Codfish Falls Trail is a 2.8 mile heavily trafficked out and back trail located near Foresthill, California that features a waterfall and is good for all skill levels. The trail is primarily used for hiking, running, nature trips, and bird watching and is best used from April until October.
Kid friendly
Hiking
Nature trips
Bird watching
Running
Cave
Forest
Partially paved
River
Views
Waterfall
Wild flowers
Wildlife
Fee
No dogs
This hike is amazing right in early spring before the creeks dry up and the flowers and grass are gone. There are a couple side trails down to the river, and in summer it is great for swimming. Great hike. It's narrow, so weekends (when the trail is more crowded) are not ideal, but doable. The road to get there is a very difficult drive. Ideally you will have 4WD or a car with clearance. Signage at the trailhead limits parking. The only place to park is the side of the road and, on weekends, the line of cars can get long enough to block part of the road. If you do this, you are risking a ticket. $10 to park.
Sun Jun 28 2020Amazing trail. The water falls are small but really beautiful. I recommend to bring plenty of water and some snacks, specially hiking with children. There are plenty of nice spots to chill down in the river. As others mentioned, the road to get there is rough. A 4WD or AWD vehicle is highly recommended. I have a 2WD SUV and had some issues on the way out.
Mon Jun 22 2020I saw the other reviews mentioning the road to get here and went in an off roading Jeep just to be prepared- but I didn’t really need it. The road is rough but if you have all wheel you can do it. Many cars did the same day i went. Parking is limited, would recommend getting there early. The trail is easy and fairly flat but does have a lot of unshaded parts. The falls are small but worth it! Water at both the falls and river is delightful, especially on a hot day. Would recommend if you need to take a dip to cool off!
Sat Jun 13 2020Make sure your car has good tires...its a bumpy dirt road for 15 to 20 minutes to get there. Good place for a light hike and a picnic lunch.
Wed Jun 03 2020short enjoyable hike trail is a bit narrow the waterfall is picture worthy. parking is limited need a 4WD or AWD to access the trail
Wed Jun 03 2020The trail was overall pretty good. A little hot but there are plenty of spots to stop in the shade along the trail. The trail wasn’t bad at all, it was pretty easy. My kids(5 & 7) had no problems. We saw two snakes a lot of lizards and a few frogs at the falls. The falls aren’t huge but amazing and nice to cool off in once you are there. Cooled off in the river at the parking lot before we left. We drove in off the forest hill side and drove out the opposite direction toward I80. The drive in wasn’t bad at all. The drive out wasn’t bad either. There are plenty of spots that are washed out, but there were quite a few cars that came that way. Saw two ladies drive down in a car as we were leaving, so it’s not that treacherous. Just be cautious and go slow. I have an SUV and had absolutely no problems.
Mon May 25 2020Another reviewer had called the road to the trail "treacherous" and I thought they were being dramatic. They were not being dramatic. The three-mile final road down to the trail, if you really want to call it a road, is not serviced by the county and is mostly craters between dirt on the edge of a cliff. I would not recommend this if you do not have an SUV or truck with all-wheel-drive. Truly on the way down, we feared for our lives and thought "perhaps this is meant to be the trail?" The drive is that scary. The hike itself was very pleasant with good shade. The waterfall was stunning, and the hike was long enough where you feel like you've accomplished something. Great wildlife, including stunning butterflies, wildflowers, and lizards. The river looked great to swim in, and there are trash bins at the trailhead and port-a-potties if you need.
Mon May 25 2020Great for kids. Short, great waterfall and the river was awesome. Enter the park from the Forrest hill road. Much easier to drive into canyon.
Mon May 25 2020Fairly easy trail, died a little on the way back but that’s because I’m out of shape and because there isn’t a lot of shade towards the beginning of the trail! The waterfall was really pretty but we didn’t stay long because there were a bunch of people there so that kinda sucked! I saw a lot of kids at the waterfall so like if they can do it so can you! Highly recommend having a taller car to get down there. We drove a Honda Pilot down the dirt road with lots of divots and potholes and large rocks so definitely not for low clearance cars overall very fun!
