Whitney Canyon Photos

Looking at the Whitney Canyon mouth area from Elsmere Canyon. The park-and-ride is in the lower left center. That is the parking area for hikes into Whitney and Elsmere Canyons.

Welcome to Whitney Canyon (way out of date because Gray Davis is not the governor anymore) (Photo taken on 9/19/2009)

Bridge over to ranger's house (3/27/2011)

First part of road looking up the canyon (9/4/2009)

On the north side of the road just over the side is this pipe. It was probably a water pipe because there is no oil residue on the inside. (3/27/2011)

Looking west toward the mouth of the canyon with road on left (9/5/2009)

These 5 century plants are located in a small side canyon. They are very mature - why were they planted here? (9/5/2009)

Odd. When I checked again in March of 2011, they were pruned - for drug use? The original photos above were taken in September of 2009. (3/27/2011)

There is another patch of them on the north side of the creek bed (3/27/2011)

This looks like a holding pond for water. It fills up during heavy rainy seasons. I believe that it was built about 1938. It seems to be on a 1938 aerial photo but not on a 1937 one. In those years, J. Warren MacClatchie was the owner of the ranch, which he called the Double Vee. MacClatchie raised thoroughbred race horses. (1/21/2023)

The above photo was taken in August. No water in the summer. As you can see, it's not very deep. (8/13/2022)

Just past the pond is an old oil well called Fink 2. It was drilled in 1900, but never produced commercial quatities of oil. There are no records of it being plugged and abandoned. There is a oil seep on the south side of the road which is probably why they drilled in the area. This is close to where the well was. It could be that well, but I doubt it. It looks more like an old water well. (9/4/2009)

You can just make out the old NIKE base in the far distance (10/3/2009)

Plenty of oaks in the canyon (9/4/2009)

Probably at one time all the large oaks had numbers like this. There must have been some sort of environmental impact report done in the canyon. I would sure like to see it. Part of the EIR for the Elsmere Canyon dump consisted of marking all the large oaks so you will occasionally see markers on those oaks. (9/4/2009)

Small dump area with some old bottles and jars (10/3/2009)

An unusual large patch of wild grapes next to the road. These plants look like poison oak because of their 3-leaf pattern. (3/27/2011)

There are a lot of fallen oak trees in the canyon. This one just happened to fall over the trail. (3/27/2011)

Some kind of meeting place. On one side are stairs and on the other side is a ramp. I have heard (from Allen Skyler and Steven Murray) that this was once an outdoor church. Wood benches were trucked in each week and there was a baptismal pool in the center where the closer wall is a little higher. (9/4/2009)

Deeper in then canyon you eventually get to this spring. It has a strong smell of sulpher. Whitney Canyon was first called Mud Springs Canyon. There are two major springs in the canyon that I know of. This is one of them. The California Newhall well was drilled nearby in 1920. (9/4/2009)

Another view of spring (9/4/2009)

It's now 2023 and the area around the spring has greatly changed (1/21/2023)

Plenty of cattails growing in the spring area (9/4/2009)

The trail gets narrower up the canyon past the spring (9/4/2009)

(10/3/2009)

Here we are about at the end of the trail. We have reached the oldest rocks in the canyon consisting mainly of the metamorphic rock gneiss. To the left and below my backpack you can see an obvious fault where the two dark layers have shifted apart. (9/4/2009)

There are some pools of water here favored by bees. This is September of 2009. There is very little water in the canyon. (9/4/2009)

The trail has ended. Preceed at your own risk. (9/4/2009)

The next few photos were taken in March of 2011 after the rains (3/27/2011)

(3/27/2011)

(3/27/2011)

Family fun (3/27/2011)

Going back from the waterfalls, you can see the brown Pico formation rocks in the distance. Unfortunately, you cannot see a good contact between the Pico formation and the basal gneiss rocks. (9/4/2009)

This is up the first major northeast tributary looking toward the mouth. You can see Eternal Valley in the distance on the right and Elsmere Ridge on the left. This tributary had a lot of squatters that had to be removed after the MRCA took over management of the canyon. There is still a lot of trash up here. (9/5/2009)

There is a lot of water up this tributary and so there is a lot of plant growth (9/5/2009)

The water soaks into the ground before it gets into the main canyon. (9/5/2009)

There are plenty of cattails here, too (9/5/2009)

If you hike far enough up the canyon, you will find the source of the water in the hillside next to the creek. The water is really gushing out here. This is the second major spring in the canyon. (10/3/2009)

Closer view of opening. Based on the amount of staining in the area, the water must have escaped in other places through the years. (10/3/2009)

The spring area is heavily covered with brush so there is not a lot of light to get good pictures. Here you can see where the water flows into the creek. The colors must be caused by the oil that is in the water. (10/3/2009)

Up a southern tributary is this cave. The shadow makes it deeper than it really is, but it could still easily shelter an animal. It was too high up for me to get close to. (9/12/2009)

This southern tributary contains an oil seep (9/4/2009)

It also contains standing water also popular with the bees (9/4/2009)

Deeper up same canyon (9/12/2009)

These holes were caused by water erosion in the narrow canyon (9/12/2009)

This was also caused by water erosion in a curve in the canyon. That's my black backpack. (9/4/2009)

This is a view looking about east up the canyon. The road is visible in the lower right center. (9/4/2009)

Another view looking southeast up the canyon closer to the mouth. The road is on the bottom right on the other side of the green main canyon. I am on the north side of the canyon. (9/5/2009)

View looking west up the mouth of the canyon. I am standing in the middle of the canyon. The road is on the left. You can see the green grass of Eternal Valley in the distance. (9/4/2009)

View looking west over Whitney Canyon from far up the Whitney Canyon Parkway. Not a very clear day (9/19/2009)

Whitney Canyon ends here as the creek is channeled under Highway 14 and Sierra Highway (9/19/2009)

Closer view (9/20/2009)

Mules in Whitney Canyon. Why are they there? Read the story in the Daily Signal of November, 5, 2013. (11/4/2013)

Mules 11/4/2013

This and the following four photos show the aftermath of the fire of August 4, 2020. It started near the park-and-ride at the end of Newhall Avenue around 1:50pm and forced the closure of Highway 14. Most of the damage was near the park-and-ride and in Whitney Canyon. It was contained later that day after burning about 200 acres.