Little Falls

Little Falls in the Santa Lucia Wilderness is one of those waterfalls we had to go out of our way for.

For starters, we managed to visit this waterfall while lodging in Big Sur so the 2-hour drive just to get to a point where we can start walking to the falls was already a lot of work (though we admit that starting from Big Sur was a bit of a stretch; this is more like a feasible excursion if you're in the San Luis Obispo or Arroyo Grande area). But the real kicker is that unless you have a high clearance vehicle, you're either going to run the risk of disabling your low clearance vehicle in one of the numerous stream crossings of Lopez Creek or you're going to soak your shoes wading through the stream crossings themselves. Needless to say, we did the latter!

So what's the payoff for all this effort?

Well, you end up with a very attractive 50ft waterfall while experiencing a piece of Coastal California that just seems like another world away from some of the more exclusive and developed real estate around here. And to top it all off, you get a little bit of an adventure to boot!

In our experience, the drive itself put us face-to-face with giant patches of California poppies (the state's flower) flanking the road to get to the Upper Lopez Canyon. Then, after discovering that our 2wd passenger car couldn't make the first stream crossing on Upper Lopez Canyon Road, we waded through 8 stream crossings for 1.5 miles just to get to the trailhead. Then from there, we hiked the last half-mile flanked by tall stands of poison oak before entering the Santa Lucia Wilderness and finding the unsigned scramble (there was a yellow ribbon tied to one of the bushes next to the creek here) to get to the hidden waterfall itself.

As you go around Lopez Lake, look for Hi Mountain Road on your right (it's just before the entrance to the Lopez Lake Recreation area). At about 0.8 miles turn left onto Upper Lopez Canyon Road. Then follow this road past some 6 concrete fords (mostly shallow) past a Boy Scouts Camp, up and over a ridge (we saw huge patches of California poppies blooming in this stretch of road), then descending to the juction of Waters End Road and Upper Lopez Canyon Road.

If you have a low clearance vehicle, park your car in one of the spaces near this junction. For if you continue on Upper Lopez Canyon Road (on your right), you will be met shortly thereafter beyond the "Dip" signs of the deep Lopez Creek crossings, which would prevent most 2wd vehicles from getting through without damage.

Assuming you do as we did (mentioned above in this writeup), you walk about 1.5 miles through 8 Lopez Creek crossings just to get to the Little Falls trailhead.

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Julie checking out Little Falls

Tiny falls before the main falls

Finally at the trailhead

Tall poison oak stands next to the trail

Entering the Santa Lucia Wilderness

Unsigned junction marking start of final scramble (but there was a yellow ribbon tied to a branch here)

Last bit of scrambling to get to the falls

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Bottom up sweep of the falls

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TRIP REPORTS

• March 20, 2010

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