half-day":

A morning hike or mountain bike ride at Towsley Canyon Loop Trail Grab some lunch (usually a poke bowl or sushi burrito), Temakitto is one of our favorites Finish with a 2-3 hour climbing session at the Top Out Climbing Gym, because it's just so much nicer than our local climbing gym

I apologize in advance, because my photos aren't the best for the area, and I usually like this blog to stand out with our photos. Whenever we go back to this trail, I'll try to re-vamp this post with some better quality photos. Until then, thought this would be a good mid-season, day trip activity for those of you in the SoCal area.

High Level Trip Details:

~5.3 Miles Round Trip (trail is a loop)

~1,770 feet total elevation gain (other sites will say anywhere from 1,000'-1500', my stats are just based on the phone GPS I was using at the time, which is potentially questionable, not my favorite GPS to use. I'll have to re-measure it with my garmin GPS sometime)

Trailhead elevation (1,354 feet)

Highest Point on the trail (2,466 feet)

Bring plenty of water for about a 2-3 hour hike or ride depending on your fitness level

Biker and Hiker and Dog Friendly!

When to Go:

Trail can be good year-round, but the summers will be warm, so go during the morning or evenings!

How To Get There:

Easy to find on google maps, type in Towsley Canyon Trail, you can see in google maps here

There is free and paid parking at Ed Davis Park in Towsley Canyon, so if you are traveling up here on a busy weekend, try to get there early to avoid paying for the parking. The paid parking is $7 I believe.

Below is a snapshot from my phone GPS with a few of the stats that I mentioned above.