The trek to Echo Mountain is a favorite for good reasons. It’s a quick, steep, moderately difficult route into the San Gabriel Mountains, and it gives you a chance to wander among the ruins of the Echo Mountain House hotel and Mount Lowe Railway, a once-sprawling complex of wilderness resorts and attractions that stretched deep into the mountains. The four-story hotel burned in 1900 and the railway shut down in 1938.Nowadays the Echo Mountain hike via the Sam Merrill Trail is 5.5-mile round-trip experience (with about 1,400 feet of altitude gain) on a very popular, occasionally narrow trail. Along the way you find many historical markers, but only scattered bits of foundation and metal equipment to remind you of the sprawling operation that once was here.

There’s a picnic table, but you could also eat while sitting on the steps of the old hotel. And before you descend you might want to try to use the Echo Phone, also at the mountaintop. Hiking expert Mary Forgione describes it as “a black metal megaphone mounted on a pole that points toward Castle Canyon. Yep, before there were cellphones and selfies, this is how people amused themselves. Feel free to step up and give your best scream (no touching necessary) — and listen for the reverb. It’s a beautiful place to stop and look into the heart of the mountains.”

The trailhead is at the end of Lake Avenue in Altadena. The trail gets hot on sunny days, so it’s wise to start early in the morning, when the route is shaded and there’s less foot traffic.