Escondido Falls

Escondido Falls is said to be the tallest waterfall in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Unfortunately, you're most likely to see only the last 40 or 50ft of it in its lowest drop through a mossy green wall. There's a taller, reported 150ft tier which you might be able to see its top from the trail through a bunch of trees.

We did try to scramble up to the top of the lower falls for a better look at the upper falls, but the scramble was really steep, muddy, and dangerous, and the last straw was apparently having to wade into some pools as the other options seemed to involve even more dangerous scrambling in desert brush or with high exposure to dropoffs. My guess is that some of the affluent residents who happen to have property overlooking this part of Escondido Canyon will be able to get a satisfying view of all the drops of this waterfall (Note: several readers have been successful making it to the base of the upper waterfall, which you can read about here and here).

Perhaps more memorable than the waterfall and canyon itself (and "escondido" does seem to be a proper name for this area as it means "hidden") is that the first mile involves walking through a particularly well-off residential area each with super big homes and ocean views. The ocean views you can enjoy as you walk along this road.

After reaching a cul-de-sac at the very end of the Winding Way Road (that residential road you've been walking on), the official trail begins as it descends on a narrower paved path towards the base of the ravine. Next, the trail becomes a dirt footpath as it turns left and follows (and crosses) the creek running through Escondido Canyon up to the falls. We counted five stream crossings, and most of them were doable without getting your feet wet though Gore-tex boots certainly help. There are also a few shortcuts we noticed, but they're not recommended if the trail's too muddy (as it was for us). All told, you're looking at about 4.25 miles round trip including the walk on the residential Winding Way Road.

Apparently, this falls has fairly long lasting flow (for Southern California standards) given its mossy wall and somewhat lush drainage. Even with that said, I'd guess that you're out of luck seeing any water flowing appreciably by mid- to late Spring (and I'm sure it's gone by the Summertime).

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TRIP REPORTS

• February 8, 2009

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NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Solstice Canyon Falls
• Newton Canyon Falls
• Temescal Canyon Falls
• La Jolla Canyon Falls

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