Chorro Grande Falls

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Los Padres National Forest

Locate the trailhead.

Taking the very long way home, I decide to stop at the Chorro Grande Trailhead and have a look at the falls. The rain has been coming down, so it is reasonable to think they might be flowing. There are only two cars there when we stop and one goes with whoever is target shooting south of us. We quickly climb to the rocks that give a good view of the waterfall, which does have water going over it, but only a trickle.

Chorro Grande Falls
Waterfall over the hard rocks along Chorro Grande.


It is disappointing and I am done, but Bernard has never been on this trail and wants to continue. We head up a little further and then wander down some undocumented trail that drops us at the top of the falls.

a little more water in flowing wide puddles
A little bit more water in one of the fingers of the creek.

soft looking sandstone
Sandstone pillows on the way down to the waterfall edge.

dribbling water about to fall
At the top of the waterfall and there really is not much water.

Below the waterfall trickle, there is a very green grotto. It looks like a nice spot to be in summer. We spend some time admiring the rocks around us and then climb back up to the trail and drop back down to the road.

down Chorro Grande Falls
Looking down the dribbling waterfall into the grotto below.




©2015 Valerie Norton
Posted 5 January 2015
location: Los Padres National Forest, Chorro Grande Trail, Maricopa, CA 93252, USA

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