Eaton Canyon (1.2 miles in 50 feet)
Plot: Traces of what has come before imbue the present. In Eaton Canyon, a highly trafficked hiking area in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains near Los Angeles, you can find a multitude of traces of the canyon’s own making—traces of geologic change, of jurisdictional decisions, of plant and animal life, of constructions built to last but now left in ruins