About Brooks Falls
Brooks Falls was really my waterfalling excuse to get in an early morning hike around the Pacifica area before returning to San Francisco for some city touring.
For a waterfall this close to the city by the bay, it sports impressive dimensions in terms of height at 175ft over three drops.
However, as you can see from the photo above, it’s a real wispy waterfall that leaves a lot to be desired.
Indeed, in order to even see this waterfall flow, you’d need some good timing (shortly after some rains have fallen) as well as a little luck with the weather as fog can obscure the distant views.
Nonetheless, when it comes to waterfalls in the Bay Area, size doesn’t matter as much as the coastal scenery, the coastal forests, and the wildflowers.
And San Pedro Valley Park can certainly deliver all of those things.
Hiking to the Brooks Falls Lookout
I did this hike as a short loop that started and ended at the San Pedro Valley County Park visitor center (see directions below).
I started by hiking south along the Old Trout Farm Trail, which passed a few picnic tables as well as some impressively tall trees as the canyon started closing in.
The trail then started climbing as it made a bend towards the north before reaching a trail junction at about a half-mile from the start.
At this junction, I could go right and return to the parking lot and visitor center to complete the mile-long loop. However, I waited to do that as I still hadn’t seen Brooks Falls yet.
So at the trail junction, I turned left and continued going uphill as the path climbed higher among Eucalyptus Trees.
Eventually, the climb would go high enough to rise above the tops of the Eucalyptus Trees, then the trail would skirt the mountainous slope as it continued to go higher.
Eventually after another 0.3 miles of climbing beyond the trail junction, I finally reached a clearing with a bench and a view towards the thin Brooks Falls.
During my visit, I had to contend with a combination of fog and heavy drizzle or rain. It wasn’t the ideal conditions to experience this trail nor the waterfall, but I at least got to see it nonetheless.
I then returned the way I came to complete the 1.6-mile loop hike.
Under better weather, I could have been tempted to do the 3.5-mile Montara Mountain Loop, which would have taken me even higher than the Brooks Falls Lookout while providing views towards the Pacific Ocean and Pacifica Beach to the west.
Authorities
Brooks Falls resides in the San Pedro Valley County Park. For information or inquiries about the park as well as current conditions, visit their website.
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