It's a short 2.4-mile return hike from the official car park to the falls and back. There's actually a variety of trails you can take to get to the waterfall. But the way we took was the following loop.

From the car park (the directions below), we went past a vehicle barricade and then followed a kind of wide fire road towards the junction between the Mesa Trail and the spur trail leading south towards the Parking Lot No. 1 (I don't think vehicular access is allowed there anymore, though). During this stretch, the hike is surprisingly scenic as dry rocky cliffs tower over residences and semi-arid native vegetation flanking the trail and fire roads.

From the parking lot no. 1 and its vicinity, we could've taken a more direct "shortcut" along the Moon Ridge Trail, but we thought it was a bit narrow and too up-and-down for our mood. So we descended further along a fire road that zig-zagged its way down towards Indian Creek passing by a spur trail that led to an attractive Indian Cave. When the trail reaches the bottom of its descent, there's a bridge that crosses the creek and leads to the Los Arboles Nature Center.

But following along the main trail, which follows the creek, you'll eventually get to where the canyon narrows, and the trail hugs a fenced ledge which looks down at the Indian Creek as well as the upper cascades and top of the Paradise Falls itself. Along this stretch, we saw some ducks chillin' out by the creekside during the peace of the morning.

Shortly thereafter, the trail descends some steps (that we don't recall there being before) right down to the base of the falls. This is the official end of the trail to the waterfall, but there are certainly other trails leading to other attractions like Lizard Rock.

The view of the falls is a little blocked by a craggy protruding rock from the official trail. However, it's possible to cross the creek (you might get your feet wet) to the other side where you get the full frontal view as photographed above.

On the return, we went back through the narrow canyon skirting above Indian Creek. Then we turned left and ascended a hill that led up to a teepee (note: there's another trail that also leads to the same spot from the falls immediately before the trail re-entered the narrow canyon).

Then, we followed the main trail back to the Mesa Trail where we followed that trail back to the car park. It was a good thing we got an early start because the car park was quite crowded when we returned attesting to the popularity of the falls.

There is one other thing that was memorable about this trail (at least the very first time we did it) - rattlesnakes! You can hear them on the fire road warning you not to enter the high and dry brush. We even saw one basking in the sun on top of the waterfall. Just stay on the trail and you should be fine. Should one happen to be on the trail however, give it time to leave the trail or take a wide path to go around it (but not into the brush if you can help it).

What Other Visitors Have Said