Three Sisters Falls
Cleveland NF backcountry near Julian · near Julian · San Diego
Hiking
At a glance
- Difficulty
- strenuous
- Route type
- out-and-back
- Distance
- 3.9 miles
- Elevation gain
- 1,035 ft
- Time needed
- day
- Best season
- Winter and spring, especially after rain · Falls can be dry in summer/fall
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No permit or fee, but subject to emergency heat-closure orders (San Diego County / Cleveland NF). The Eagle Peak extension is sometimes closed seasonally for nesting peregrine falcons.
- How hard the permit is to get
- 0 of 5
What is here
- Features
- Three-tiered granite waterfall · Slick granite chute · Seasonal swimming pools · Inverted hike · Eagle Peak add-on
Worth knowing
- Dogs
- Allowed
- Good for a first timer
- No
Hiking detail
- Intl tip
- Go in winter or within a day or two of rain — otherwise you may hike all this way to a dry rock face. Avoid summer entirely; this backcountry regularly tops 100°F and generates rescue calls.
The guide
A three-tiered cascade tumbling over polished granite in the Cleveland National Forest backcountry near Julian, this is San Die…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Three Sisters Falls — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 32.9997, -116.679