About Garland Ranch Falls
Garland Ranch Falls was an ephemeral waterfall that happened to be within the popular Garland Ranch Regional Park in Carmel Valley.
In my mind, it’s kind of a waterfaller’s excuse to experience a different side of Carmel, Monterey, and the Big Sur Coast because it sits close to these locations.
This valley, where the Carmel River flows, seemed to be the fruit-growing and wine-growing alternative to the otherwise rocky coastlines of Big Sur itself.
As you can see from the photo above, seeing the 70ft Garland Ranch Falls perform requires some serious timing for right after a heavy rain.
Our visit in early February 2021 occurred a week after a strong storm hit the Big Sur area with 4-6″ of rain in some areas.
This storm even caused a landslide along Rat Creek that closed Highway 1 through Big Sur for several months.
And yet, the waterfall was essentially dry during that visit, which really forced me to reconcile how quickly we had to act if we were to see the Garland Ranch Falls perform.
So on a return visit in early March 2024, it occurred about 3-4 days after the passing of a series of storms that exceeded the state’s long-term annual average rainfall total within a span of a month.
However, that particular visit also yielded the aforementioned photo at the top of this page, which gives you a sense of how long this waterfall lasts when it does flow.
Indeed, the Garland Ranch Falls was really more of a side attraction as the park offers a nice relaxing hike with the chance to see wildflowers in the Spring, some views from the neighboring mountains, and maybe even the odd wildlife or two.
Personally, I’d only consider chasing this waterfall if we just so happened to come right after a passing storm in a year of heavy precipitation (a strategy that even the park map emphasizes).
Accessing and Experiencing Garland Ranch Falls
From one of the plentiful parking spaces at the Garland Ranch Regional Park (see directions below), we backtracked towards a year-round footbridge traversing the Carmel River.
There was actually supposed to be a second bridge over the Carmel River closer to the large parking lot leading directly to the Garland Ranch Visitor Center.
However, it was out during both of our visits, and I understand that they typically put the bridge back up around mid-April timeframe.
Anyways, once we got past the sturdy bridge (capable of accommodating vehicular traffic from staff), we then followed the Lupine Loop Trail (i.e. the main trail) following the Carmel River upstream towards the visitor center.
During this wide open and flat walk, we noticed several trail junctions leading to loops like the rest of the Lupine Loop, the Cottonwood Trail, or Sycamore Trail among others.
Nevertheless, we just kept left and stuck with the riverside part of the Lupine Loop Trail while enjoying the expansive views across Carmel Valley and the odd wildflowers in bloom (including California poppies, which are the state’s flower).
In roughly 0.2-mile, we reached the Carmel Valley Visitor Center, which had some brochures as well as a nice relief map of the park.
Sometimes they run ranger talks, where they put pelts on display while explaining the history and environment of the Garland Ranch Regional Park.
In the clearing fronting the visitor center, I also noticed picnic tables and interpretive signs fronting the vegetation endemic to this area like the Monterey pines, Monterey cypress, chaparral, and coast live oak among others.
Keeping on the main trail to our left, we continued along the general trajectory of the Carmel River for another 0.6-mile before reaching a fork in the path shortly after other trails (i.e. the Sycamore Trail or Cottonwood Trail) converged from the right.
At this point, we had a choice of going straight towards an ascent or descending on a narrower trail to the left (the latter usually has a private property sign fronting it).
We kept straight to go onto the so-called Waterfall Trail to continue the final few paces towards the Garland Ranch Falls.
During the ascent, there were still more trails coming in from the right, but they led up to the Sky Trail as well as the Cliff Trail, which ultimately would ascend up to Siesta Point for expansive views.
That said, we kept going straight on the Waterfall Trail, which eventually bent to the right alongside the seasonal creek that belongs to the outflow of Garland Ranch Falls.
Shortly after crossing over a bridge over this seasonal creek, the trail eventually ascended to the base of Garland Ranch Falls.
The trail would continue climbing up and away from the waterfall to eventually join up with the Mesa Trail and perhaps the pond or lake that would normally feed the Garland Ranch Falls when it would overflow.
By this point, we had gone roughly 1.3 miles from where we had parked, turn around and head back to conclude the excursion.
However, as you can see from all the trail junctions, there were plenty of ways to extend a visit here to fully experience the subtle beauty that the Garland Ranch Regional Park had to offer.
