Leavitt Falls

The first time we came up here, we took Dad’s now-defunct MPV up here from Mammoth, which struggled with the steep inclines on the Sonora Pass Highway.

On a more recent visit, this place was a convenient stop for us after doing the hike to the nearby Sardine Falls.

The viewing deck afforded us a distant view of all the tiers of the waterfall itself while also giving us a commanding view of Leavitt Meadow further downstream of the falls.

Leavitt_Falls_006_06242016 - Focused look at all the main tiers of Leavitt Falls from the official lookout — Focused look at all the main tiers of Leavitt Falls from the official lookout

We were even able to glimpse the drier terrain further to the east as the climate was making its dramatic change from lush alpine scenery in the west to the much drier and harsher climate to the east.

It was as if we were right at the boundary of where the Eastern Sierra would take most of the precipitation of passing storms from the Pacific while leaving a drier rainshadow on the mountain range’s leeward side.

Indeed, given that all of the relevant sights here were handed to us on a silver platter (so to speak), this was really a place to have a picnic, stretch the legs, and even make a FaceTime call as we were getting surprisingly good reception at this spot!

Since we had to do so little to experience the sights and sounds of Leavitt Falls, I could see people were tempted to scramble around for alternate views or to even find a way to access the bottom of the falls nestled within a box canyon.

Leavitt_Falls_053_06242016 - Context of Leavitt Falls and Leavitt Meadow — Context of Leavitt Falls and Leavitt Meadow

But from looking at where some of the footprints were going, it was clear that it wasn’t a very sane thing to do due to the steepness of the terrain and the lack of improved views (the overlook really was the best spot to take it all in).

There was one informal trail that I followed (out of curiosity) that continued past a couple of picnic tables on the far side of the small parking area, but that turned out to lead to a suboptimal view of the main drop of Leavitt Falls.

Truth be told, it wasn’t worth the extra time or effort in my mind.

Authorities

Leavitt Falls resides in Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. For information or inquiries about the reserve as well as current conditions, visit the USDA website or their Facebook page.

Route to this Waterfall

In our first visit here, we did it as an out-and-back driving excursion from Mammoth Lakes, which is how I’d imagine most people would make this visit given that Mammoth seemed to be a logical base for much of this part of the Eastern Sierras. It took us about an hour to drive 54 miles on the Hwy 395 from Mammoth north to Bridgeport. Heading north from Bridgeport we continued along Hwy 395 for just under 17 miles to its junction with the Sonora Pass Highway (Hwy 108). Turning left onto Hwy 108, we then drove for about 8.5 miles as the road passed some kind of military base before climbing steeply eventually leading up to the signposted turnoff for “Leavitt Falls Vista” on the left.

Coming from the opposite direction from say South Lake Tahoe, we drove 85 miles via a combination of Hwy 207 then Hwy 395 to the Sonora Pass Highway turnoff on the right. Then we followed Hwy 108 to the roadside vista as described above.

To give you some geographical context, Mammoth Lakes was 310 miles (about 5 hours drive) north of Los Angeles and 139 miles (over 2.5 hours drive) south of South Lake Tahoe.

Back and forth sweep panning along the trajectory of the water at the falls before panning over to Leavitt Meadow then panning back to the falls at the conclusion