About Tenaja Falls
Tenaja Falls is one of those waterfalls that might not seem like much to people outside the Southern California area.
But considering how 150ft waterfalls are quite rare here, and that it’s near Lake Elsinore, it really is a pretty big deal!
Of course as I qualified the above statement with its existence in Southern California, that also means that seeing this waterfall flowing requires some serious timing.
Optimizing the Tenaja Falls Experience
By this, I mean after the Southland has received any significant storms (even better after a series of such storms).
In each of our visits to Tenaja Falls, they have followed immediately after passing storms (in both 2009 and 2010) or on a wet year (2019).
The falls itself cascades over several sliding tiers on exposed slippery-when-wet granite.
The only way we were able to get a comprehensive view of the waterfall was from across the canyon on the trail leading to the falls itself.
Once we were at the top of the falls, we would need to attempt some somewhat daring scrambling to get a frontal view of any part of the falls let alone any of its pools.
We would especially have to watch out for the slippery granite as it was very easy to slip and fall into the many dropoffs.
Hiking the Tenaja Falls Trail to views of Tenaja Falls
As for the trail, we took the obvious trail from the modestly-sized parking lot (see directions below) past a trailhead register.
The footpath then reached a fork, where the path on the left went towards Fisherman’s Camp.
Meanwhile, the path on the right headed to the Tenaja Falls.
The first time Julie and I were here, we messed up and actually went left on that fork instead of right.
In recent years, it appeared that enough people made the same mistake that we made, and the forest service in response erected a sign clearly indicating which fork to take for the falls.
Just past this fork, the trail went past a barricade (since taken away as of our more recent visit in 2019) then bent to the right and encountered an “unimproved crossing” of the creek responsible for Tenaja Falls.
The crossing was actually a concrete ford, which would typically be flooded and require wading to cross.
However, we’ve relied on a much easier crossing requiring nothing more than a nimble rock hop to get across without getting wet.
We did this by doing a brief rocky scramble alongside the creek before encountering the aforementioned rock hop crossing.
The rocks here were slippery so hiking poles would definitely be helpful in maintaining balance. On a recent visit, someone had tied a rope at this crossing, but we found that to be unnecessary (and even detrimental).
After all, we witnessed one guy on his back in the creek while holding onto the flimsy rope.
On the other side of the creek, we then regained the main trail at the opposite side of the concrete ford.
Now, we were able to make a couple of bends on the trail before the hike climbed in earnest.
During this climb, we noticed how prone to erosion the trail was as water from past rains have cut gullies and eroded banks.
These sections of the trail made hiking in proper footwear (not flip flops, crocs, nor even sneakers) a good idea to prevent the odd slip-and-fall or turned ankle.
This uphill section of the hike was also quite exposed to the sun, which underscored how hot and dry it could be here.
We definitely were wise to bring plenty of water to ensure we were hydrated.
The trail continued uphill past some blooming wildflowers and eventually providing a cross-canyon view of Tenaja Falls (see photo at the top of this page).
Next to the lowermost of the Tenaja Falls views, we noticed an abandoned vehicle somewhat hidden off the main trail.
We never remembered seeing that vehicle in any of our prior hikes so we really don’t know how or why it got there.
Hiking to the top of Tenaja Falls
While the fairly well-used trail continued ascending, we continued to get full views of Tenaja Falls.
We also noticed more wildflowers in bloom added purples, pinks, and yellows to the flanking vegetation.
Eventually, we descended to the refreshing wading pools just upstream of the lip of Tenaja Falls.
This was seemingly the right place to relax and let the kids play in the water.
We did see other people make daring scrambles down the steep and slippery-when-wet granite slopes to the bottom of Tenaja Falls.
I personally haven’t tried this myself nor would I incur any more risk than necessary.
Although this place was great for water play and relaxing, we couldn’t help but notice that the graffiti problem seemed to have worsened over the years.
After having our fill of the top of Tenaja Falls, we then returned back the way we came.
In total, the out-and-back hike to the top of Tenaja Falls was about 1.5 miles round-trip.
This distance didn’t include any additional scrambling we did to maneuver around the waterfalls’ upper drops themselves or any additional scrambling to find a way to cross the creek without getting our feet wet.
Authorities
Tenaja Falls resides in the Cleveland National Forest. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit their website or Facebook page.
Driving to the falls is pretty straightforward and fairly well signposted. Coming from Los Angeles, we headed east towards the I-15 from any one of the eastbound freeways (the 91, 10, or 60).
We then took the I-15 south about 16 miles or roughly 14 miles south of the Lake Street exit in Lake Elsinore towards the Clinton-Keith Road exit in Murrieta.
We then turned right onto Clinton Keith Road and followed it for about 5 miles as the road eventually hit a 15mph bend followed by another one not long thereafter.
By this point, the road became Tenaja Road, which we followed for the next 1.7 miles to a stop sign junction.
We then turned right to remain on Tenaja Road (going straight would have led to Via Volcano Rd), and we followed this road for over the next 4 miles before turning right onto Forest Service Road.
There used to be a Forest Service sign at this intersection, but I suspected that they took that sign away as it was missing during our latest visit.
Once on Forest Service Road, we found ourselves driving over mini gullies, undulations, and potholes. The road itself was pretty much single-lane (especially given how big American cars are).
We followed this road for the remaining four miles or so before arriving at the well-used and pretty conspicuous parking space for Tenaja Falls.
Overall, the drive from downtown Los Angeles to Lake Elsinore would be 74 miles (90 minutes) via the I-15. Similarly, the drive south from downtown Los Angeles to San Juan Capistrano would be 54 miles (a little under 90 minutes). Finally, the drive between Lake Elsinore and Murrieta would be on the order of 12 miles or around 15 minutes.
Right to left broad sweep of the canyon leading past the falls before panning back to the falls for a closer examination
Sweep covering the area around the top two tiers of the falls including a closeup of the tiers themselves
Fixated on the full view of the falls as seen from the trail
Sweep from the uppermost tier to the scenic downstream canyon and lower cascades
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Visitor Comments:
Tenaja Waterfalls October 8, 2012 3:50 pm - Yesterday October 7th 2012 was a huge disappointment for my family and I when we arrived at this location, the waterfall was completely dried out :( we hope that one day it flourishes again. ...Read More