Escondido Falls
Malibu · near Malibu · Los Angeles / SoCal
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3.8 miles
- Elevation gain
- 400 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Winter–early spring after rain · A trickle to dry by late spring/summer
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No hiking permit; $12 MRCA parking at the Winding Way lot, or limited free PCH-shoulder parking that adds a ~0.5-mile road walk.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Tallest waterfall in the Santa Monica Mtns (~150 ft upper tier) · Fern-lined pools · Multiple creek crossings · Lush canyon
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Go after winter rain and go early — parking is tiny and the creek crossings are more fun than muddy when flow is moderate. Don't attempt the roped upper-falls scramble; people are injured there regularly.
The guide
Escondido is the tallest waterfall in the range, a multi-tiered ribbon at the head of a lush, stream-crossed canyon. The easy l…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Escondido Falls — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.019, -118.781