You can wander through a rare grove of ancient limber pines near the summit of Mt. Baden-Powell. These small to medium-sized pine trees bear purple cones and are found only above 7,5000 feet. Some of the specimens are over 2,000 years old. Elsewhere, lodgepole, Jeffrey, and sugar pine predominate. At lower elevations, you will find dense chaparral and oak.

During the months of April, May, and June, the Los Angeles basin is smothered in the gloom and doom of smog and clouds. And yet even when LA is enduring the cloudiest months of the year, the San Gabriel Mountains are all about sun and cobalt skies. The mountains are above the clouds, removed from the city that lies below. It is here, high above the urban chaos, that the city's angels can spread their wings. During the autumn, the Santa Ana winds push dry air from the Mojave Desert through the canyons and mountain passes of the San Gabriels.