Lion Canyon and Rose Valley Falls

Los Padres National Forest

Locate the trailhead.

I decided to go out and see the waterfalls shown on the map behind each camp on the east and west fork of Lion Canyon and while I was there, visit Rose Valley Falls, too. I hadn't quite decided to make it all one hike in a big loop by the time I had started. I did know the loop without the extra treks out to the various falls has been reported to be about 5 miles and since the extra wasn't all that much, I felt I could do it. And, sure, it is a much shorter single hike if parking at Rose Valley Campground and just using the connector, but I had decided I wanted to hike the lower canyon as well as the connector. Really, the only question was loop or out and back. Doing the loop, it would have made sense to park somewhere up the road like at the information sign, but I drove down to Middle Lion and started off from there.

Starting off with a creek crossing that took advantage of the waterproof boots on a row of placed stones that were largely underwater. The swift water tried to push in, but didn't make it.

The campground was full as I started and one person had actually camped a little down the trail away from the campground. The trail dumped into the creek and came out the other side but there were no rocks for crossing. Upstream a little, there were stones placed for stepping, but many of them were underwater. I took it anyway, and the swift flow threatened to wash up and into my shoes but my socks stayed dry.

Trail 22W06 (Lion Canyon Trail) with 2.5 miles to either Fork Lion Camp and 6 miles up to road 5N08, which follows the ridge back down to Rose Valley Campground.

The trail follows a gentle upward slope along the side of the canyon. Climbing a little way up, I saw some unfamiliar ducks, which really just means they weren't mallards. They were paddling pretty quickly around the pools. As the trail climbs, the narrowness of the canyon and height of the walls is striking. With a slight corner, there are suddenly many pine trees instead of leafy things. Then the canyon opens up.

Paddling away and being very aware of where I was trying to be sure they kept some tree branches between me and them were a pair of ducks.

The cliff walls are tall and close for a bit.

Mainly pine trees poking up as the canyon opens up a little bit.

Now high up on the canyon wall, the opposite wall is steep, mostly bare rocks eventually becoming a cliff. The pools are beautiful green things.

The canyon opens up into a wide valley.

As the canyon opens up, the trail drops down near the canyon floor again. The connector trail comes in from the right and the valley gets so wide that although the trail is down low, the gurgle of the creek sometimes becomes inaudible in the distance. Then it comes back loud and strong only to leave again. Soon, I was at the junction for the various listings at the start of the trail.

Lion Canyon Trails ahead and Rose-Lion Connector to the right.

East Fork Lion Camp to the left, West Fork Lion Camp to the right and Nordoff Ridge going up.

Someone had made a use camp at the junction even though the actual camps are so close at hand. They even used an old sign post for a bench for the fire ring. I turned to the right to go up to the West Fork Lion Camp and try to find the falls beyond it.

West Fork Lion Camp is a developed camp, so it has a metal stove for use.

From the camp, a tunnel through the brush leads to the creek and a few smaller use trail head up and island in the middle of it. The use trails are difficult to follow and vanish pretty quickly. However, it was not too much trouble to get up to the waterfall. Walls and large boulders made of naturally cemented rocks abound. One of those walls is the one the waterfall is coming down over.

A bit of the west fork of Lion Canyon, which has a bit less water than was below.

The last challenge to getting to the waterfall is the concrete wall below the pool.

The very cute little waterfall found up the west fork of Lion Canyon.

I climbed back down the use trail and made my way back to the junction to follow the second trail up the east fork. This trail is a little longer and there are more use camps along the way, first a large one next to the trail then one on the far side of the creek. The trail sometimes seemed like a use trail and sometimes jumped up the side of the canyon to get around growth although plenty of it had been cut away too. Then I got to the proper camp which has a few stoves.

Stoves at East Fork Lion Camp.

The use trail out the back of the camp was larger, but the approach to the falls was far more challenging. I left one trail going right up the side of the dirt on the opposite side of the creek and followed a larger one on the side I was on, eventually coming to a pool where I could not continue on my side. With a creative crossing, I got to the dirt on the far side and went up a shorter dirt trail that was somewhat less directly up. That brought me to a spot where I could go down to the falls.

This waterfall on the east fork of Lion Canyon is certainly larger, but is it better?

Getting closer to the falls, there's a bit of flow stone on this one. There are little caves near it with more flow stone, too.

The view from the waterfall shows a little bit of the mountains beyond.

Leaving the falls, I was ready to go down, but a bit of hose caught my eye. I'd seen some of this hose in the camp, in a big mess down a little trail behind the stoves. This hose was going somewhere, though. I decided to try to find why it was there. This lead me up to the next little waterfall and then to a cascade. At the top of the cascade, it was getting a bit steep and narrow on both sides and one has to say enough eventually, so I did. The hose wrapped around a little cliff and kept on going.

This little waterfall with a skirt is above the fall with four gushing points. Most of the water probably bypasses this somewhere.

A cascade above the waterfalls. There may be more to see, but this is where I stopped.

The pools are beautiful and green up here.

I made my way back down the way I had come up, this time skipping the expeditions down the hillside to the various waterfalls. Some trail went up and over a rock at one point, presumably to meet the very steep trail I had first seen. I went down and braved my crossing by the pool again. I followed the use trail back to the camp and the maintained trail back to the junction and then continued back to the connector trail.

My crossing of the creek was a careful climb down to the rocks by the tree, then around it hanging onto the old wound to get onto a rock on the other side. There is a ledge along the big rock about three feet up that I progressed along, then over to the large rock and over the log to a bit of easy rock hopping.

