Upper Zuma Falls

Santa Monica Mountains / Malibu, California, USA

About Upper Zuma Falls

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

Upper Zuma Falls (also Upper Zuma Canyon Falls) is perhaps the largest of the waterfalls to be found along the popular Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.

It’s actually impressively tall at what I estimate to be about 120ft or so in cumulative height (at least according to the data I see in Gaia’s Topo).

Upper_Zuma_Falls_106_03242023 - Upper Zuma Falls
Upper Zuma Falls

However, as you can see in the photo above (and elsewhere on this page), there’s a lot more than meets the eye due to the waterfall’s twisting trajectory.

It all really depends on where you see the waterfall from the trail, but it definitely looks smaller when I went up close to it as the sloping, twisting path tends to conceal the waterfall’s uppermost sections.

Nevertheless, despite this waterfall having attributes that should place it on our Top 10 Southern California Waterfalls list, the key thing working against it is its longevity.

In fact, knowing how unreliable its flow was typically made it unattractive for us to fight traffic and go this far into the Santa Monica Mountains to pursue it as the conditions had to be right to warrant the effort.

Upper_Zuma_Falls_078_03242023 - Distant look at the Upper Zuma Falls from the Backbone Trail revealing a sloping tier above its main drop
Distant look at the Upper Zuma Falls from the Backbone Trail revealing a sloping tier above its main drop

And that was despite the popularity of the Backbone Trail as well as us having already visited the nearby Newton Canyon Falls.

That said, this all changed when we experienced a series of atmospheric river storms in early 2023 as well as early 2024 that hit the state of California with some historic precipitation amounts in a short period of time.

Such a sustained climate event meant many waterfalls that were no longer reliable (as they may have been more reliably seen in the past) all of the sudden regained their former states.

In fact, during my pursuits of the Upper Zuma Falls, several intermediate waterfalls surprised me along the way (each of which were bigger than the Newton Canyon Falls).

Upper_Zuma_Falls_054_03242023 - One of the intermediate waterfalls seen on the way to the Upper Zuma Falls
One of the intermediate waterfalls seen on the way to the Upper Zuma Falls

Of course, we can’t really expect atmospheric river storms to be a sustainable pattern, and I’d imagine it’s a matter of time before we go back to a drought pattern again.

This is why I’d argue you would need to time a visit to the Upper Zuma Falls (and the several intermediate waterfalls along the way) for a high rainfall Winter/early Spring at a minimum, especially if it’s a high rainfall Winter.

Hiking to Upper Zuma Falls

In order to experience the Upper Zuma Falls, we merely needed to hike along the popular Backbone Trail before taking an unsigned spur detour going right to the base of the waterfall.

The detour was also fairly straightforward to follow though it involved a stream crossing requiring a mild rock hop to stay dry (if the waterfall’s flowing, of course).

Upper_Zuma_Falls_145_03242023 - People around the Upper Zuma Falls providing a sense of its scale as well as showing you that people have taken risks to do the slippery scramble around the waterfall
People around the Upper Zuma Falls providing a sense of its scale as well as showing you that people have taken risks to do the slippery scramble around the waterfall

The only scrambling necessary is to improve the views around the waterfall or to get higher up the slippery rocks to reach the upper tier of its main two drops.

By the way, if you do decide to scramble around the falls, be aware that the rocks (especially the darker ones) are very slippery even when they’re dry.

Anyways, according to my logs, the overall hiking distance was on the order of about 4.75 miles, and I spent a little over 3 hours to take it all in on a solo excursion (it took a similar amount of time when My Mom and I went on this hike a year after my first time here).

Trail Description – The Backbone Trail and Intermediate Waterfalls

From the Backbone Trailhead (see directions below), we went past some trailhead signage and a smelly pit toilet before proceeding onto the Backbone Trail itself.

Upper_Zuma_Falls_020_03242023 - Looking down at an attractive double-barreled waterfall in Zuma Canyon from the Backbone Trail
Looking down at an attractive double-barreled waterfall in Zuma Canyon from the Backbone Trail

The trail then descended away from Kanan Dume Road (where I noticed a blue water tank in the distance providing a glimpse of Upper Zuma Falls if it’s flowing) towards a switchback with nice views to the right across Newton Canyon towards the larger Zuma Canyon.

After the switchback, the trail descended towards the head of Newton Canyon beneath the Kanan Dume Road before bottoming out and starting to climb again.

There is an unsigned trail (now there’s a sign saying something to the effect of “off trail prohibited”) that leads to the base of Newton Canyon Falls, which I describe in detail in a separate write-up.

Continuing on the Backbone Trail, it briefly ascends before descending towards a bridge over Zuma Creek roughly a mile from the trailhead.

Newton_Canyon_Falls_017_iPhone_03182023 - This bridge over Zuma Creek wa at around a mile from the Backbone Trailhead
This bridge over Zuma Creek wa at around a mile from the Backbone Trailhead

Along the way, you may notice a separate connector trail (descending from the Kanan Road) coming in from the right at around 0.7-mile as well as a distant trailside view of an attractive double-barreled waterfall within Zuma Canyon at 3/4-mile from the trailhead.

