

Fish Canyon Falls (Photo by Mitch Barrie via the Creative Commons on Flickr)

So we all know just how fantastic some of Southern California's mountains are for hiking and other outdoor activities. Nothing can really compare with wandering around in the San Gabriels, hiking up and up and, an hour later, looking down upon sprawling Los Angeles beneath you.The problem, though, is most often access to these marvelous trails requires you to drive to the trail head. Usually, you don't have a public transportation option.

Lucky for you, the fine city of Duarte has your back. Running from the recently opened Duarte Gold Line Station, a Saturday shuttle helps hikers easily access the Fish Canyon Falls trailhead, at 3901 Fish Canyon Road, car-free! As KPCC points out, Fish Canyon Falls is an iconic three-tiered waterfall that usually has at least some cascading water.

We've actually got a good post talking about the hike up to the falls and back from a couple years ago. It's important to note, however, that this piece talks about how to get to the falls using a more circuitous route than you necessarily have to do use if you ride the shuttle. See, a lot of the land in this area is owned by the Vulcan Materials Company. Vulcan operates a crushed-rock quarry in the area, and, for most of the year, shuts down a section of trail that leads through the quarry area right to the falls.

That section is kept open when there is shuttle service. The hike through Vulcan's quarry (what a good name) is about 4.8 miles round trip, with just over 830 feet of elevation gain, according to Metro's The Source.

You can learn a bit more about the shuttle service on Duarte's city website. Hikers pick up the shuttle adjacent the Duarte/City of Hope Gold Line Station at the Duarte Transit Green Route stop no. 23, at Highland Avenue at Business Center Drive (Google Maps link).

The shuttle will run through the end of June. Service begins at 7 a.m. on Saturdays and runs until 6 p.m. Pickup happens where you were dropped off at the Fish Canyon trailhead.