About Stoddard Canyon Falls
Stoddard Canyon Falls was one of those waterfalls that largely escaped our attention prior to the COVID-19 pandemic even though it was on the slopes of the well-visited Mt Baldy (the highest point in the Los Angeles area).
When I first became aware of this place during the COVID-19 pandemic, I got the sense that it was one of those locals-in-the-know kind of spots since it wasn’t in any of my guide books nor my topo maps.
In fact, the topo maps suggested that Stoddard Canyon Falls was in Barrett Canyon and not Stoddard Canyon as I would have expected.
I think it’s this apparent misnaming of the waterfall that made this place even trickier to find on a map without already being told in advance or given GPS coordinates (i.e. there was no signage indicating its presence).
What’s even more amazing about this place’s obscurity was that it essentially sat next to a paved road that might have been the old Mt Baldy Road running parallel to the Barrett-Stoddard Road.
The Barrett-Stoddard Road used to go to Stoddard’s Camp, which was an 1886 retreat that was one of the first resorts set up on the slopes of Mt Baldy.
In any case, as soon as I started seeing a listing (or at least a posting of it) on AllTrails, I knew that it was only a matter of time before this place blew up.
Sure enough, as of Summer 2023, it showed up on the socials (and even on the LA Times; though there were some postings about it on the internet since 2017), and now this place has become quite popular.
We managed to confirm its popularity when we first came here in late April 2024 on a Saturday morning, despite the conditions being a bit dangerous (which I’ll explain later).
I came back a little over 3 months later when the conditions were safer (though not free of hazards, which I’ll also explain further down in this write-up), and this place seemed even busier despite me showing up on a weekday earlier in the morning!
Nevertheless, even with the notoriety on the socials, I still encountered people who didn’t know the way, and I even had to help them out looking for the falls as well as how to negotiate the obstacles encountered.
Indeed, this place was definitely NOT a typical on-trail hike like what you might encounter in other parts of the Southland like Eaton Canyon Falls.
Now the main drop of the Stoddard Canyon Falls was said to be about 40ft tall on San Antonio Creek, but when I finally witnessed this place for myself, I suspect that the main drop is likely to be shorter than that.
That said, I understand that if the plunge pool was deep enough, then some daring folks would actually use the waterfall as a crazy water slide (as the falls was still tall enough to result in serious injuries if something went wrong)!
Even if you didn’t partake in using this waterfall as a water slide, there were plenty of plunge pools and sections on this hike where it was possible to cool off and go for a swim further downstream of the main falls.
In any case, I can just imagine that this waterfall’s popularity combined with the rugged terrain that it’s situated in would make future accidents and more aggressive land management policies an eventuality.
Heck, it was already pretty obvious that urban blight definitely hit this canyon hard though it had been tagged even before it blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Accessing Stoddard Canyon Falls
On paper, it seems pretty straightforward to reach the Stoddard Canyon Falls from the trailhead (see directions below).
After all, the waterfall seems to be just about 0.6-mile from the trailhead along a partially-paved Barrett-Stoddard Road, which is now a hiking trail.
However, the waterfall resides in a narrow and rugged canyon so in order to even get in front of it, we have to go into the bottom of that terrain, and that’s where variables come into play.
First, in order to get into the canyon, we had to walk nearly a mile along the partially-paved road, where we had to watch out for potholes, eroded off sections, and sections buried by landslides.
Along the way near some stone railings at a bend, we could already spot where the brink of the main drop of the Stoddard Canyon Falls was.
This was also the spot where people would enter the “slide” though no one did that on our first visit due to the high flow of San Antonio Creek.
By the way, this is the same creek responsible for the popular San Antonio Falls further up the slopes of Mt Baldy.
Eventually after continuing further on the paved road, we got to a part where we could essentially scramble down to the level of San Antonio Creek.
There are steep paths to choose from with the closest ones to the main falls being very sketchy (i.e. loose rocks and steep terrain) while we found the approaches further downstream to be more manageable (albeit still not without risk).
Once at the level of the creek, we’d have to scramble upstream in the creek (involving clinging to slippery ledges, climbing intermediate waterfalls.
After the first stream crossing, which can be done without getting wet under “benign” Summertime flow conditions, the rest of the “hike” was pretty much a stream scramble going all the way up to the main waterfall.
It was in this stretch that I encountered at least two sketchy obstacles each to get around intermediate cascades or waterfalls.
The first of the obstacles was shortly after the initial stream crossing almost immediately upstream of a small cascade as the canyon continued to narrow towards another intermediate cascade with a narrow ledge to the right of it.
This initial ledge was quite narrow with a mild dropoff into the plunge pool beneath its adjacent intermediate waterfall.
I noticed that there was a bolt with a rope that had been cut during my early August 2024 visit, which I was somewhat able to use to gain some leverage and balance on that narrow ledge.
However, it wasn’t very reliable, and I pretty much clung to that narrow ledge (with my pack and camera) even crawling to get to the top of the ledge to ensure I wouldn’t fall to my left into that waterfall and/or plunge pool.
While it was tempting to try a somewhat shallower approach on the other side of the creek, there was a spring there causing this side to be very wet and slippery thereby making this option not very palatable in my mind.
Next, after another short interlude of stream walking and mild bouldering, I then encountered the cascade obstacle, where I clung to a ledge on the left side to get around and over that waterfall.
It was also possible to scramble up a slippery gully adjacent to the ledge, but that depended on how much grip you could get with the shoes (plenty of people were in flip flops here, which wouldn’t be suitable for that option).
