Fish Canyon Falls

Fish Canyon Falls maybe our favorite local waterfall. Strangely enough however, we hadn't visited this waterfall during all the years we had been waterfalling until the Spring of 2010.

Basically, we found out about the falls by word-of-mouth during a backpacking trip in the Sierras last year. I'm sure that might sound surprising to some considering this waterfall has quite a bit of a checkered past thanks to a quarry and mining operation that has limited (and even restricted in the past) access to the falls. So lots has been written about this controversy over the years, but somehow we were oblivious to it all. Or maybe it was because this falls wasn't in any of our local waterfall books (like

Perhaps the ideal time to see the waterfall is during the late Winter and early- to mid-Spring months. There was a fellow that we met at the falls who said he was here last July, and it was dry. Our most recent visit occurred on March 27, 2010.

Fish Canyon Falls consists of a series of four waterfalls with the first three tiers dropping on top of each other as well as a loner fourth tier shortly downstream of the top three. Although we've seen in the literature claims that the falls is 80ft tall, we think if you combine all four tiers, that 80ft estimate might be a bit too pessimistic. A waterfall this tall and this picturesque is quite a rare thing in the Southern California area, and that's probably what made this waterfall stand out more so than other local ones we've seen.

The adventure begins behind the uninviting fences with "No Trespassing" signs marking the territory of Vulcan Materials, the company running the quarry operation at the foot of Fish Canyon. We've learned from some of the employees that they quarry granite as raw materials for making pavement (our roads have gotta come from somewhere, right?). That's something to think about as the sprawling Greater Los Angeles area is predominantly a metropolis that's extremely reliant on cars given the rather pathetic public transportation system.

On designated days (click here for the latest shuttle dates), Vulcan Materials operates a van shuttle through their operation to the Fish Canyon trailhead behind the quarry site. That drive knocks off about 1 mile out of the 3-mile one-way distance (or 2 miles out of the 6-mile return distance) to get from the mouth of the canyon to the falls. The shuttle runs frequently back-and-forth from the car park to the trailhead between 7am to 12pm so you're typically not waiting at either end for too much time (though we did see some pretty long queues waiting for the shuttle to the trailhead!).

Once you're dropped off at the trailhead, you leave a back fence area, cross a yellow bridge over Fish Creek, and end up immediately into a different world. At this point, you're finally in Fish Canyon and you're on a trail that for the most part hugs the west side of the meandering Fish Creek.

The trail gently climbs as we noticed some nice blooming wildflowers, a few plots of cacti, and the ever-ubiquitous poison oak. It's pretty exposed to the sun so if you happen to be hiking on a hot day or you got a pretty late start on a typical sunny day in So. Cal., then you may find the heat a bit overwhelming. There were also four interpretive signs discussing various things about the history of Fish Canyon (from fires and floods overwhelming the earliest attempts at cabin-building here) to the flora of the canyon. Note that if you see a fork at one of the signs, both paths are valid as they'll converge shortly thereafter (I think the brief detour had to do with some of the other old cabin sites noted by that sign).

The trail is quite narrow in places as it alternates between being at near creek level and being pretty high enough above the creek with steep dropoffs to possible start inducing butterflies for those fearful of heights. This maybe exacerbated by the popularity of the trail creating times when you might have to squeeze people going the other way along these narrow sections of trail.

After a stream crossing (the only one on the hike), you may notice a light-flowing waterfall leaving stains on the rock wall back on the other side of the stream. About another 15-20 minutes beyond this, you'll be at the Fish Canyon Falls where distant views will allow you to see all four tiers of the impressive waterfall, but getting up to the plunge pool gives you some attractive looks at the top three tiers of the falls.

Unfortunately with this hike being so close to the urban blight of LA, we did notice a bit of graffiti around the falls as well as the viewing area.

We managed to get an early start by catching the very first shuttle at 7am when we did the hike. And we were glad we did it; not only to avoid the hot day (it ended being 90F in nearby Arcadia that day), but we were amazed at how popular and crowded this trail ended up being when we finished our hike. It's like my Mom says, "The early bird gets the worm."

Once on Huntington Drive, you'll be driving towards Encanto Parkway (between Mount Olive Dr. and Irwindale Ave.). Head north on Encanto Parkway to its end (going past the Encanto Park Museum as well as an Equestrian Center and dirt road that you don't take) where you'll be passing through the forbidding fence marking the Vulcan Materials boundary and entering a very large car park area. The van shuttle and register area is besides the car park.

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Right in front of the plunge pool and upper Fish Canyon Falls

Cacti along the trail provides some evidence of how arid and hot it can get here

Some wildflowers were in bloom when we did the hike

An old cabin site now only consisting of a couple of oak trees

Trail can get narrow in spots

The only stream crossing on the hike

Ephemeral waterfall

Watch out for poison oak

First look at the Fish Canyon Falls

Getting closer

Finally a satisfying view of Fish Canyon Falls

Back at the trailhead; as you can tell from the crowd here, this is a very popular hike!

A long queue for the van shuttle to the trailhead

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Bottom up sweep showing all 4 main drops of the Fish Canyon Falls


Bottom up sweep showing the plunge pool beneath the 3rd tier as well as the top three tiers themselves


Bottom up sweep from the edge of the plunge pool up to the top of the Fish Canyon Falls

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TRIP REPORTS

• March 27, 2010

GUIDEBOOKS / OTHER RESOURCES

NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Monrovia Canyon Falls

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