Fish Canyon Falls, Duarte, CA

(yep! here in L.A.)

So I discovered this hike in my L.A. hiking book:
This is a fantastic book and I definitely recommend it for people who want to get more into hiking and see the incredible beauty of Los Angeles. I also use the website localhikes.com which has hikes for all US states.
In the description, the hike was labeled one of the best waterfall hikes in the San Gabriel valley, but a "butt-kicker." Here's the deal though: the entrance to the hike is inside a quarry, and just recently (I think within the last couple of years), they opened it up to have a free shuttle ride to the trail head (every Saturday for the first half of the year). So it bypasses some of the "butt-kicker" part of the hike. The hike was about 5-6 miles. If you want to try this hike, the shuttle is available the last two Saturdays in June and the 2nd Saturday in July. If you don't take the shuttle, there is a small lot 1.2 miles up Encanto Pkwy. And then you can try the butt-kicker part of the hike, which goes around the quarry, which makes it about 9-10 miles total. (Otherwise, directions are 210E to Mt Olive Dr., R on Huntington, L on Encanto Pkwy to the quarry parking lot, 1.7(?) mi).
Enough explanation... this hike was amazing, not too difficult, and the best waterfall hike I've been to in LA. There were lots of people there (we went between 8:45 and 11:45), so I would suggest going a bit earlier. Shuttle starts at 7am. So many great pictures, but here are a few:

Courtney with Annie, and Michelle with Rita:

Hike by the creek:

The canyon view:

Pancake Cactus and Fried-Egg Flowers:

And the waterfall, in all it's 4-tier glory:

Enjoying the hot weather and cool water:
Me, Michelle and Courtney:
Beautiful Hike:

And all the pictures from the hike can be found here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=236929&id=527707845&l=08c5b549dc

Also, a video from Truth and Salvage Co.: