Family Hike: La Lejona To Cascada Las Tinajas

While not a huge distance, this requires a lot of bouldering, scrambling, following rocks and crossing back and forth along the creek bed. It’s a stunning hike through an old hacienda to the waterfall (wet/summer season), up and around to and climbing down into the canyon above the waterfall where you can see the mouth of the waterfall and where it falls to the pool below. The return trip is more even turf so faster going until you hit the downhill where there is lots of loose gravel and dirt that can cause slips.

In the wet season, there are areas of high grass, prickly plants with thorns. Pants and bug spray recommended. Bring plenty of water and some snacks for the kids.

The “beach” at the waterfall is perfect for a picnic. We took water shoes in our backpacks to wade a bit into the water.

Water level alert: During the rainy season (June - September), there could be flash floods here. Avoid hiking on days when it could rain. Much of the hike is up the creek bed. If there has been a lot of recent precipitation, you might find it hard to find a route up the creek bed as many of the rocks could be under water. However, the amount of water flowing in the waterfall would be higher. There is no-to-little signal in the canyon, download your maps for offline use!

Families: My 11 year old loved this hike. She thinks walking doesn’t count as hiking….there has to be at least some scrambling and climbing to count as a “real” hike. Kids are busy climbing and scrambling and don’t tend to get bored or complain because they have to pay attention to where they step! I’d suggest kids 9 and up would be old enough and have the coordination and endurance to do this hike. Kids who tend to horse around may need to warned to be calm, not leap from rock to rock and to be careful around areas that are along climbs and steep ledges. Today we went with kids ages 11, 13, 15 and a handful of adults.