South Hills Park is a 200 acre park located in the city of Glendora. South Hills Park has a trail network used by hikers, trail runners, mountain bikers, and horseback riders. There are a few access points with trails to enter South Hills Park, but for this hike I started at South Hills City Park on Mauna Loa Ave. The city park has a childs play area and a large fenced off dog park. The trailhead for this hike picks up right behind the dog park.
Directions And GPS Tracks:
- Take HWY 210 towards Glendora and exit Grand Ave. Head north on Grand and turn right onto W Mauna Loa Ave. Mauna Loa Ave deadends at the park. You can park o the street or the gravel parking area south of the park. Click here for directions on Google Maps
- Download GPX
- See my track on Strava
Key Points:
- Distance: 3.2 miles
- Elevation Gain: 689 ft
- Minimum Elevation: 755 ft
- Maximum Elevation: 1212 ft
- Time: 1-2 hours
- Difficulty: Beginner
- Dog Friendly: Yes, on leash
- Permit Required: No
- Season: Year Round
- Trail Condition: Well maintained trail
Make sure to hike with the right gear. See my current hiking gear list.
Hike Map And Elevation Profile:
There are a lot of different hiking options in South Hills Park due to the number of trails. My favorite hike is an anti-clockwise loop around the perimiter of the park. It’s difficult to see the trails on Google Maps, so I drew my path over the PDF map provided by the city of Glendora.
Hike Description:
The trail for this South Hills Park Loop begins just behind the dog park. You can walk around on the west side of the dog park before heading south on the Toyon Trail. After about 300ft, the Toyon Trail splits. For this anti-clockwise loop, you’ll want to head right on the Wild Iris Trail.
The Wild Iris Trail gains very gradually, but quickly offers hikers an overhead view of the city of Glendora. At about the .3 mile mark, the trail splits at an unmarked junction. You’ll want to stay right to loop around the west end of South Hills Park.
At .6 miles the Wild Iris Trail wraps around a rectangular building and meets up with South Hills Mtwy, taking hikers past a wash.
After leaving the wash behind, you’ll follow South Hills Mtwy for one mile before reaching the summit of Peak 1212. South Hills Mtwy starts with a little bit of asphalt and then splits, so keep left when you see the option to rejoin the dirt trail. On the South Hills Mtwy fire road, you’ll have views of Charter Oak to the south and Glendora to the north.
Hikers can begin to see views of Peak 1212 when they’re about .5 miles away. Just keep an eye out for a transmission tower facing south, and continue following the road. Along South Hills Mtwy you’ll pass junctions for Bonnie Cove, Mustard, and Alosta Canyon Trails. Ignore all of these, and continue on South Hills Mtwy towards Peak 1212 and the transmission tower ahead.
South Hills Mtwy wraps around the south end or Peak 1212 and it initially looks like there is no trail up to the summit. Don’t try to hike through the cacti, just keep following the road until a use trail appears. Peak 1212 doesn’t have a name as far as I know, so it holds the name of it’s elevation instead. You’ll find a cairn at the top and a few observation markers as well.
To leave the summit, don’t return the way you arrived. Look to the north of the summit and follow a use trail down to the Alosta Canyon South Fork. You’ll be just shy of hiking two miles when you join this trail.
The Alosta Canyon South Fork is my favorite stretch of trail on this hike. Leaving the wide fire road of South Hills Mtwy behind, the shaded single track of Alosta Canyon is a nice change. Follow the switchbacks to the bottom of the canyon. When the single track ends at 2.2 miles, you’ll leave the South Fork behind and meet the main Alosta Canyon Trail. Take a left hand turn and hike uphill.
Stay on the Alosta Canyon trail for .3 miles until it joins up with the South Hills Mtwy. You will have seen this junction leading up to your loop around Peak 1212. Your time on South Hills Mtwy will be short, as you take a quick right hand turn onto the North Spur Trail.
Your time on the North Spur Trail will also be short, keep your eyes open for the Mustard Trail junction on your left. You’ll see a concrete mound up ahead with incredible views of Glendora.
Look to the right of the concrete mound and follow the trail downhill to continue on the Mustard Trail.
At 2.8 miles, you’ll reach the end of the Mustard Trail and make a hairpin turn to join the Toyon Trail.
The Toyon Trail is the final stretch of hiking to bring you back to the trailhead. Take a right hand turn to continue back to the parking lot of South Hills City Park.
I hope you enjoy this loop trail through South Hills Park. As you can see from the trail map above, there are a lot of different options when hiking in this area, but this is my favorite. Feel free to leave me any thoughts or questions in the comments section below.
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