Sitting within the typically hot and dry Cleveland National Forest about 50 miles east of San Diego is Kitchen Creek Falls. Depending on how much rain has fallen in Southern California, seeing the falls flowing requires some timing as its flow can easily become nothing but a trickle during the dryer months. However, when it does flow, especially after a good rain the falls are impressive as water from about 20 square miles of drainage upstream tumbles a total of 150 vertical feet over several cascades of various heights.
Now although the falls sit somewhat quite close to Interstate 8, getting a view of them isn't easy for everyone. First, you'll have to hike for about 2 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail before leaving the trail at an easy-to-miss spur. On this two-mile stretch, you'll be passing underneath the noisy I-8 before climbing up a few switchbacks. Fortunately, the sound of the freeway slowly fades as you get deeper into the back country.
You then take a spur towards the waterfall as the trail soon degenerates into a narrow path through the brush. If there's enough water flowing you should soon be able to hear the sound of the waterfall. Continue scrambling down the trail to reach the creek just up stream of the falls. It splits into several branches. Stay generally left and wander down the ridge line just south of the creek to the falls area. Just above and south of the falls is a path down a steep gully that one can take in order to get in front of the falls to see it at its base. Once you're at the base, you'll have to cross the stream and do some additional rough scrambling until you finally get a satisfactory view of the falls. The dry, water-polished rock on either side of the cascades provides fair traction. Beware of wet, slippery streaks on the rock. A misstep here could lead to a long, bone-crunching ride to the lowest pool.
Parked at the trail head.
Starting along the PCT.
Nice and easy so far.
Crossing under I-8.
I bet this would be a good place to come out deer hunting.
The trail starts to climb.
Chaparral shaded trail.
No mountain bikes.
More switchbacks.
Narrow and rocky.
I passed a couple who had started on the trail at the Canadian border.
Much of the trail now hugs the hillside.
Here's where you turn off the PCT and head towards the falls.
Descending the tight path to the creek.
Reaching Kitchen Creek just upstream from the falls.
Someone put a lot of time into this.
Cottonwoods line the creek upstream.
If it was warmer out I'd be taking a dip.
A long way down from here...
Cooling off.
Lunch.
I found some cacti!
There is a steep path into this gully that leads to the base of the falls.
Checking things out upstream.
Following the creek would take me further back along the PCT. I'll have to make this loop next time.
At this point I turned around to head back.
It turned out to be a great day for getting out into the back country. The cooler temps made for a nice hike and although this was a solo trip I still ran into some interesting characters along the way. I also got quite a bit of video during this hike, so I'll be posting those up soon.
