Chiquito Falls, Cleveland National Forest

April 2, 2011

I first read about this hike in Karin Klein’s book, 50 Hikes in Orange County. Karin’s hike sounded great, and we will do it one day, but it's a shuttle hike, which starts at the San Juan trailhead and you then hike up near Blue Jay Campground. At the halfway point of that hike, you go by the Chiquito Falls. Since we would have to drive two cars up Ortega Highway for the shuttle hike, leaving one car at the San Juan trailhead and another one up at Blue Jay, we decided on the SoCal Hiker’s recommendation and did the out and back hike to the falls.

Getting to the San Juan trailhead isn’t too hard if you know your way around OC. Just drive up Ortega Highway and once you reach the Candy Store turn left into the parking lot. Remember you’ll need an Adventure Pass to park here which you can pick up at most sporting goods stores. We picked up our annual pass at Turners Outdoors.

Once you start off on the San Juan Trailhead you’ll hike right by the San Juan Falls. Follow this trail about 1.2 miles and you’ll see a side trail on your right heading over the San Juan Creek. Be careful crossing and make sure the water isn’t too deep. You want to make sure it’s safe before crossing. You’ll run into the trail heading into the canyon once you cross. This is easy part of the hike, nice and flat and you’re shaded for the most part. The trail heads off to your left and across the stream and then you’re hiking uphill for a few miles. From the trailhead to the Chiquito Falls it was five miles, and I think a good 3+ miles were uphill.

The views are amazing and it was a fun hike. I actually didn’t realize the elevation gain until we were heading back down, then I notice how steep it was. One thing that was kinda cool on the way up is that we ran into a couple that we first ran into last year hiking in Big Bear. We were heading down from Bertha Peak and they were headed up when we met. It’s nice to run into people that you’ve seen on the trail before.

About mile four, I was wondering where the waterfall was and I thought I would start hearing or seeing something by now, but nothing. You are pretty much on the waterfall when you first hear and see it. It’s a short hike down once you get a glance of it.

When we finally made it to the falls we had it all to ourselves, unlike our Tenaja Falls hike which is only about 9 to 10 miles south of where we were. The problem with Tenaja Falls is that there is an access road just a mile and a half away from the falls. Patti and I hiked the long way to Tenaja Falls but I was somewhat disappointed to see all the cars there within walking distance. What’s neat about this Chiquito Falls is that you really have to want to see the falls and put in the effort to actually be there.

We took a seat on the rocks next to the waterfall and had a banana. Unfortunately I forgot our power bars and that mistake would come back to haunt us later on in the hike. Once we relaxed a little bit I headed down to the pool below the falls to get some video from down there. I took my boots off and made my way into the water. It was so cold, but felt really nice.

After about 30 minutes of relaxing we were both getting hungry and decided to head back. It was when we started up the hill to head back when I started feeling the hike. Once we got up to the top of the hill and were making our way back down to the valley floor I then realized how high we have hiked. The valley floor looked so far away.

We were both losing energy, and wished we would have had a power bar or two to eat. We just kept on hiking and before we knew it we were at the San Juan Creek crossing. At this point we only had about a mile to go, and a tough mile after hiking for four + hours. I don’t think we would have been so tried if it would have been later in the season. Recently, due to weather, Patti and I haven’t been hiking as much as would have liked so we were a little out of hiking shape. Once we crossed the creek we headed to our right.  This part of the trail is called San Juan Loop which is a loop around the parking lot. It’s only a 3 mile hike and a lot of people come here just to hike the loop. We actually prefer loops but there aren’t that many loops that are 8 to 10 miles long, locally.

About a half mile from the trailhead we hiked past a campground that we pulled over and had our after hike picnic which we do when we hike up here. I didn’t want to mention this to Patti because it is a little drive from the parking lot to this place. I was a little disappointed too knowing that we still had a nice little hike back to the car. Well we made it. We took off our day packs and drove down to the campground and Patti made some great sandwiches. We regrouped energy-wise for the ride home and headed off.

The next day we planned on hiking El Moro, but we both woke up a bit sore and decided on breakfast down on Main Street in Huntington. It’s Monday as I write this and I’m still a little sore. It was a really fun hike and we do recommend it to everyone. Be prepared for a tough uphill hike, if you happened to be out of shape like we were on that day, and don’t go there during the summer since it gets really hot out there. Also, bring a power bar and lots of water.

Total Distance; 10 miles, Elevation Gain; 3,000 feet, Hiking Time; 5 hours. 
 

Comments:
Friday, April 8, 2011 631 pm

Kiarin Klein Nice hike, isn't it? If you don't want to do the shuttle, it's also fun to do the out-and-back from the San Juan trailhead. Goes through some very pretty woods and unusual wildflowers. About the same distance as what you did--but less elevation gain. Hope the hiking pains have eased off. We were just out that way Sunday, taking some kids on the San Juan Loop and picnicking at that same campgrounds.