It often muff my mind that something like this can be found just 30 minute from the nub of Los Angeles !
On top of that , it ’s only a 4 - naut mi round - tripper hike on a trail so soft , it suits “ non - hikers and tramper who are inebriated , ” according to the wise admirer who ’d invited us . Not that any of us would be intoxicated at 10 in the morning … and not that Blue Moon in a can count as a beverage …
Fish Canyon Falls is one of the hidden wonders of the San Gabriel Mountains , and its access is so limited that most people have never get wind of it .
Every year , Vulcan Materials ( the mining company that own the land at the trailhead ) sacrifice access to theFish Canyon traila couple Saturdays a calendar month in the spring and summer . You but pick a date on theircalendarand show up in their parking destiny . They shuttle all the weekend tramp up to their prop , where a quick 10 - minute paseo up the path all of a sudden makes you forget you were just dropped off at a rock quarry .
The narrow track make you along Fish Creek in the Angeles National Forest . It ’s fascinating how such a short hike can take you through such diverse landscapes , from scrubby canon full of cactus and yucca to shady paths lined with live oaks and California bays . ( I could n’t facilitate but do a petty “ grocery shopping ” on the trail by plucking a few branch of bay leaves to dry out at dwelling ! )
In spitefulness of such a dry winter , natural spring wild flower were in full blooming … a mix of thistle , mustard , mountain lilac , golden yarrow , many more I ca n’t name , and a cask of beautiful desert sunflower .
The lead also occur the remnants of some early-1900s cabin that were destroyed by flame in the 1960s . I was a little taken aback when I spot several plug trees flourishing in the canyon ; they seemed so out of blank space in the wild . Then I realized they all smother the old paseo to the cabin , and I pictured those gone homesteaders in their footling gardens , tend to their jade tree diagram . It ’s so neat to think about the place where people used to settle , and how they must have lived back then .
After a leisurely 2 - geographical mile wage increase , the first cascade come into view — a small falls from which adventurous hikers jump off a 15 - foot drop .
A few more steps , and the genuine gem of the tramp appears — a three - tiered waterfall roaring down an 80 - foot cliff into a deep syndicate .
The H2O feel awesome after a hot hike , but the pure snowmelt was so icy , you either had to skip over in or not at all . There was no full point in torturing yourself by wad in !
Fish Canyon Falls is not a remote raise by any means . It ’s not the kind of rise you do when you require to get away from it all . It ’s a very in use lead on Saturdays with shuttle loads of hikers ( and their child and their bounder ) tailgating the whole style . But I have to say that was one of the thing I jazz about the hike . It felt like the quintessential hot summer daytime in LA , with happy people picnic and splash around and enjoying a lazy good afternoon outside .
If you do want some solitude , go on a weekday when the shuttlecock are n’t running . There ’s a different trail to the falls on public land viaVan Tassel Ridge , but it ’s theorise to be knotted . It turns a pleasant , semi - suspicious , 4 - mile stroll with only 900 feet of elevation profit into a strenuous , southern - expose , 9 - mile hike with 3,200 groundwork of elevation gain . I ’d rather not bushwhack through poison oak to attempt it … but what I might attempt someday is the trailinthe creek itself .
I project a couple of hikers in wetsuits wade and boulder - hopping through Fish Creek , all by themselves , while hiker above on the actual track moseyed along in individual file . It seemed like the perfect via media between easiness and peace … and not a bad path to cool down down before you attain the falls .
