4 min
Overview
On July 5th, 2011, a 16 year-old man died after falling 80 feet into the swimming hole at Cedar Creek Falls. Two days later, the trail from Ramona was closed and remained closed for two years. On July 9th, 2012, a 19 year old woman was found unconscious on the Cedar Creek Falls Trail approaching from the Julian side. After medevac lifted her out to Palomar Hospital, she was pronounced dead from heat stroke. At one point, the County’s emergency services were rescuing 3-4 people per week, and sometimes the total was higher. After years of complaints from nearby residents of drunken hikers peeing in their yards and the county’s rising costs of emergency services, all agencies and the locals decided something needed to change. The cool, tranquil waters below the falls The Forest Service re-opened the Cedar Creek Falls trail from Ramona in May of 2013 against the protests of the surrounding neighborhood. As part of their efforts to make hiking the falls safer and to avoid further harassment to local residents, they instituted a permit system in conjunction with Recreation.gov. The 75 person per-day limit is designed to eliminate overuse, while the permit system ($6 at time of writing) is intended to slow people down and encourage use from folks who come prepared, both physically and logistically. Furthermore, NFS rangers, volunteers, and local law enforcement now patrol the trails regularly, and there are stiff fines for anybody jumping off cliffs, drinking alcohol, and hiking without a permit. Warning signs at the trailhead Cedar Creek Falls from the Ramona trailhead is not a particularly long hike. Nor is the elevation gain particularly daunting to the conditioned hiker. Like the Grand Canyon, this hike is inverted with the uphill occurring at the end. And also like the Grand Canyon, there is almost no shade to be found on the trail. And even moreso like the Grand Canyon, the gorge is hotter than the trailhead, which means that it’s easy to stroll down the hill, splash around in the cool water, and think that you’
Trail Stats
9.7 km
335 m
571 m
275 m
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Photos
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