Santa
Barbara Falls
Santa
Barbara Falls is a tiered waterfall about 70 feet high. The three main tiers can be seen in
this photo above. Tall timber and
steep terrain make it hard to get a shot of all three tiers in the same
photo. Sorry this photo is not the
best. I hope to return soon and
climb one of those tall trees to get a better photograph. The 35’ high lower tier, which is
behind the small fir tree here, shows better in the two photos below.
This
is a better photo however only a small upper portion of the 35’ high upper tier
can be seen.
Santa
Barbara Falls lower most tier is a 35’ high beauty.
The
upper tier(s) are also about 35’ high, which along with the 35’ lower tier
makes up 70’ high Santa Barbara Falls.
*** Please enjoy photos of more Santa Barbara Falls at the
bottom of this page.***
beta facts:
name- Santa Barbara Falls
type of waterfall- tiered waterfall with 3
tiers
height- 70’
...the creek in this gorge
descends 600’ in a third of a mile.
elevation- 10300’
GPS coordinates- ±35°59.719’N 105°36.432’W
flow- a fine cutthroat trout stream
season- summer and fall
accommodations- Pecos Wilderness
ownership- Carson National Forest
access- 2½ miles on trail #24 followed by
3½ miles on trail #25 then 1¾ miles following the stream on game trails
nearest town- Peñasco is about 15 miles
north-northwest of here
fun fact- ...a very special place…!!!!
essay bro
The Rio Santa Barbara is a special jewel in New Mexico’s Crown. Santa Barbara Falls is a bright shinning gleam of that jewel. The upper two forks of The West Fork Rio Santa Barbara are both fine trout streams equal in size. Santa Barbara Falls are found on the “EAST” branch of The West Fork Rio Santa Barbara. Please “right-click” “save-as” to print and use a copy of my map below. The Forest Service Maps show the trail #25 incorrectly and they do not show the beautiful Santa Barbara Falls...!!!
Enhanced
National Geographic 7.5’ topo map
_____ONE MILE_____
These photos show the waterfalls that are
just up stream from Santa Barbara Falls.
...wouldn’t this be a nice photo if those
huge Doug Firs were outa there...?
This two-tiered 40’ high waterfall is 100
yards up stream from Santa Barbara Falls.
Some folks like to include this falls as an upper tier of Santa Barbara
Falls, which would make Santa Barbara Falls well over 150’ high. I feel these are a separate falls. This country is so rugged this was the
best photo I could get. The next
photo is of these same falls but it was clicked from that low sloping log near
the bottom of the falls.
The upper 20’ tier of this 40’ falls looks
shorter than in the photo above because the photo angle is lower.
This 20’ falls is one of the small falls
shown on the map above... also shown here is my right tenny shoe.
Another 20’ small falls with in a torturous
sculpted gorge
I couldn’t quite get this entire 30’ high,
three-tiered, upper most, Santa Barbara waterfall to fit in this photo.
Here’s
a nearby waterfall on a side stream.
Cubby Hole Canyon Falls is about 25’ high.
...if you hike up that canyon you will see
why we call it “Cubby Hole Canyon”.
You’ll find it on my topo above.
a side view of Cubby Hole Falls
...and
another nearby waterfall on a side stream.
40’
high Steep Creek Falls is just over 100 yards northeast of Santa Barbara Falls.
below
is a side view of steep creek falls.
The Santa Barbara Falls area is extremely unique and
wonderful...!!!
...ONE MORE PHOTO FOR YOU…
showing the splendid view of 12,841’ Chimayosos Mountain as you hike up West Fork Rio Santa Barbara on your way to the falls.
Send questions and comments to dscott@TheMarbleSculptor.com