The hook
The tallest year-round waterfall in Southern California drops some five hundred feet down a mountainside above the hamlet of Forest Falls, and the short walk to see it has also been one of the deadliest.
01Why it's worth it
Big Falls comes down the canyon wall in a long, multi-tiered ribbon fed by snowmelt off the San Bernardino high country. It runs all year and thunders in spring. From the observation deck at the end of a quarter-mile walk you look straight up the canyon at it, and that is as far as you should go. The loose, water-slicked rock above the deck has killed and badly hurt people who climbed toward the upper cascades, and the Forest Service periodically closes that stretch after the latest accident. Seen from where you're meant to stand, in a good snow year, it's still one of the biggest waterfalls most Californians will ever get close to.
02How to experience it
It's at the top of Valley of the Falls Drive in Forest Falls, past Mentone and Redlands off Highway 38, about seven hours from the Bay. The walk to the overlook is short, easy, and free. Go in spring for full flow. Stay at the deck and keep children close; the urge to scramble higher is exactly what makes this place dangerous, and the wet rock gives no warning. The canyon also closes after storms for flash flooding and debris flows.