Big Pine Creek Waterfalls

Inyo National Forest, California, USA

About Big Pine Creek Waterfalls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Big Pine Creek Waterfalls are the series of waterfalls and cascades primarily on the North Fork of Big Pine Creek.

However, I’d imagine that the real objective for visitors to this part of the John Muir Wilderness would be the wonderfully colorful glaciated lakes surrounded by very tall mountains (some of which peak above 14,000ft).

Big_Pine_028_07172009 - Distant view of the Second Falls on Big Pine Creek
Distant view of the Second Falls on Big Pine Creek

It’s classic Eastern Sierra scenery, and the waterfalls were merely my excuse to include the gorgeous High Sierras backcountry scenery on this website.

Now when I was invited to join a backpacking group for a weekend backpack in July 2009 (which happened to be my 1st backpack in at least 5 years), I didn’t expect much from the waterfalls and cascades here.

But once we got on the trail, the cascades and waterfalls were much bigger and more vigorous than I expected (though I have to admit the expectations were quite low).

The main waterfalls of the lot were named First Falls and Second Falls.

Big_Pine_410_07192009 - The mostly tree-obstructed sloping cascade of the First Falls on Big Pine Creek
The mostly tree-obstructed sloping cascade of the First Falls on Big Pine Creek

The First Falls was really more of an elongated cascade that was not easy to photograph thanks to the dense growth of trees blocking much of the view.

The Lower Trail on the south side of Big Pine Creek was where we caught closeup glimpses of sections of this cascade.

Meanwhile, the Upper Trail mostly yielded shaded views as trees were tall enough to cause shadows.

Second Falls was probably the most impressive cascade since it looked very tall as it snaked its way down granite gullies beneath Mt Alice.

Roughly a couple of miles into the Upper Trail yielded distant frontal views of the falls.

Big_Pine_367_07192009 - Zoomed in distant look at a small cascade between the First and Second Lake on Big Pine Creek
Zoomed in distant look at a small cascade between the First and Second Lake on Big Pine Creek

Then, as we got closer to the Second Falls, that was when we could appreciate the sloping nature of the cascade.

Once we were at the top of the falls, we could hear it tumble loudly, but it was no longer very photographable at this point.

Beyond Second Falls, there were other cascades on Big Pine Creek.

I recalled we spotted waterfalls beneath First Lake, between First and Second Lake, between Second and Third Lake, and just above and below Fifth Lake.

We camped at Fifth Lake and I think we logged about 23 miles round trip (as a loop as we didn’t go out the same way we came in) with 3500ft elevation gain.

Big_Pine_208_07182009 - Pretty mountains near a lake by our campsite by the Fifth Lake
Pretty mountains near a lake by our campsite by the Fifth Lake

And I’m not including the day hike to 6th Lake.

Finally, we should mention that we gave this excursion a difficulty of 3 because we only assumed the minimum distance to at least see Second Falls.

However, if you do what we did and visit most of the lakes of Big Pine Creek, then the hiking difficulty would most certainly be a 5 due to length (not to mention carrying all that pack weight with the thin air).

Authorities

The Big Pine Creek Waterfalls reside in the Inyo National Forest near Big Pine in Inyo County, California. It is administered by the USDA Forest Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website or Facebook page.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual members. See Membership Options.
Content is for members. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: inyo, national forest, big pine, 395, owens valley, eastern sierra, independence, bishop, california, sierra, waterfall



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Johnny Cheng

About Johnny Cheng

Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
Read More About Johnny | A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls.