Travel Site Puts San Gabriel Mountains On Its Annual Do Not Visit List

Good news: For the first time ever, a Southern California landmark has made a travel list along with world famous tourist destinations like Athens, Greece and Ha Long Bay in Vietnam.

Bad news: It's not the kind of list any place probably wants to be on.

Every November, Fodor's Travel Guide selects nine places to avoid traveling to. Its "No List 2024" features destinations the magazine's staffers "love," but that struggle with issues like "over-tourism, trash production, and water quality."

And this year, repping California — and the entire U.S — on the list is none other than the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.

The area was designated as a national monument in 2014, but as Fodor's review notes, "the National Forest Service wasn’t given additional funds for the new portfolio addition in 2014. So in the absence of employees, volunteers have stepped up to try to tackle the trash."

And "[a] recent two-hour session saw more than 800 pounds of trash. To date, they’ve cleared more than 8,000 pounds of trash," it continues.

"We're not necessarily saying don't go to these places," explained Jeremy Tarr, digital editorial director of Fodor's Travel. "We know full well that folks aren't going to skip Venice, or Athens. It's if you go to these places, you should be aware of these things."

According to Tarr, the monument faces a common problem plaguing national parks: underfunding. That's led to tons of trash and graffiti in an area that makes up 70% of LA's open green space.

It marks SoCal's first-ever appearance on "Fodor's No List." The (dis)honor was first spotted by the news site SFGate.

View of the San Gabriel Mountains.

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One of the park's biggest advocate has this to say

San Gabriel Valley Congressmember Judy Chu has been a staunch defender of the San Gabriel Mountains, and call's Fodor's' inclusion "really unfortunate."

"What we can do is both. We can have visitation in the area, while also working on cleaning up the trash, the graffiti, and the littering that's been going on," she says.

"The San Gabriel Mountains are so beautiful. They have so many resources and wonderful places to visit."

In May, Rep. Chu introduced a bill proposing to expand the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by an additional 109,167 acres. Right now, it stands at 346,177 acres.

The hope is to secure essential resources and federal funds, she says.

"Angelenos depend on these mountains as a place to escape from pollution and extreme heat and to spend time in nature," she says.

"We need to provide these mountains with the resources that will make it the incredible experience I know it can be."

But then again, a shoutout on the Fodor's "No List" isn't all bad, given the awareness that it can raise.

"For all its negatives, tourism is also hugely positive – it bridges cultures, builds awareness, improves economies, and connects us to the land that gives us life. But only when done with care," the list reads.