Finally after the 0.3-mile of creek scrambling and waterfall-scaling, I then did some additional shallow bouldering to finally reach an alcove at a dead-end right where the main waterfall dropped into.
During the time of my visit in early August 2024, the plunge pool seemed deep enough for a swim though the person that dipped there was also tall enough to tip toe his way pretty close to the base of the falls.
That’s something to consider if you were to consider sliding down that waterfall (which you’d have to do by scrambling off the road to the top of the falls as you wouldn’t be able to climb above it from the waterfall’s base.
I noticed there were some more climbing bolts and chains hanging underneath some of the overhanging parts of the alcove at the base of the falls, which I suspect climbers and abseilers would use with proper gear.
While I arrived to the falls just before 9am on a Thursday morning in the Summer, I briefly had this place alone after one couple left (and I had passed other people who were either hesitant at the obstacles or didn’t really know the way).
However, it didn’t take long before this place became inundated with spry, young, mostly college-aged groups that almost turned this spot into a party zone (think pot smoking, music playing, litter, and yelping).
Anyways, after having my fill of this spot, I pretty much went back the way I came in, especially at the sketchy waterfall obstacles where I had to sit and scoot my way down to avoid a bad spill as much as possible.
Overarall, according to my GPS logs, this hike and scramble was about 1.2 miles in total, but most of the risk and effort was within the last 0.3-mile within Barrett Canyon.
I wound up spending just under two hours on this excursion, but if you knew what you’re doing, I could imagine this excursion taking closer to 90 minutes or less.
Best Time To Visit Stoddard Canyon Falls
It turned out that on our first visit to Stoddard Canyon Falls, which happened in late April 2024, we didn’t make it to the end.
This was due to high water flow from a lot of the snow that accumulated during February and March, where we got pretty much a year’s worth of precipitation within less than 2 months.
I saw how the water levels were at least thigh-deep to waist-deep with a strong current, which was too much risk that I was willing to take on.
Thus, I’d imagine that this would be a more appropriate scramble to attempt during the Summer months on a wet year like during our first attempt.
While you can inspect the flow of San Antonio Creek in Barrett Canyon, you can also do the nearby San Antonio Falls further up Mt Baldy to also gauge the water volume in the creek.
Indeed, I came back to Stoddard Canyon Falls in early August of the same year, and I took advantage of how the snowmelt volume was not nearly as high nor as chaotic at the time (except you do have to watch out for a flash flood from a pop-up thunderstorm).
As a point of reference, the year 2024 was pretty much like 2023 (i.e. heavy precipitation years), so it might be possible to enjoy the benign conditions that I encountered earlier in the Summer than my early August 2024 visit.
At least the benefit of a Summer visit here was that Barrett Canyon was mostly in the shade while the stream scrambling felt rather comfortable even though air temperatures tend to really shoot up at this time in the inland areas of Southern California.
In the Winter months, you’d have to contend with snow and ice, which would make this excursion not very feasible.
And in drier years (such as the drought years of 2007-2009, 2012-2016, and 2020-2022), there may not be that much water in San Antonio Creek by mid- to late Summer so that’s also something else to consider about timing a visit to the Stoddard Canyon Falls.
Authorities
Stoddard Canyon Falls resides in the San Bernardino National Forest near Mt Baldy in San Bernardino 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.
To get to Stoddard Canyon Falls, we’d pretty much follow the same directions as that of San Antonio Falls to at least get to Mt Baldy Road.
So we’d basically take the 210 East Freeway, get off at Base Line Road, then head north on Padua Road, which hooks up with Mt Baldy Road.
From there, we’d then follow Mt Baldy Road towards the Barrett-Stoddard Road turnoff (6 miles from the Padua Road-Mt Baldy Road intersection).
Note that this turnoff is about 3.6 miles north of the Shinn Road (North Mountain Ave) turnoff, about 1.2 miles south of Baldy Village, and 5.4 miles south of the San Antonio Falls Trailhead.
There is a limited parking area at the base of a ramp immediately to the right after leaving Mt Baldy Road, and this would be the closest parking area for the Stoddard Canyon Falls trailhead.
I saw some people continue beyond this parking area, drive over San Antonio Creek, and then park at an unpaved area shortly after the creek crossing.
Finally, we also found parking at a large pullout opposite the turnoff for the Barrett-Stoddard Road (on the west side of Mt Baldy Road).
By the way, it’s worth noting that one name in the road’s nomenclature comes from William H Stoddard, who had set up one of the first resorts in the vicinity of Mt Baldy.
It’s unclear to me where the Barrett name came from though it has been associated with a mine in addition to the canyon that Stoddard Canyon Falls is situated in.
For context, Mt Baldy is 14 miles (over 30 minutes drive) north of Ontario, 43 miles (about 1 hour drive) northwest of Riverside, 47 miles (about 90 minutes drive depending on traffic) northeast of downtown Los Angeles, and 49 miles (about 90 minutes drive depending on traffic) north of Irvine.
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Back and forth sweep of my first look at the main waterfall when I was alone
Back and forth sweep from a little set back from the plunge pool where there were more people at the falls by now
Scrambling towards the plunge pool between lots of people at the main waterfall
Sweep checking out the next intermediate waterfall and ledge obstacle immediately downstream from the main falls
Sweep from the top of another intermediate waterfall at the first sketchy ledge obstacle with someone trying to figure this part out
Upstream to downstream sweep above the brink of the main falls in high flow
Short video focusing on the alcove where the main falls spills into with a pair of people managing to make it up there in high water flow
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