Kitchen Creek Falls part II

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 that 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 tha 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.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• kitchen
• creek
• falls
• waterfall
• hike
• hiking
• backpacking
• pct
• pacific
• crest
• trail
• cleveland
• national
• forest
• san
• diego

[thecop619]

thats cool. I have only gotten there from the pct along kitchen creek road there. How long of a hike is it your way?

[rivershark28]

@thecop619 4.5 mile round trip. Takes about 2 1/2 hours.