Cleveland National Forest: San Juan Loop Trail (Blog Hike #996)

Trail: San Juan Loop Trail (Trail #5W08)
Hike Location: Cleveland National Forest
Geographic Location: east of San Juan Capistrano, CA (33.61280, -117.42630)
Length: 2.1 miles
Difficulty: 6/10 (Moderate)
Date Hiked: February 2024
Overview: A loop hike into a rocky canyon featuring a two-tier waterfall.
Trail Information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/cleveland/recarea/?recid=47648
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=956219
Photo Highlight:

Hike Video: (coming date TBD)

Directions to the trailhead: Between Los Angeles and San Diego, take I-5 to SR 74 (exit 82).  Exit and go east on SR 74.  Drive SR 74 east 19.4 miles to the signed trailhead parking lot on the left.  Turn left and park in the large paved lot.

The hike: Occupying 460,000 acres of inland montane land, Cleveland National Forest is the southern-most of the 18 national forests located at least partly within California.  The forest was created in 1908 when President Theodore Roosevelt combined Trabuco Canyon National Reserve and San Jacinto National Reserve.  The forest was named for former President Grover Cleveland even though he has no obvious connection to this area.

            Cleveland National Forest offers a myriad of hiking and backpacking trails, and one of the shorter and easier options is the San Juan Loop Trail described here.  Located high in San Juan Creek's canyon, the San Juan Loop Trail explores the rocky terrain above San Juan Creek, and it passes one of the area's best waterfalls.  I came here on a warm and sunny Tuesday afternoon and had an excellent hike.

San Juan Loop Trail trailhead

            Start at the north end of the parking lot, where a wooden information kiosk contains a large but old map and marks the trailhead.  The somewhat narrow dirt trail climbs gently to quickly reach its highest point.  At first dense brush towers overhead and crowds the trail, but soon nice views open up across SR 74 into the rocky and rugged San Mateo Canyon Wilderness to the east.

View east into San Mateo Canyon Wilderness

            After passing the highest point, the trail begins a long, moderate, and occasionally rocky descent.  At 0.25 miles, you reach a rocky overlook of a two-tier waterfall in one of San Juan Creek's tributaries.  The waterfall's lower tier is partially hidden by brush.  Also, this waterfall probably dries up during a drought, but it had good flow when I came here a few days after a heavy rain from one of this region's notorious "Pineapple express" storms.

Top tier of waterfall

            Past the waterfall, you descend a couple of switchbacks down a steep and rocky hillside.  At 0.6 miles, the descent eases as you begin heading southwest with the main channel of San Juan Creek visible downhill to the right.  The trail remains narrow here with brush rubbing against your legs, so pants will be much more comfortable than shorts on this hike.

Entering the riparian corridor

            A little more winding and descending brings you into the densely wooded riparian corridor around San Juan Creek near 1 mile into the hike.  Now the character of the hike completely changes from a sunny, rocky, brushy hillside to a damp, densely wooded ravine bottom.  Bugs will be an issue here in season, but the hiking is much easier here than on the rocky hillside.

Hiking through the riparian area

            At 1.1 miles, you reach a major signed trail intersection.  The longer and more difficult Chiquito Trail exits right to ford San Juan Creek, but our hike angles left to stay on the San Juan Loop.  From here it is about 325 feet of elevation gain to get back to the parking lot.  A nice bench makes a good place to sit and rest near the midpoint of this hike.

View down San Juan Creek's canyon

            Soon the trail curves left to begin climbing with another tributary of San Juan Creek on the right.  The terrain is less rocky and easier to deal with than on the downward portion of the loop, but heavily-traveled SR 74 stays within sight to the right for most of the climb.  Thus, the hiking is not nearly as pleasant.  After passing a primitive campground, the trail climbs to a ledge that gives nice views down San Juan Creek's canyon and of the rocky surrounding hillsides.  A little more gradual to moderate climbing returns you to the parking lot to complete the hike.