About Eaton Canyon Falls
Eaton Canyon Falls is a pleasant rare year-round waterfall dropping some 30ft or so with a rock wedged right at its brink.
We can vouch for the year-round characteristic of this waterfall because once we’ve made an October visit here following Los Angeles’ worst fire during yet another prolonged period of low-rain Winters and very hot Summers.
So that’s saying something about how special this waterfall is, and in fact, we even included it in our Southern California Top 10 Waterfalls List.
However, being close to Pasadena it is an immensely popular local attraction and thus it also has a history of suffering from urban blight.

Such was the case when Julie and I first visited this waterfall way back in 2001. There was graffiti on several rocks along the trail to the falls and even one on that rock wedged at the top of the falls.
On a subsequent trip several years later, the caretakers of the area did a great job sandblasting and painting over the graffiti. Still, I reckon it’s an ongoing and unpleasant job, and it’s too bad some immature gangsters have to exhibit their machismo tendencies and do their best to ruin things for everyone else.
Our third trip in October of 2009 illustrated this fact when some of the graffiti started showing up again (at least it wasn’t as bad as it was on our first trip though).
The Hike to Eaton Canyon Falls
From the well-signed Eaton Canyon Nature Center parking area, the trail follows an open shrub area briefly crossing the usually dry wash before following the east bank up into the mouth of the gorge for the first 3/4-mile or so.
Eventually, the trail and wash narrows past a bridge (this bridge allows some locals in the know to reduce the hike by starting closer to the canyon than at the Nature Center, but that’s kind of cheating and taking away from the experience, we think).
At this point, the trail follows the stream (that seemingly suddenly appears) within the mostly shady canyon. The trail crosses this stream a handful of times.

Usually, you can get through them without getting your feet wet by a little bit of nifty rock hopping. But if you’re unsure about your dexterity and balance, then a hiking stick might help you out in those sections.
In addition to the stream crossings, there may be a few more minor obstacles involving a mini-climb here or there along with unforeseen detours.
Eventually after about a half-mile or so into the canyon, the trail ends right before the Eaton Canyon Falls. The overall length of the trail is about 1.5 miles each way (or 3 miles round trip; assuming you didn’t take the shortcut).
The falls is usually very popular on the weekends so it’s not often you have this place to yourself. Still, it’s a great introductory hike to one of Los Angeles County’s more scenic spots, and I’m sure it’ll draw a few pleasantly surprised reactions from those who haven’t seen waterfalls in the local area before.
Authorities
Eaton Canyon Falls is technically in the Angeles National Forest, but the trailhead resides in the Eaton Canyon Nature County Park. For information or inquiries about this area as well as current conditions, visit the Eaton Canyon Natural Area website.
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