A Brief Extension of the Excursion – Nice Rapids on the Carmel River
Speaking of extending our visit, when we backtracked downhill to the trail junction at the bottom of the descent, we then headed down the narrower trail towards the Carmel River.
Apparently, this trail traversed in an area that was apparently private property (according to the signage), but we stopped roughly 0.1-mile from the Waterfall Trail, where we arrived at some attractive rapids on the Carmel River.
Given the disappointment of Garland Ranch Falls running dry, this quaint rapids was a nice consolation prize to chill out by the sounds of running water while watching the morning sun paint the surrounding scenery with its light.
The trail didn’t seem to proceed any further from here, and I’d imagine this was probably some trail that was created by visitors and maybe tolerated by the owner of the land that prompted the private property signage.
Only after having our fill of these rapids on the Carmel River did we wrap up our short and pleasant visit to Garland Ranch before returning to our car.
Judging by how many people we encountered on the Sunday that we showed up in early February 2021, I’d imagine that this was quite the popular spot mainly due to its accessibility and the plethora of trail routes to choose from.
Overall, Julie and I spent a little under 2 hours away from the car on our first visit, and 90 minutes on our second visit.
However, both times, we made a very leisurely stroll so conceivably a more focused waterfall visit could take as little as around 60 minutes to cover the 2.6 miles round trip.
Authorities
Garland Ranch Falls resides in the Garland Ranch Regional Park in Carmel Valley in Monterey County, California. It is administered by the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District. For more information, questions, and current conditions, you can check out their website.
Garland Ranch Falls resides within Garland Ranch Regional Park in Carmel Valley.
On our first visit, we drove here from the Hyatt Carmel Highlands (roughly 5 miles south of downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea) so that’s how I’ll initially describe this driving route.
So once we got on the Hwy 1 below the Hyatt Carmel Highlands, we then drove north on Hwy 1 for about 3.7 miles to the traffic light at Carmel Valley Road.
We then turned right onto Carmel Valley Road and followed it for roughly 8.5 miles to the parking area for the Garland Ranch Regional Park on our right.
We chose to park on one of the many parking spaces along the road, but there was also an entrance leading to an even more spacious parking lot down below.
Overall, this drive took us around 15 minutes, but given the amount of traffic (especially on weekends) this part of Carmel can get, I can imagine it might take longer depending on the degree of congestion.
Alternatively, we also made this drive from one of the US101 exits near Salinas (you have your choice of exit 329 for Salinas Main St, exit 327 for John St, or exit 326B for Monterey Peninsula).
The last relevant exit goes onto Sanborn Rd, which eventually becomes E Blanco Rd as it bypasses Salinas (and therefore is the most preferred exit).
But whatever you pick, you’ll want to head towards Main St and the Hwy 68 to the west (or south if you leave took the Main St exit).
Then, we basically took the Route 68 south through the Bingamin Ranch area before becoming the Monterey-Salinas Highway due west in the direction of Monterey.
At a little over 8.5 miles from the E blanco Rd and Hwy 68 intersection, we then turned left onto the Laureles Grade Road (G20) south for about 6 miles to the Carmel Valley Road.
Turning right onto the Carmel Valley Road, we’d then drive another mile to the elongated parking area for the Garland Ranch Regional Park on the left.
Overall, this drive from the US101 at Salinas would take about 30 minutes.
Finally, if you’re coming from the Hwy 1 by the Hwy 68 end at Monterey, then you’d drive south on Hwy 1 for roughly 5 miles before turning left onto Carmel Valley Road.
Then, we’d follow Carmel Valley Road for a little over 8 miles to the Garland Ranch Regional Park parking area to the right.
For context, Carmel-by-the-Sea was 4 miles (roughly 10-20 minutes depending on traffic) south of Monterey, 47 miles (about an hour drive) south of Santa Cruz, about 77 miles south of San Jose, 116 miles (over 2 hours drive) south of San Francisco, and about 321 miles (5 hours drive) north of Los Angeles.
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Long video of the approach to the base of the falls before walking up the steps for another perspective
Nearly 360 degree sweep emphasizing more of the cliffs around the falls before doing a zoomed in bottoms up panning of the waterfall
Checking out the falls from atop the steps before walking down and doing the same from the bottom
Long video showing the dry waterfall from a couple of different spots - one from further away and another right at its base
Checking out the nice rapids on the Carmel River near the Garland Ranch Waterfall
Right to left sweep of the rapids on the Carmel River as seen within Garland Ranch before going over to the top of the rapids
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