5 Best Waterfall Hiking Trails in Los Angeles County

Every trail in this post shares one thing the rest of this LA County series doesn’t: the payoff depends on the weather. These five waterfall hiking trails all run best in the months after winter rain and can slow to a trickle or dry up completely by late summer, so timing matters here more than it did for the city trails or the coast. If waterfall-chasing turns into a habit, my broader guide to California’s best waterfall hikes covers the rest of the state beyond this county.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links and at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission. Know that I only recommend hiking gear I personally stand behind; when you use my affiliate links, it helps me run this blog and keep all of this content free of charge for readers (like you).

One access note before the list: the flagship trail in this cluster is currently closed for the long term, and a second one has a genuinely unclear status. I’ll flag both clearly, trail by trail.

Key takeaways:

• The famous one, currently closed: Eaton Canyon Falls, LA’s most popular waterfall hike, is shut down until December 31, 2027, due to damage from the Eaton Fire.
• Status is genuinely unclear right now: Escondido Falls in Malibu has conflicting signals on current access. Check before you go.
• The reservation-required one: Monrovia Canyon Falls is short, shaded, and easy, but you’ll need to book ahead.
• The comeback story: Sturtevant Falls via Chantry Flat reopened in 2024 after four years of closure due to Bobcat Fire damage, and it survived the 2025 Eaton Fire untouched.
• The remote one: Trail Canyon Falls is the most physically demanding hike on this list, with a rope-assisted scramble at the very end.

Quick-glance comparison

Eaton Canyon Falls: LA’s most popular waterfall hike, closed until 2027

This has been the default answer to “best waterfall hike near LA” for decades, and it’s currently not hikeable at all.

Current access: closed through at least December 31, 2027

The January 2025 Eaton Fire stripped the canyon’s stabilizing vegetation, and the atmospheric river storms that followed triggered debris flows and landslides that fundamentally altered the terrain. The closure covers Angeles National Forest land, City of Pasadena open space, and the LA County Natural Area, all of it, not just the upper trail. Entering closed Forest Service land here carries fines up to $5,000 for individuals. This isn’t a “check back next season” situation; trail designers and ecologists need to reassess the entire network before any reopening work can even begin.

Difficulty, distance, and elevation gain, for reference

Historically, this was a family-friendly 3.5-mile round trip with about 400 feet of gain and several stream crossings, genuinely one of the more accessible waterfall hikes in the county before the closure.

What you’ll see when it reopens: a 40-foot falls in a boulder-lined canyon

The falls themselves drop about 40 feet into a boulder-scramble pool, in a canyon that was, before the fire, one of the most heavily visited natural areas in LA County.

Where to go instead, right now

Monrovia Canyon Falls is the closest comparable substitute: short, family-friendly, and open, just with a reservation required. I’ll update this section the moment Eaton Canyon’s status changes.

Escondido Falls: Malibu’s tallest waterfall, current status genuinely unclear

As detailed in our comprehensive Malibu trail overview, the upper tier of Escondido Falls sits at 150 feet and is the tallest waterfall in the Santa Monica Mountains when you can reach it, though visiting right now comes with real caveats on two fronts.

Current access: conflicting signals, worth confirming before you go

Escondido Canyon Park is flagged as “temporarily closed” on Yelp as of mid-2026, though the listed reopening date reads like a placeholder rather than a real one. Other current sources, including the park’s managing agency (MRCA), describe normal operation without mentioning a closure. I can’t resolve this discrepancy with confidence, so check the MRCA’s Escondido Canyon Park page directly before planning a trip.

Difficulty, distance, and elevation gain to the lower falls

It’s 3.6–3.8 miles round trip with 200–350 feet of gain (sources vary), starting with a paved 0.75-mile walk on Winding Way before dropping into the canyon.

What you’ll see: a 50-foot lower falls, and an upper falls that’s now off-limits

One correction worth making here: the heading file described the upper 150-foot falls as reachable via “an unofficial scramble.” That’s understating it; the upper falls sit on private property and are explicitly closed to the public, with fines and liability for rescue costs for anyone who climbs up anyway. Plan your visit around the lower, 50-foot tier only.

Best time to hike Escondido Falls: after winter rain, and only once you’ve confirmed it’s open

Like every trail on this list, flow peaks January through April and can vanish entirely by late summer.

Monrovia Canyon Falls: the easy one, if you book ahead

This is the trail I send families to on this list, short, shaded, and reliably pleasant, with one planning step the others don’t require.

