Millard Canyon and Falls

Angeles National Forest

Locate the trailhead.

Ravi and myself decided to hike out at Henninger Flats for the day, but we were balked by the rather high and rather locked fence. It claimed there were "dangerous conditions", one can only assume it meant the rather obvious massive land slide occurring just the other side of the river from the rather high and rather locked fence. People where down there, so there must be a way in, but it didn't look all that attractive so we didn't look that hard.

Instead, we went over to Millard Canyon. For this hike, you can start at a campground maybe a quarter of a mile from the Falls or you can start high up the canyon on a fire road a little more than a mile from the falls. We climbed down from the fire road, which was a pleasant hike, well kept since all the switchback cutters aren't hiking it. The poison oak was out in patches, turning red with the fall.

This trail put us at the entrance to Millard campground, which looked like a nice place to stay there next to the stream. Following to the end of the campground, the trail continued up the canyon. It starts off with a little man made fall over a flood control dam.




The path criss-crosses the stream as these canyon trails do. Since the stream is so small, it is never difficult to cross. Soon a second waterfall greets you along the path.



But this one is just a few feet high, so it's not the destination. Keep following the trail and the final destination is found. Quite a pretty fall, though very small. Very interesting at the top since it's stuffed full of rock.







Someone seems to have decided this is a good place to go climbing, because permanently stuck into the wall were metal loops to attach your rope to should you decide to climb.



Closeup of a couple of those.



Okay, posing time!



No pictures of me knee deep in the pool because some hands are steadier than others. The blur was quite impressive, though. Took some pictures of my own from inside the pool. A little closer to that rock stuffed into the top of the falls. It's just very cool.



And some little details of the cascade.







An excellent place to meditate.



With excellent scenery. Spot the piece of rope strung between the old holds.



After returning to the top, we wanted a little more hike, so we turned and walked further up the fire road. Not too long after, there was another trail, this one headed to Sierra Saddle and Echo Peak. We headed down this path, which turned out to be far superior to the road. It follows the same canyon, but now you are walking much closer to the ridge line. It starts off quite flat, and eventually you come to a view of the same falls from high above. Yes, more pictures of the falls!



It's a little hard to see, but it is the same falls as before. Once the trail started to climb, we caught a glimpse of what it's like upstream from the falls.



Yep, more waterfalls. These look a little more impressive from the distance than the one we saw upclose did. They might be quite high. There was somewhat of a trail from the bottom of Millard to the top (other than that climbing trail), it might go to see these other falls. Or not. It could be something to look for. The forest service map does not show any trail there, but a topo might.





©2005 Valerie Norton
Posted 13 September 2005