Eaton Canyon is a fairly non-intense, easily accessible trail in Pasadena, which can make it seem pretty innocuous to causal forest strollers – but four hikers found out the hard way that even these “easy” trails can be dangerous in the right conditions.

On Saturday afternoon, around 4:30 PM, four hikers -three men aged 18, 18, and 43, and an 11 year old boy – became stranded in Eaton Canyon when water levels in the canyon rose, stranding the lost group until rescuers could reach them at 7AM on Sunday.

Luckily, everyone made it out all right, but hiking on this trail in the on-and-off downpour conditions we had this weekend was a TERRIBLE idea – and it could have turned out much, much worse. Eaton Canyon is extremely narrow in parts, with very few escape routes. Light rain can be enough to cause flash floods out here, and since Eaton Canyon is downstream from some of the Station Fire burn areas, these hikers could have very well been slammed with a wall of mud and debris with no way out.

Lesson learned!

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by Casey Schreiner

Founder and Editor of Modern Hiker, Author of "Day Hiking Los Angeles." "Discovering Griffith Park," and "Cloud Spotting." Walking Meditator, Native Plant Enthusiast.