Re: Las Jollas - the waterfalls above La Manzanilla

Posted by Jim on January 19, 2013, 11:12 am, in reply to "Re: Las Jollas - the waterfalls above La Manzanilla"
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Hi Rick I have hiked up to Las Jollas twice. The most recent time being late Nov, 2012. It is not a difficult hike. (We are both in our sixties and not Olympians). You can drive a car up the Arroyo and the roadway criss crosses the dried stream bed in several places. Where it goes through fields there will be barbed wire gates that need to be opened and reattached to allow your vehicle to pass. (Your vehicle's paint job will get scratched.) At some point one decides to park the car and do the rest of the distance on foot. (It is probably about a 1+ hour hike from the overhead bridge in La Manz and, if you decide to drive a vehicle as far as you are comfortable -- a 1/2 hour hike from there.) The road is ATV or mountain bike accessible but, it ends probably 1/4 mile before the falls. (Near the point where the stream disappears into the aquafer.) From that point, you will picking your way through, around and over large boulders in the stream bed. Wear comfortable hiking shoes, sneakers, and hat. I am not bothered by bugs, but, bug spray is probably a good idea. There are a couple of pools before the waterfall. Be prepared to wade waist deep or scramble up a 20 foot high rock face. (Next time, I would take a length of rope.) An interesting hike where you are sometimes up close to Long horned Mexican cattle, hiking an derelict roadway through "light" jungle, see a stream disappear into the earth, and sometimes run into other hikers or Mexican families making the trek. There are small minnow like fish in the stream. I find it mind boggling to contemplate how they got there. Jim

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