Escondido Falls

This very lovely Easter I slept in and then went to IHOP and had a two of everything breakfast. At IHOP they do not mess around with 2 of everythings. 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 ham and home fries. Most places only give you 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 meat. I was very excited, though I did not eat it all and was quite stuffed. OK I ate most of it. All but one ham. It was delish.
So after that I drove down to Malibu and went to this place I had been wanting to go to for awhile. A hike to the Escondido Falls. When you get there you park in this lot right off the PCH and then walk a mile to the trail. You walk through a neighborhood of ridiculous mansions that overlook the ocean. It was really beautiful and I wish I lived there. When you get to the end of the neighborhood, the trail begins. The trail itself was pretty easy. In fact I think the walk through the neighborhood was harder cause it was mostly uphill. The trail to the falls is mostly flat but really pretty and I had a lot less fear about wild animals or reptiles getting me than when I was at the Grotto. There was alot more people too. So I walked about 25-30 minutes and then arrived at the bottom of the falls. There wasn't really any falls actually happening. It was more the Escondido Drips. I imagine it must be very pretty after alot of rain.
So once there, you have the choice to climb up the mountain to the the middle and top of the falls. The hiking book calls it scrambling which I guess is the step before rock climbing? Who knows. I climbed as far as I could but I think I somehow got lost. I made it to the middle falls, I think, and there was a really cute area and I just chilled on the rocks for a bit and listened to the waterfall and creek. Then I climbed back down and dipped my feet in the basin of the falls to cool off. I have never gone climbing before and it was so fun. I loved it. I am going to try to go back and see where I messed up and make it to the top. There is supposedly a tree swing at the top. I got cuts and scrapes all over myself from almost falling down the mountain and my body hurt for 3 days, but it was so fun. Here are some pictures.

The road through the neighborhood by the Pacific.


A ranchsion (ranch+mansion, get it?) that had a stable full of horses.


The house I would like to live in. At least they could let me live in their gate house, which was bigger than most of my friends houses in Philly. Definitely bigger than my mom's twin.



The scrambling zone. This was basically straight down. You can't really tell.


The middle falls.


Bottom of the middle falls.


Bottom of Escondido. I told you there wasn't a lot of water.


These are not my pictures, but I wanted to show you what the falls look like when it's wetter out.

Top of the falls which will be my goal next time, hopefully if I don't get lost.


Bottom of the falls what I waded around in. Sooooo cold!