Although this waterfall looked tempting to seek out a way down to get to its base, we refrained from doing that knowing that the Upper Zuma Falls was way bigger than this for far less trouble (besides, to my knowledge, there’s no sanctioned way of getting down there).

Beyond the bridge over Zuma Creek, the trail then ascended past a grove of ghostly black-barked trees victimized by the 2018 Woolsey Fire.

While these trees looked to be dead, we still noticed new leaves sprouting up at their tops suggesting that they are still alive since the roots can still tap moisture beneath the ground and send it up to their tops.

Upper_Zuma_Falls_027_03242023 - These ghostly black-barked trees were burnt from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, but you can see that there's new growth at the treetops suggesting that these trees are still alive and doing their thing
These ghostly black-barked trees were burnt from the 2018 Woolsey Fire, but you can see that there’s new growth at the treetops suggesting that these trees are still alive and doing their thing

Next, the trail continued to skirt along gentle slopes while going through seasonal brooks featuring ephemeral waterfalls and cascades (which are dry most of the year).

At around 0.4-mile from the bridge, we noticed other impressive waterfalls in the distance, which I first thought could be the Upper Zuma Falls, but they turned out to be nothing more than intermediate waterfalls.

So another 0.2-mile further (or 0.6-mile from the bridge), we then noticed an unsigned narrow spur trail leading to a knob providing a view of that intermediate waterfall we saw earlier as well as another hidden “twin” waterfall of similar size.

This detour only went about 400ft away from the Backbone Trail before stopping (going closer to these waterfalls would require a prickly bushwhack through stabbing yucaipa plants and hardened brush).

Upper_Zuma_Falls_065_03242023 - At the end of one of the trail deviations, I got this nice view of a pair of 'twin' waterfalls that were taller than the Newton Canyon Falls
At the end of one of the trail deviations, I got this nice view of a pair of ‘twin’ waterfalls that were taller than the Newton Canyon Falls

Anyways, in addition to the two intermediate twin waterfalls, we also noticed part of the even bigger Upper Zuma Falls in the distance.

Continuing on with the main trail for another 1/2-mile (or 1.1 miles from the bridge), we then encountered another unsigned trail spur.

Along the way, we got some nice views of the Upper Zuma Falls, revealing that it had a twisting sloping descent before its main drops faced us.

It was easy to pause and take in the distant views of the falls, but they all whetted our appetites to get close and interact with it.

Upper_Zuma_Falls_088_03242023 - Context of the unshaded Backbone Trail with the surrounding sandstone peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Upper Zuma Falls looming up ahead
Context of the unshaded Backbone Trail with the surrounding sandstone peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains and the Upper Zuma Falls looming up ahead

In order to get right up to the waterfall, we had to leave the Backbone Trail and follow the unsigned trail spur.

Trail Description – The Final Detour and Scrambling

The unsigned spur trail descended briefly down a narrower but well-worn path towards a fork right in front of a crossing of the creek causing the Upper Zuma Falls.

We had my pick of crossing the creek immediately before me or to follow alongside a creek towards another creek crossing (both of which could easily be done with rock hopping if the creek has enough water for the falls to put on a show).

Once past the creek crossings (which can be trivial if there’s no water), the paths eventually re-converged and then kept going right up to the base of the Upper Zuma Falls.

Upper_Zuma_Falls_017_iPhone_03242023 - The unsigned deviation from the Backbone Trail leading closer to the Upper Zuma Falls
The unsigned deviation from the Backbone Trail leading closer to the Upper Zuma Falls

This spur trail was about 0.2-mile from the Backbone Trail deviation.

Now there’s enough vegetation around the falls to make getting a clean look at it tricky (i.e. scrambling is required).

Most of the people I met along with myself opted to do some scrambling to get up to the base of the main two drops for perhaps the best view from this close to the falls.

However, it was also possible to cross the creek (very carefully) and do some more scrambling to further get up to the middle of the main drops of Upper Zuma Falls, which I did manage to do on my solo visit the first time I was here.

Upper_Zuma_Falls_131_03242023 - People scrambling on deceptively slippery rocks to get up towards the middle of the Upper Zuma Falls
People scrambling on deceptively slippery rocks to get up towards the middle of the Upper Zuma Falls

That said, this scramble was very slippery mostly because a lot of the dark rocks were already slippery even when they’re dry!

Thus, there’s some degree of risk and sketchiness to not only scramble up to the middle of the falls, but going back down without taking a bad spill can be even trickier (and I was wearing legit hiking boots)!

After having my fill of this waterfall, I pretty much went back the way I came making the overall hiking distance on the order of 4.75 miles round trip.

However, I did have the option to extend the hike towards the Encinal Canyon Road before turning back, which would make the overall hiking distance 6.1 miles round-trip.

Authorities

Upper Zuma Falls resides in the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area near Malibu in Los Angeles County, California. It is administered by the MRCA as well as the National Park Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, visit the MRCA website or NPS website.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual members. See Membership Options.
Content is for members. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: backbone trail, zuma canyon, upper zuma canyon, upper zuma ridge, kanan dume road, pacific coast highway, los angeles county, santa monica mountains, newton canyon, zuma creek, woolsey fire



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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.