Millard Falls

From what I was able to see from its base, the falls looks like it trickles down through a little tunnel at its top, but that "tunnel" is really a series of rocks all jumbled up and suspended or wedged against each other. About half-way down through the falls, the creek made disjoint by the rocks reconverge giving the falls a bit of a contorted Y-shape.

From the Millard Campground car park, you walk on the trail which goes alongside Millard Creek in an upstream direction. After barely a minute or two of walking, you'll reach the Millard Campground, which seems to be pretty popular judging from the amount of activity I've seen here over the years.

Once past the campground, you'll meet up with Millard Creek and it's here where the waterfall trail begins as it starts off going along the creek weaving upstream besides it before you pretty much have to go into the stream itself. And its from this point forward that this is pretty much a bit of a stream scramble so the one-mile round trip hike might take a little longer due to its scrambling nature.

Update (2/28/2010, 4/23/2011): Julie and I tried to visit this waterfall when we knew the stream would be gushing following some wet Winter weather. We figured we ought to get better photographs than those we took up to this point. Unfortunately, the waterfall trail was closed due to mudslides and unstable earth thanks to the massive Station Fire that occurred near this area back in late August 2009.

In our February 2010 visit, we didn't push forward past the barricades. The photos we've posted show you what was going on down in the canyon during the closure of both the campground and the trail. In addition to surveillance cameras, there was an active patrol vehicle by Rescue Sheriffs ready to ticket trespassers with $5000 fines. Not worth it, if you ask me.

Signs indicate the area should re-open by September 2010 (which is when the falls will surely be dry again), but there's some other optimistic signs indicating they might re-open the area when the rainy season has ended. We'll see about that...

I returned to the area in April 2011 and was pleasantly surprised to see Millard Campground open. However, the waterfall trail remained closed.

Nonetheless, there's another way to see Millard Falls (albeit not from its base). To get there, park the car somewhere near the intersection before the final descent down to Millard Campground. There's a closure gate preventing further vehicular access near where you'll probably see other cars parked.

Then, walk past the closure gate and follow this "road" or trail past the historical Mount Lowe Railway signs, then over a ridge, and eventually to the start of a footpath signposted on the left. Take this trail for another 10 minutes or so as it hugs Millard Canyon until you eventually get a view across the canyon of Millard Falls itself.

Even though the falls can almost entirely be seen from this vantage point, it is a bit distant so you'll want a telephoto lens to keep the falls from looking puny. But at least from this vantage point, you can appreciate the ruggedness of Millard Canyon as well the context of the boulders wedged at its top. The falls definitely looks much taller from up here than from down there!

Speaking of which, the rugged nature of the canyon makes it unwise to try to scramble down from this trail. From what I could tell, there wasn't a safe way to get down there.

The trail continues on towards the Sunset Trail as well as someone's cabin, but I didn't go any further than the trail junction at the start of those trails so I can't comment any further on what there is to see beyond.

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Closure gate on Chaney Trail

Juxtaposition of the bare burn area against the spared vegetated area

The signs with the strongest language near some trailors and work vehicles

Some heavy-duty equipment at the car park to clear mudslides (as of February 2010)

Millard Campground as of April 2011

Waterfall trail still closed as of April 2011

Closure gate at the start of the trail for the alternate view of the falls

Walking along a ridge flanked by wildflowers while beneath power lines

Start of the foot trail

Foot trail skirting Millard Canyon

Looking down in direction of Millard Campground

Trail narrows as the canyon closes in

Millard Falls with some visual clues about the ruggedness of its surroundings


Top down sweep of the falls from an alternate viewpoint (nearby the Sunset Trail)

Zoomed out top down sweep of Millard Canyon and the Millard Falls showing the rugged terrain

View World of Waterfalls in a larger map

TRIP REPORTS

• February 28, 2010
• April 23, 2011

GUIDEBOOKS / OTHER RESOURCES

NEARBY WATERFALLS

• Sturtevant Falls
• Monrovia Canyon Falls
• Eaton Canyon Falls
• Switzer Falls

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