Hikes in California

Need to get out of LA? Fresh air can be found camping within a hardy forest of pines and incense cedars at Buckhorn Campground. A small nearby creek provides a popular swimming hole for summer visitors, and away from the light pollution of LA, there are opportunities to eye shooting stars in the night sky. Day-hikers can venture off on nearby trails including Mount Waterman and Cooper Canyon Falls. ...Read more.

The round summit of Mount Waterman offers boulders to climb and views to enjoy. Mount Waterman Trail provides a pleasant route to the top, passing through a sylvan mixed forest of incense cedars and Jeffrey pines as it ascends 1,265 feet over 2.75 miles. Descend the same way for a 5.5-mile out and back hike or return by a dirt road for a 5.65-mile (or longer) loop. ...Read more.

Cooper Canyon offers a relaxing summer waterfall for those staying overnight at Buckhorn Campground or venturing into San Gabriel Mountains National Monument for a get-away day hike. The three-mile round trip trek descends 745 feet into a mountain canyon through an enchanting old-growth forest to reach a small waterfall. Cooper Canyon Falls is one of the Los Angeles waterfall hikes. ...Read more.

Fish Canyon Falls is beautiful three-tiered waterfall that drops over eighty feet in a canyon in the front range of the San Gabriel Mountains near Azusa. Early spring is the perfect time to visit the dynamic waterfall, when the water flows well and the canyon is green. A rock quarry occupies the bottom of Fish Canyon and for many years Fish Canyon Falls Trail could only be reached by shuttle on special access days. ...Read more.

Dawn Mine offers a glimpse into the history of the San Gabriel Mountains. The abandoned shafts can be reached on a moderately strenuous 6-mile round trip hike up beautiful Millard Canyon. To visit the entrance to this forgotten gold mine, start from the Millard Campground parking area and hike half a mile up the canyon to Millard Falls. Take in the falls and back up three hundred feet. ...Read more.

Millard Falls is just half a mile from the trailhead, up one of the most pleasant canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains. The 50-foot tall boulder-topped beauty makes a great destination for a short, sylvan hike. Millard Falls is one of the Los Angeles waterfall hikes. To see Millard Falls, embark up a dirt road through Millard Campground. Just beyond the campground, the trail up the canyon turns off to the right. ...Read more.

Millard Campground (also called Millard Trail Camp) sits alongside a stream at the trailhead for Millard Falls. There are only five tent sites that are all first-come first-serve. The grounds appear to function as a picnic area for many visitors. If you are coming out to hike the creek, the campgrounds are an ideal venue for a BBQ. Millard Campground The sites are a quarter mile from the parking lot, so a short "hike it" is required. ...Read more.

The forty-foot waterfall in Eaton Canyon fills an amphitheater at the top of Eaton Canyon Trail, tumbling into a wide pool that you can rest alongside or wade in. The waist-deep water is so refreshing, you are likely to see hikers in bathing suits on a warm day. The hike to Eaton Canyon Falls can be summed up this way: 1.1 miles of wide flat, relatively uneventful dirt trail, followed by 0. ...Read more.

Switzer Falls might be the best know waterfall hike in Los Angeles County. This 50-foot waterfall is reached via a 4.5 mile out-and-back trek on Gabrielino Trail that follows a shaded babbling creek down into a wooded canyon. This is one of the most popular hikes in front range of the San Gabriel Mountains, with a picnic area at the trailhead that gets crowded too. ...Read more.

The west side of the San Gabriel Mountains offers fewer trails than the rest of the range, but it is home to one terrific waterfall. This four-mile round trip hike on Trail Canyon Trail tackles 700 feet of elevation gain to reach a sublime 30-foot waterfall. Trail Canyon Falls is one of the Los Angeles waterfall hikes. Approach this waterfall via Trail Canyon Trail (a trail so good they named it twice). ...Read more.