99% of the people who visit this waterfall call it Stoddard Falls, which could not be further from the truth.
Here's the same falls today in the summer. People actually slide off the top of this one into waist deep water. Now that's insane.
The real name of this fall is San Antonio Canyon Falls, which is confusing because of San Antonio Falls further upstream.
Recently I came across an old scrapbook that once belonged to a real estate man from Claremont who lived
the late 1800s. It's an absolute gold mine of newspaper articles and old photos, hundreds of pages long.
Three photos in particular caught my eye, all listed as being in Stoddard's Canyon. The falls looked spectacular,
so I set out to find them.
The REAL Stoddard Canyon is nowhere even remotely close to
the first falls shown on this page. It's miles downstream. But before
you go rushing out there you should know that the canyon is plastered
with No Trespassing signs and camera warnings, not to mention a
jungle of wild blackberries, stinging nettles, poison oak and lots of
other irritating things. Here's some shots of what the first falls look like today.
Now for the even more spectacular falls above this one. Supposedly it's 170 feet tall. Take a look at the
old flimsy ladders they used to have going up the side. I counted at least five tiers, but there are probably more.
And here's some photos of what it looks like today. Apparently
there are more tiers above these ones that can't be seen from
down below. It is possible to get above this one, but I was burned
out from the heavy bushwhacking and decided not to try.
And finally, here's a photo of Stoddard's Camp which was near the mouth of the canyon taken in the 1890s.
Stoddard was a good friend of Henry Huntington the railroad magnate. I found some rock walls which may
have been part of Stoddard's old hotel, but there were so many no trespassing and camera signs I decided
to get out of that area fast.
