Hermit Falls — Attraction in Monrovia

I'm by no means a trailblazer or outdoorsy and adventurous. I've only been on like 6 hikes in my 40 years of life, lol. This one was fun, but a bit challenging for my 11 year old since this is his 3rd hiking trip and he's not very outdoorsy and adventurous either.

The paths were moderate for us. First part (paved road) from the parking lot down was a breeze, not so much on the way back up, lol. The rest through the trees and bushes was fairly easy with a few small challenges for us beginners. The creek hopping was cool. Definitely recommend water shoes, it makes it so much easier and safer, since you don't have to worry about slipping off rocks or losing your balance. Water is clean! And there are some cool cabins on the way.

Yes, the path as you get closer to the falls are narrow, but overall not bad. I definitely didn't expect what we saw when we arrived to our destination...it's beautiful! Pretty clean with some graffiti, unfortunately. I even saw some kid writing on a big rock with a gold marker, SMH!!

People were jumping off the cliffs, there are "rock slides" to get down to the main wading area and a nice sturdy rope to get you back up. Good spots for a picnic too.

I would definitely...

Maybe it’s the time of the year that we went at but the hike there wasn’t worth it for the small, very green pool of water and the small trickle of water that was the falls. When you get there, be sure to buy a parking pass so you don’t get a ticket! After that, follow the trail that says Hermit Falls. Once you get to the cabin at the bottom of the mountain where the dam is, continue on past the cabin. The end of the trail is where the water is. You have to use a rope to climb down to get to the water too so if you’re not good at lifting your weight or if you have small children, I don’t recommend this trail. The trail is 3 miles there and back and it’s all downhill going there but going uphill back is pretty rough. As I said, by reading the reviews, I expected a large pool of water that you can jump into and swim in but it was pretty shallow and very green and we just didn’t think it was a great idea to get in because of all of the bugs in it. Also there was a ton of graffiti which made the view less pleasant. Nice hike but overall I...

Beautiful hike. Mostly shady area. There are tons of bugs. Not many mosquitos tho. We got here around 9-10 am which is later than we expected and there is no parking spots near the park already. We parked on the street a mile away from the trailhead. You’ll need to reserve parking permit if you want to park inside. The trail is easy, nothing difficult. As long as you follow the sign, should be able to get there in no time. The fall is nice and there is a pool under it. On the way back, we met a little friend- young rattlesnake. Just be careful and bring a hiking stick to go on the hike. (They are more scared than you) My main issue is many people leave trashes on the trails or put graffitis on the boulders which destroys the beauty of the nature. Sad to see some people don’t cherish the nature. Tip: get here as early as possible. It gets hot and no shade if you have to...