Mount Lukens, California, Mountain summit in San Gabriel Mountains, California.

Mount Lukens is a mountain summit in the San Gabriel Mountains standing at approximately 5,074 feet and represents the highest point within Los Angeles city limits. The peak features steep slopes and is covered with thick chaparral shrubland that blankets the terrain.

The peak was long known as Sister Elsie Peak, after a Catholic nun said to have died caring for the sick during a smallpox epidemic; her identity and the story remain unverified. The 1925 USFS map labeled it Mount Lukens with Sister Elsie Peak as a subtitle, honoring Theodore Lukens, a former Angeles National Forest supervisor and later mayor of Pasadena.

The peak's name recalls Theodore Lukens, Angeles National Forest supervisor and later Pasadena mayor; earlier maps called it Sister Elsie Peak, after a nun said to have died nursing smallpox patients, an unverified story. The 1925 USFS map shows both names.

The summit lies within the Angeles National Forest, so expect a remote setting with no facilities. Trails are unmarked in places and exposed to sun; carry water and a map. The 2009 Station Fire burned parts of the area, leaving charred brush and loose soil on some slopes.

The summit carries not one but a cluster of television, radio and cellular towers, run by American Tower, Crown Castle and Mobile Relay Associates. They cover Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Orange County and parts of Riverside and San Bernardino, using FM, VHF, UHF, 800/900 MHz and microwave bands.