Tahquitz Falls is a

waterfall A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in seve ...

Tahquitz Creek Tahquitz Creek is a small stream in Riverside County, California. The stream originates near Saddle Junction on the east slope of Mt. San Jacinto, and works its way down the mountain towards Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cah ...

in the west skirt of the city

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, in the U.S. state of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The waterfall is located in lower Tahquitz Canyon, a short distance upstream from the visitor center. The name of the canyon and its waterfall is from the spirit Tahquitz, a Cahuilla native of the Agua Caliente folklore. The river flows over a slab of

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

atop the falls, after which it plunges about into a pool. The fall is split once by a protrusion on the face of the canyon wall. The Tahquitz Falls is in the boundaries included in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Access

The falls are easily reached by proceeding upstream along the Tahquitz Canyon Trail. The trail gains approximately in altitude and runs past the waterfall forming a loop that returns to the waterfall and to the Visitor Center. The canyon and its trail are owned and managed by the Agua Calientes Band of Cahuilla Indians.

In popular culture

The Tahquitz Falls were used as a scene in

Frank Capra Frank Russell Capra (born Francesco Rosario Capra; May 18, 1897 – September 3, 1991) was an Italian-American film director, producer, and screenwriter who was the creative force behind Frank Capra filmography#Films that won Academy Award ...

's 1937 film ''Lost Horizon''. The Tahquitz Falls was also used as one of the prominent locations in the

Jim Morrison James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter, and poet who was the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his charismatic persona, poetic lyrics, distinctive vo ...

's privately-funded 1969 film '' HWY: An American Pastoral.''

References

{{Authority control Waterfalls of California Geography of Riverside County, California Geography of the Colorado Desert Palm Springs, California Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Coachella Valley Plunge waterfalls San Jacinto Mountains

Access

In popular culture

See also

References