Sturtevant Falls
Chantry Flat / Big Santa Anita Canyon · near Arcadia / Sierra Madre · Los Angeles / SoCal
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- easy
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3.3 miles
- Elevation gain
- 400 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Year-round · Best waterfall flow late winter–spring
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No hiking permit, but a National Forest Adventure Pass is required to park at Chantry Flat; the lot fills by ~8am on weekends.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 1 of 5
What is here
- Features
- 50-ft waterfall · Historic cabins of Big Santa Anita Canyon · Shaded fern canyon & creek crossings · Sturtevant Camp (1893)
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- Yes
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Go on a weekday morning and wear shoes you don't mind getting wet — the final approach rock-hops the creek. Don't climb the slippery rock beside the falls; it's a frequent rescue spot.
The guide
A cool, fern-lined canyon of stone-and-timber cabins and stream crossings leads to a graceful 50-foot cascade — one of LA's mos…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Sturtevant Falls — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.1955, -118.0225