Foothill Flora

On most maps of the Valley, the area above Sylmar is as blank as one of those spaces on an old atlas marked terra incognita.

But in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains is a patch of terra well worth checking out. It’s Wilson Canyon Park, a gorgeous hiking and picnicking destination that one never would have suspected could be found in those dun hills at the north rim of the Valley.

Rescued from the developer’s bulldozer and opened to the public as a park in 1996, its charms seem to have been noticed only by nearby residents who enjoy the hiking and riding trails, the mountain greenery and the cool, oak-shaded picnic areas.

You can sample these charms Saturday morning on a natural history hike led by Jim Laage, a docent with the Mountain Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Much about Wilson Canyon is surprising. Upon rounding one curve in the trail through the canyon, you will find yourself in a majestic vaulted oak grove pierced by rays of sunlight. Soaring skyward through the shadows is an incongruous example of northern California flora.

“That’s a coast redwood,” Laage said during a recent hike. “Someone planted it here years ago.”

Its roots are fed by a nearby stream that flows year-round despite droughts, another incongruous natural phenomenon, Laage said.

Farther up the trail, Laage showed visitors a waterfall canopied by oaks and sycamores at one of three small dams that feed the stream. Rather than being intrusive, the dam complements nature. Laage, an electrical engineer, pointed out plants and flowers. “Horehound, like the drops,” he said, pointing to a mint-like plant.

“That’s yerba buena, the ‘good weed,’ which is used for poultices and in medicinal teas,” he said farther along.

He warns visitors not to eat pods from the “loco weed” that lines the trail. “Anthropologists who wanted to test its hallucinogenic properties experimented by eating one pod with no effect,” he said. “So they ate a second one, also with no effect. Then they ate a third one and died.” He also told the hikers how to spot poison oak. “It has little, shiny three-leaf clusters and a smooth stem. If the stem has little spines or thorns, that’s a blackberry patch.”

Laage knows why a colony of tropical parrots can sometimes be seen sitting in canyon trees: They are escapees from local residents.

At the bottom of the trail, where Los Angeles County has built a catchment dam, a large sign warns visitors about getting stuck in the mud. A few years ago a woman and her horse had to be rescued from the site by helicopter.

To get to the park, use the Roxford exit from the Foothill Freeway and go north on Olive View Drive to Bledsoe Street. Parking is up the hill where Bledsoe curves to the left and briefly becomes a dirt road. Laage’s hike runs from 10 a.m.-noon. The park is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call (310) 589-3200.