We drove up through the Cajon pass into the High Desert and over to the Devil's Punchbowl county park at the foot of the northern slopes of the San Gabriel mountains. We started our hike from the nature center and the trail quickly climbed up onto the pine forested mountain slopes overlooking the rock formations of the Punchbowl.
Rock formations in the Devil's Punchbowl, near the nature center
Rock formations in the Devil's Punchbowl
Hiking in the Pine forest
We crossed a small stream and continued traversing along the mountain side far above the Punchbowl getting occasional views through the trees. Then the trail suddenly began to drop steeply. It dropped us over 300 feet down ending at our destination... the Devil's Chair! The Devil's chair is a narrow ridge with cliffs on all sides that leads out to a small plateau that is perched at the end of the ridge overlooking the eastern side of the Devil's Punchbowl. It sticks way out on it's own providing a really incredible 360 degree view! It was really quite impressive.
Crossing a small stream
Overlooking the Devil's Punchbowl
Dropping down to the Devil's Chair
Climbing out on to the Devil's Chair
Views from the Devil's Chair
Views from the Devil's Chair
The Devil's Chair
After having a lunch break and enjoying the great views we started hiking back. We had to climb back up that 300 foot drop in the trail, but after that it was just a nice easy cruise back down to the Nature Center where we had started the hike. Coming in at about 6.5 miles in total. We took a few minutes and checked out some of the cool animals and other interesting exhibits at the nature center and then headed home. Wrapping up another fun adventure in the mountains of California!