Getting back to the campground, the slightly snowy mountains are still visible. Someone must have tossed many stones up the tree, though you would think that they would fall with the impact of the next one tossed.

This butterfly seemed to have big purple and black eyes on its wings, but refused to open them back up once it landed.

A bit of lovely but narrow trail tread on the Rose-Lion Connector Trail as it climbs westward. Below, a few puddles remain from flowing water.

Reaching the saddle at the top, there is just a tiny bit more climb and then the trail drops down into a spring fed valley with a bit of water flowing down it. I would guess it has a waterfall too, but it would be difficult to get to that and be too much to go with my other goals of the day. Continuing down, there was a spot where, coming the other way, it would have seemed that the trail forked with two perfectly good possible routes although only the route up was actually trail. I found it odd that sometimes this trail was hard to read like that with a few surfaces that didn't take footprints or the evidence of many feet well. Crossing the creek from Rose Valley Falls just above Upper Rose Lake, I found myself at the road beside the campground sign.

Dropping down again along the Rose-Lion Connector Trail and taking a peek up the spring fed valley it drops into.

Water filling up Upper Rose Lake.

Surveying the valley ahead, some forbidding cliffs can be seen at the end, one with a bit of water coming over the top.

Turning into the campground, the trail to the falls is at the far end. The campground was practically empty as I walked through with only two sites taken. It is another gentle route to get up to the smaller of the falls at just 100 feet. I poked around a little, but did not go into the cave at the bottom since it was a tiny bit cold and I've been in there before. Also, hey, the evidence presented by the many broken chunks of limestone that look like the rock of the falls illustrate that it isn't all that stable. One piece exactly matches one of the holes that is an entrance to the cave.

Rose Valley Falls is a growing waterfall adding bits of limestone as it goes. The bottom has a cave big enough for people with entrances to the left and right and water flowing through it and more flow stone inside.

Tiers form as the fall grows.

There are many trails up to the upper falls, which is the one that can be seen from down in the valley, but I didn't like most of them. The ones near the fall are made by single minded people who simply want to get to the top as fast as possible whereas I like a route to be a little safer. I went back down the trail to where a major use trail took off up the side of the canyon. This trail seems to have once been a nice one, still fairly steep, but with switchbacks to help out the climb. I took some of the lesser used ones, but one spot has become the realm of the folks who just want to go up while others attempt to place a switching path up the dirt. The trail actually traveled quite a way away from the fall before coming back again and delivering me a little way above the top of the lower fall.

The upper tier of Rose Valley Falls from an angle that is almost exactly the same as a photo I took from down on the road, but with much less blur from distance and the stabilization requirements for a large zoom photo.

I proceeded up the valley and eventually the trails just seemed to lead up the stream bed itself. The fallen chunks of limestone do make for a fairly easy climb and the flow was not so high to make it particularly wet. I climbed my way along the rocks and eventually got to the bottom of the fall.

The approach to the upper fall becomes strewn with old chunks of limestone that have fallen off the fall in the years gone by.

The pool at the bottom of the fall, just about. Someone has put a spice bottle as a register in a hole in the rock left of middle saying, "You are one of the few to make it to the second tier (and live)!" A bit dramatic considering the well used state of the trail although people have died making their way up from the lower fall.

The upper fall of Rose Valley, which is reported to be 250 feet high.

I climbed around the bottom a little and noted the GPS had decided I'd gone nearly 8 miles already. I chowed down on some dry fruit to make sure I had the energy to get back down and made my way in that direction. I made my way a little closer to the lip of the lower fall to look out over the valley. A bright piece of webbing around a tree showed that someone has recently rappelled down it. The view was spectacular without the need to get so close to the edge to trigger my fear of heights. I climbed back up a small tributary with its own waterfall back to the trail I took up.

Some Blue Delphinium in the tributary. It's getting a little old.

Some kind of yellow flower that pops out in delightful balls.

Some Indian Paintbrush hanging out in the canyon. There was lots of this looking great all along the trails.

Just a dribble keeping the cliff wet, but there could be a waterfall here in higher water times. A tributary joining between the two tiers of waterfall.

I thought there might be some pretty pools up that fall, and climbed a little along use trails going that way to see. I didn't find any, but there was still more trail to go after I stopped. Turning around, I made my way back down to the more used trail and then the valley below.

Rose Valley stretched out below with its lakes and Pine Mountain in the distance.

A bit of the use trail carved out along the rocks only by the action of people walking it day after day.

Back at the campground, I decided to go back along the road. It doesn't go up so high as the connector and there is a slight chance of a ride for part of it. I hiked past Upper Rose Lake, a pond with a few ducks and turtles, then turned down the road to pass the closed gun club and the road on public land going to a private inholding marked "no trespassing" a bit early. It was an easy hike up and gentle down. My map had a line marked on it to cut a bit of the road down to Middle Lion that I found at a turnout just before the corner. Making my way down, I got to the campground that had also emptied out a bit during the day.

A turtle sunning itself in Upper Rose Lake. It had a smaller neighbor, but that spooked as I made a loud step.

Coming down to the end of the road, I see the distinctive white rocks of Piedra Blanca.

Start of the trail for stock (and hikers) to bypass much of the road to Middle Lion Campground.

A look down Lion Canyon from the main road.

Getting down to the campground, I packed up and washed a little dust off my face in the creek and took off for home.

©2012 Valerie Norton
Posted 31 March 2012