Chiquito Falls

[Girl Hiker]

After Zuma and Newton Falls I continued chasing waterfalls and mushrooms the next day in OC.

I joined two friends hiking the San Juan loop. Both had never seen the falls. So I was more than happy to lead them on another adventure.

Surprisingly, I found quite an array of mushrooms and lots of new species. I was so excited because the last place I saw this many fungi was in Eaton Canyon.

For the most part the trail was in good shape and not muddy.
Lots of water in the streams, and we only had two water crossings.

Chiquito Falls was beautiful. The pool below was knee deep.
After our obligatory photos we climbed to the top and ate lunch.

Also, for the first time I heard frogs along the creek while hiking in the canyon.

It was a beautiful, windy day. Not bad for a 10-mile hike.

I'll probably have to upload the mushrooms in a separate post.

BTW road work on Ortega Hwy due to all the rock fall. It's passable but traffic is slow.
We entered from Lake Elsinore which was faster.

Ortega falls
Spiny puffball

[Sean]

Thanks for the report. Spiny puffball sounds like an oxymoron. On one hand it's tough like a backbone, but on the other it's soft and puffy.

[tekewin]

Nice! I've never seen it flowing except in old photos. This is great waterfall season.