Trailhead access: reservation required, plus a parking fee

Monrovia Canyon Park requires a reservation to access the falls trail specifically, on top of a $5 parking fee. Worth knowing: the National Forest Adventure Pass is not honored here; this is a city of Monrovia park with its own separate fee system.

Difficulty, distance, and elevation gain to the falls

It’s a gentle 1.5–1.6-mile round trip with about 350 feet of gain from the Nature Center trailhead, one of the shortest, easiest hikes in this entire LA County series.

What you’ll see: a 30-foot falls in a shaded San Gabriel foothill canyon

Dense oak and sycamore canopy keeps this comfortable even in warmer months, and the falls themselves run reliably in winter, though they can dry up by November in low-rain years. Bears are frequently reported in this immediate area, worth a quick read of my wildlife hazards guide if you haven’t hiked bear country before.

Best time to hike Monrovia Canyon Falls: winter, and book ahead regardless

Winter gives you the best odds of a flowing waterfall, but the reservation requirement matters more to your planning than the season does.

Sturtevant Falls: a genuine comeback story, and one of the more reliable picks on this list

Big Santa Anita Canyon spent four years closed after the 2020 Bobcat Fire, reopened in October 2024, and then survived the January 2025 Eaton Fire without direct damage, a rare piece of good news in this fire-scarred stretch of the San Gabriels.

Trailhead access: Chantry Flat, a paid Adventure Pass, and occasional road interruptions

Park at the Chantry Flat trailhead and display a day Adventure Pass, purchasable nearby for around $5. Chantry Flat Road has seen intermittent closures for fire-related repairs since the Eaton Fire, so it’s worth a quick check before you drive out, even though the trail itself is open.

Difficulty, distance, and elevation gain to the falls

It’s roughly 3 to 3.6 miles round trip with about 600 feet of gain, an “upside-down” hike, since you descend first on a paved road and face your steepest climbing on the way back out.

What you’ll see: a 50-foot falls and century-old cabin history

You’ll pass the historic Roberts Camp area and several privately maintained cabins dating to the “Great Hiking Era” of the 1880s through 1930s, crossing Big Santa Anita Creek multiple times before reaching the falls’ natural amphitheater. Of the five resorts once built along this canyon, only Sturtevant Camp itself still stands, now run as a still-operating backcountry lodge, a rare survivor in a stretch of the San Gabriels that’s lost so much else to fire in the last few years.

Best time to hike Sturtevant Falls: after rain, on a weekday if you can

This is a genuinely popular trail even post-closure, so weekday visits or an early weekend start both help with parking, which fills the small Chantry Flat lot quickly.

Trail Canyon Falls: the remote one, with a rope-assisted finish

If the other four trails on this list feel too easy, this is the one that pushes back the most physically demanding waterfall hike in this cluster, ending in a genuine scramble.

Trailhead access: Big Tujunga Canyon Road, small lot or roadside parking

The trailhead sits off Big Tujunga Canyon Road in Tujunga, with a small parking lot near the trailhead and roadside overflow along Big Tujunga Canyon Road itself.

Difficulty, distance, and elevation gain to the falls

It’s 4.4–4.7 miles round trip with roughly 1,000 feet of gain, shaded for the first half and considerably more exposed on the second.

What you’ll see: a 30-foot falls after a rope-assisted descent

The final approach to the falls requires using ropes to descend a steep incline genuinely not a trail I’d bring young kids or dogs on, despite dogs technically being allowed. Spring brings an unusually wide range of wildflowers along this specific trail, a nice consolation if the falls themselves are running low. This canyon also burned in the 2009 Station Fire, which thinned out the brush enough to open up long views of the surrounding mountains that wouldn’t have existed on the original, more overgrown route.

Best time to hike Trail Canyon Falls: spring, before the flow drops off

Like the rest of this list, this one’s rain-dependent spring visits after a wet winter give you the best combination of wildflowers and actual water at the falls.

Which of these five to chase first

Right now, Sturtevant Falls is the safest bet on this list: open, scenic, and recently proven resilient through two major fires. If you want something shorter and easier, book ahead for Monrovia Canyon Falls. Save Trail Canyon Falls for when you want a real workout, and hold off on Eaton Canyon and Escondido Falls until their access situations are clearer. I’ll update both sections here the moment that changes.

Frequently asked questions