Hike: Bouquet Falls

Destination: Bouquet Falls, Saugus, California

Length: Approximately 2-3 miles

Time: Approximately 1 hour

Difficulty: Easy

Dogs Allowed: Yes, but not reccomended

Bathrooms: No

Personal rating: 3 / 5 Stars

(Below: creek at beginning of trail)

Bouquet Falls is a beautiful, somewhat secluded location in the midst of drought ridden Southern California. The main portion of the hike is flat and tree covered with expansive views of rocky peaks towering above. To my surprise, it still had a small amount of water running through the falls even though most other creek beds in the surrounding area are dry.

Heading east on winding Bouquet Canyon Rd, you will pass abandoned picnic areas, the main one being Los Cantiles handicapped picnic area off to the right side of the road. Continue another 7 miles (approximately) and you will find a small dirt turn out and parking lot off to the left side of Bouquet Canyon Rd. The parking lot is designated for those who own the cabins near the creek. Either way, the trail head begins directly from the small parking lot.

On entering the trail, there is a secondary paved parking lot in which can no longer be accessed by vehicles. The continuing trail gives much opportunity for playing on large boulders along the creek side with teasing views of the falls and picturesque scenes of the towering peaks above. Once the falls is reached, you can do some minor rock scaling and hiking for another 2-3 miles and reach Bee Peak. I have yet to hike to Bee Peak.

(Below: View of the falls)

Bouquet Falls is a wide trail until you reach the falls and start the climb to Bee Peak. There is copious amounts of poison oak along the creek bed, so long pants is recommended.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the creek and falls on this extremely easy hike. It is a great spot to escape the heat of Santa Clarita and have a nice lunch under the shade of oak, sycamore and more. Unfortunately, there is such a large amount of trash and glass on this hike. I would not recommend bringing a dog because of the insane amount of broken glass all along the trail.

As always, whatever you pack in, please pack out. If you can, pick up some trash along the way. It's such a shame to see a gem of a place become overcrowded with trash and graffiti.

Pros: Flowing stream, very shaded, beautiful scenery

Cons: Trash, broken glass and graffiti, lots of poison oak

Happy Exploring!

Erin

(Below: picking up trash from creek)