While trails in L.A. County have been allowed to reopen, most of these waterfall hikes have modified access or are temporarily closed. We suggest checking in with the county’s trail reopening alert for the latest news and restrictions (for example, Eaton Canyon is now open with mandatory reservations, but was temporarily closed after having initially reopened). For trails that are open, you must wear a mask in the trailhead parking lot, as well as on crowded stretches, and practice social distancing.

Waterfall hikes have been overwhelming popular as restrictions have been eased around SoCal (and, honestly, you probably shouldn’t even try to visit these trails right now in the name of social distancing). At the very least, if you roll up to one of these trailheads and find that it’s uncomfortably crowded, we suggested tackling an alternative trail (sans waterfall) instead.

Our original story appears below.

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While Angelenos are blessed with a gorgeous web of hikes with a view, we all too often find ourselves baked by the sun, with the ocean in sight and yet tantalizingly out of reach. Here are five hiking trails in L.A. that’ll keep you cool by journey’s end with some of the area’s most impressive waterfalls. L.A. hikes with waterfalls? We can’t think of more perfect things to do to enjoy a too-brief rainy season.

Just a word of caution: Waterfalls are strongest when winter snow up in the mountains melts in the spring, or after it rains. That’s also when they’re at their most dangerous; we wouldn’t recommend tackling these trails immediately after it’s rained.