Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Discover a showery 20-foot cascade in Coal Canyon, Orange County's premier wildlife corridor.

For at least three decades, the Coal Canyon diamond interchange on the Riverside Freeway through Santa Ana Canyon was a virtual joke, featuring ramps to and from nowhere. "Nowhere" might have been replaced by subdivisions spreading eastward from Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills. That hasn't happened, and likely will never happen. The Coal Canyon undercrossing, it was discovered, was the one and only practical wildlife corridor between 40,000 acres of undeveloped lands in the Chino and Puente Hills to the north and half a million acres of wild land in the Santa Ana Mountains to the south. Mountain lions were using it to avoid being flattened by an endless river of cars, 10 to 12 lanes wide. Biologists increasingly insist that preserving habitat linkages, even lowly ones such as freeway crossings and tunnels, are essential to the regional survival of migratory wild animals.

Coal Canyon's freeway ramps were closed in 2003. The asphalt strip of the putative parkway underneath is gone, and a wide stretch of Coal Canyon south of the freeway is now friendlier to both migrating creatures and hikers curious enough to visit. Formerly under private ownership, the canyon has fallen under the jurisdiction of Chino Hills State Park and California's Department of Fish and Game.

Sponsored
Sponsored

To get to the present starting point of the Coal Canyon hike from central San Diego, use Interstate 5 and Orange County's Eastern Transportation Corridor toll road to reach Highway 91 (Riverside Freeway). Travel east four miles to the Green River Road exit, and turn left (west). After one mile, park on the right side of Green River Road where space is available at a point 0.2 mile short of the entrance to the Green River Golf Club. (Note: It is faster for residents of north inland San Diego County to follow Interstate 15 north to Corona, and Highway 91 west to Green River Road.)

On foot, walk the 0.2 mile stretch along Green River Road toward the golf course entrance, and continue on the paved Santa Ana River bike trail that closely parallels the freeway. Endure for the next few minutes the insanely roaring traffic on your left. Also, take note of the massive damage to the Santa Ana River concrete flood channel on your right, due to near-catastrophic flows of water in recent months. Construction crews will likely be active in this area for several months to come.

When you reach the Coal Canyon crossing after 1.2 miles, walk underneath the overpasses and continue south into Chino Hills State Park territory (signs say no bikes and no dogs allowed). Follow an old, often eroded truck trail up Coal Canyon's wide floodplain, staying to the left of the canyon's sand-and-gravel-coated stream bed.

After a mile of uphill hiking, just short of where the canyon significantly narrows, you'll need to drop down onto the gravelly canyon floor itself. Proceed one-half mile farther upstream, following a silvery strand of water, to where the canyon walls soar and pinch in tightly. There, the sound of spattering water heralds your arrival at a sublime grotto graced with a 20-foot high shower of crystal-clear water. It pours off a mineralized outcrop shaped like the spout of a teapot. This is a rare sight -- but so, too, is this season's overabundance of rain.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Not enough Readers in Mission Beach

Mayor Todd Gloria's skin color
Next Article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate

For at least three decades, the Coal Canyon diamond interchange on the Riverside Freeway through Santa Ana Canyon was a virtual joke, featuring ramps to and from nowhere. "Nowhere" might have been replaced by subdivisions spreading eastward from Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills. That hasn't happened, and likely will never happen. The Coal Canyon undercrossing, it was discovered, was the one and only practical wildlife corridor between 40,000 acres of undeveloped lands in the Chino and Puente Hills to the north and half a million acres of wild land in the Santa Ana Mountains to the south. Mountain lions were using it to avoid being flattened by an endless river of cars, 10 to 12 lanes wide. Biologists increasingly insist that preserving habitat linkages, even lowly ones such as freeway crossings and tunnels, are essential to the regional survival of migratory wild animals.

Coal Canyon's freeway ramps were closed in 2003. The asphalt strip of the putative parkway underneath is gone, and a wide stretch of Coal Canyon south of the freeway is now friendlier to both migrating creatures and hikers curious enough to visit. Formerly under private ownership, the canyon has fallen under the jurisdiction of Chino Hills State Park and California's Department of Fish and Game.

Sponsored
Sponsored

To get to the present starting point of the Coal Canyon hike from central San Diego, use Interstate 5 and Orange County's Eastern Transportation Corridor toll road to reach Highway 91 (Riverside Freeway). Travel east four miles to the Green River Road exit, and turn left (west). After one mile, park on the right side of Green River Road where space is available at a point 0.2 mile short of the entrance to the Green River Golf Club. (Note: It is faster for residents of north inland San Diego County to follow Interstate 15 north to Corona, and Highway 91 west to Green River Road.)

On foot, walk the 0.2 mile stretch along Green River Road toward the golf course entrance, and continue on the paved Santa Ana River bike trail that closely parallels the freeway. Endure for the next few minutes the insanely roaring traffic on your left. Also, take note of the massive damage to the Santa Ana River concrete flood channel on your right, due to near-catastrophic flows of water in recent months. Construction crews will likely be active in this area for several months to come.

When you reach the Coal Canyon crossing after 1.2 miles, walk underneath the overpasses and continue south into Chino Hills State Park territory (signs say no bikes and no dogs allowed). Follow an old, often eroded truck trail up Coal Canyon's wide floodplain, staying to the left of the canyon's sand-and-gravel-coated stream bed.

After a mile of uphill hiking, just short of where the canyon significantly narrows, you'll need to drop down onto the gravelly canyon floor itself. Proceed one-half mile farther upstream, following a silvery strand of water, to where the canyon walls soar and pinch in tightly. There, the sound of spattering water heralds your arrival at a sublime grotto graced with a 20-foot high shower of crystal-clear water. It pours off a mineralized outcrop shaped like the spout of a teapot. This is a rare sight -- but so, too, is this season's overabundance of rain.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Pacific Beach – car thief's paradise

Take photos of your automobile and license plate
Next Article

Yo-Yo Ma, Wagner, and Tchaikovsky come to San Diego

Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.