First Leg

The Sawmill trail is mainly used to ascend Big Willow canyon.  There are no maintained trails leading to the north fork of Little Willow canyon, but the Sawmill offers a close approach.

The origin of the trail presents some difficulty in the First Leg, since it was created to access the top of the Log Slide (and possibly the timber beyond).  Rather than building on a gentle slope within either canyon, it charges up the fault face of the ridge that separates them.  Caught between the eroded scar of the slide and cliffs at the edge of the ridge, the trail goes through the motions of some hastily-conceived switchbacks and racks up the tightest 1000-foot elevation gain below the actual summit scramble.

A parking lot between Hidden Valley Park's picnic shelter and a church building leads to a paved trail.  The trail leads to a bench and a dirt road built to access a water diverter in Big Willow canyon.  The road is invitingly wide and gentle-sloped, so that when it turns to enter the beauty of Big Willow it's easy to miss the Sawmill trailhead and its scrub oak-arched entrance (North 40D 32M 26S, West 111D 48M 26S).

The trail makes a steep start before reaching a meadow which is filled with huge green leaves in the spring (visible in the center right of the aerial photo).  It quickly becomes obvious that the trail's architect was not optimizing for backpackers.  Steep stretches with pebble coverings are difficult to climb, but treacherous to descend when wearing a full pack.

The first half of the First Leg is rewarded with an incredibly scenic view of Big Willow where the trail reaches a rock outcrop at the edge of the ridge.  It's the last good place to rest before reaching the top of the Log Slide.

Scott:  The three of us had done this much of the mountain together 25 years earlier, when we were just kids and thought we'd accomplished something big (none of our friends had been up that far).  At this point, the mountain lets you know by its steepness that you're in for a challenge.

Andrew:  Welcome to the Willows...have a thousand feet of pain!  When we came to explore the log slide as kids, we quickly figured out that it was really entertaining to find boulders and roll them down the slide.  It was cool to watch them hit the bottom.

Jeff:  The trail is a little trench filled with slippery rock shards.  Coming down this way isn't bad if you've just been on a 1 or 2 hour hike, but it's a tough way to end a hike to the summit.
By the way, It's not a log slide, it's a rock slide.  Early settlers were looking for a quick way to get large boulders to the bottom.

Ryan:  Sometimes the early settlers would park wagons at the bottom of the rock slide, just to watch them get smashed.  The wagons were pulled by donkeys, and that's where MTV got the idea for "Jacka--."