EISPIRATEN

Some of you might recognize the falls below. This picture was taken around 1905.
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.

Wow, that's a great find. I didn't know the local mountains had any falls that high. Seems there was a trail of sorts when the original photos were taken.

There was a trail at one time. It still exists for the first quarter mile or so, and then it becomes bushwhack city.
Officially the tallest fall in this mountain range is Bonita Falls near Lytle Creek at 160 feet, but I've found a few that are taller.

Jeff, the longest waterfall I’ve found locally is 300ft high, near Rattlesnake Peak emptying into Bichota Canyon. We have a few 300+ ft drops that are wet at times. Canyoneering is the activity of exploring canyons and waterfalls. I spent a lot of time checking out new waterfalls and canyons which had no attention beforehand.

Some of us on here have gone down Cascade Canyon, which is probably the third picture in this thread, but my memory sucks. The first is often called Waterslide. There is climbing there, but the local climbers don’t want anyone going there.

Cheers guys

The falls are cool and all, but that scrapbook with the pics and saved articles is historical gold.

Agreed. It has unbelievable photos and articles from the 1800s. Here's a photo of a trolley that used to go up to Camp Baldy.

That was great! Thanks for posting. What kind of private property is nearby? Is this a mountain cabin area? Or a suburban subdivision area?

There's nothing at all back there. A lot of graffiti at the beginning, so the signs may have been put up to keep taggers out. They seem to be working, it's a jungle once you get beyond the signs. There are at least 20 of them with cellular camera notices, although I didn't spot any cameras.

Very interesting. Thanks for report.

Speaking of Stoddard, I plan on hitting Frankish Peak via the Barrett-Stoddard Truck Trail before it gets hot.

Anthony wrote: ↑Very interesting. Thanks for report.

Speaking of Stoddard, I plan on hitting Frankish Peak via the Barrett-Stoddard Truck Trail before it gets hot.

I'd be interested to tag along if you don't mind some company - six feet apart of course. At my pace it could turn into a lot more than six feet.
And it's already getting warm, a lot of sun exposure on that hill.

Great report!

Here is info from a trip I did year back about the property situation. I was approached by two folks who claimed to have just purchased the land. They may have posted the signs ( the signs appeared from my recollection shortly after my encounter with them):
viewtopic.php?p=53681#p53681

I think someone claiming to be the owners even posted in the thread, but I don't see their post anymore. I do recall thinking it would be near impossible to build a fullscale home with modern amenities back in that canyon without enormous resources. The folks I spoke with that day claimed they would build one quickly. Time seems to suggest otherwise.

Whoops, never mind, I found the post:

"Much larger than you had marked!

You're also right about all the vandalism & trespassing that has been happening on the property and me trying to stop all the destruction. Just to name a few: I have people graffiting all the rocks, graffiting & carving into trees, axing down large old growth oak trees, stealing the ferns & the white sage. People have also built long circular tracks for dirt biking & dug up all the native plants then left it open to erosion, fires being started, people shooting guns up and down the canyon and using the trees as target practice, and leaving their trash everywhere! It's really sad...

The property is completely posted with no trespassing signs P.C. 602

My goal is to bring it back, clean everything up, restore it, and protect it! Eventually my family and I will call it home."

Thanks for the great info. No visible signs of building as of yet. The signs seem to have slowed the graffiti down drastically, although there is some beyond them. Very intimidating though. "Smile, you're on camera" etc.

CrazyHermit wrote: ↑Thanks for the great info. No visible signs of building as of yet. The signs seem to have slowed the graffiti down drastically, although there is some beyond them. Very intimidating though. "Smile, you're on camera" etc.

Yes, the interaction I had was friendly aggressive. One individual was wanting me to open my backpack up and show them the contents (no thanks!).

I don't know how it's even possible to buy a canyon like that. Seems to me that's on forest land. At first I thought it might be some drug operation trying to keep people out, but there was nothing back there.

It was held by a trust in the past, and the folks purchased it from them. I wonder if the trust (name is on the original post) had roots back to Stoddard himself.

Very cool exploring. Before the property changed hands I went into Stoddard but turned back due to poison oak.

Here is Willie going down Baldy Waterslide. It took him awhile to summon the necessary motivation.

LOL, that's a little deeper than the last time I saw it. Willie looks like Freddy Krueger in that T-shirt. Perfect sound track.

Cool video Sean. Take me there and I will slide down the waterfall

I see a broken leg in your future.

Crazyhermit I don't. Lol. I've slid down lots of waterfalls maybe not that high but I love jumping in those pools of water.

Here's a one minute short of San Antonio Canyon Falls (what people call Stoddard Canyon Falls).
On the day I shot this a moron was pushing little kids off the top, including a four year old.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FJJN5_hk_qU

Wow. Somehow I missed this thread three years ago. Amazing old photos and detective work. Does your scrapbook have material on any of the front range camps of that era?

I love seeing the reference to the "auto stage" to Camp Baldy. There was an Arroyo Seco auto stage and Mt. Wilson auto stage as well.

So after I published this the lady who owns that canyon threatened to have me arrested, but yes I have some great photos of Stoddard house and some of his famous friends. I wish I could have gone further up that day but that canyon is so overgrown it took forever to get that far. By the way that trolley station is still standing in Upland on the way up to Mt. Baldy (in perfect condition)

Here's a short clip of the San Antonio Canyon Falls on a day when some drunken idiot pushed a four year old off the top.
https://youtube.com/shorts/FJJN5_hk_qU?feature=share

I'm bumping this TR because it's summertime and more sites are confusing Baldy Waterslide for Stoddard Falls again.

I totally missed this when originally published. A great public service and well researched. Oh, and nice poison oak!