Sun May 17 2020The only reason I have given it 3 starts is for the waterfall! The drive down the mountain is extremely narrow and is a 2 way road with room for only one car. We literally started to slide when another car passed. Once you actually get a a parking spot and walk towards the trail it looks nice until you have to climb up a huge rock and round narrow passages ways were you can’t even put your feet side by side. I do not recommend for children at all !!! Website says 2.8 miles round trip ours says 3.5 miles !
Tue May 12 2020This is a easy trail, great for kids and dogs too. With beautiful sights since the trail goes along the river most of the time . There are still plenty of wildflowers so pretty! Also I saw a California kingsnake for the first time it was amazing. The only inconvenient it’s that the road it’s very rough and like others said it’s necessary to go with a 4WD.
Sun May 10 2020This trail was easy to do for my 3 kids and the waterfall was great. Most of the trail was alongside the river. The bad was the drive down. You have about 3 miles of pure rocky, uneven, narrow road. If you don’t have a suv or a truck take extreme caution. That drive down is not for the faint of heart.
Sat May 09 2020Thee worst hike and not worth the treacherous route to the trailhead. Whether you take the Weimar or Foresthill route, be prepared for three miles of gravel and dusty road with some giant holes that you will need to traverse by car to reach the trail. The trail itself is a narrow, single file trail with areas of steep drop off and very little shade. When we reached the falls, we were disappointed to find a small waterfall, a few dirty pools of water, and conservatively, a million mosquitos.
Wed Apr 29 2020The waterfall is an amazing place to cool off with the kids or just relax for a while, very shaded and all we could hear were the birds and the water. I think this was more of a moderate than an easy trail but with it. The kids ( 2yr and 11yr) enjoyed playing in the very cold water and climbing the rocks up the falls
Mon Apr 27 2020This was a beautiful trail with a fantastic waterfall at the end! The kids were able to play in the water at the creek below the falls to cool down, which was way less treacherous than the river this time of year! Wild flowers were just everywhere! it was lovely. We had our 4 kids ages 3-12 with us and they did just fine.
Sun Apr 26 2020Great trail! Saw a beautiful rattlesnake crossing the trail around 10:30am.
Fri Apr 24 2020Great hike! Trail is not closed! Start from behind the bathrooms at the parking lot. View of the river for majority of the hike. Lots of stretches with no shade. The well shaded areas have mosquitos. Took a slight detour off path cause it sounded like more falls but it was just the rapids of the river. Only falls are all the way at the end and it did not disappoint! The road to the parking lot was bumpy with a lot of gravel for about 5 miles. I wouldn’t recommend taking a nice car down. Some sort of suv would be best. Lots of flowers. Time could be faster but we were hiking with kids at a slower pace. It was definitely hot. Wish we started earlier In the morning (we started at 11) or better yet later in the evening if we lived closer. Pictures don’t do this one justice.
Fri Apr 03 2020Wonderful!!
Thu Apr 02 2020Amazing trail! But come from the Forest Hill side. Coming from the Weimar side the road is very very treacherous. We went out through Forrest hill and it was a night and day experience. Don’t let taking the tough road ruin the experience! Take the longer route.
Sat Feb 29 2020Short hike but so peaceful and beautiful! Following the river is a big bonus with the small waterfall at the end that seems majestic. Driving the road to get to the hike is rough and bumpy but doable.
Mon Feb 24 2020They were not lying when they said you need an off road vehicle! (Thank God for my friends Jeep) But if you do it’s an amazing trail! Dog and kid friendly! The waterfall was beautiful. Found a tick on one of our fur friends so be careful and check them! So get in the right vehicle enjoy the slight off road in and enjoy!
Sat Feb 22 2020Fri Feb 21 2020Just completed this trail. Comments about roads are a bit mis-leading, as it depends on which area you come from. From the Foresthill side, road is driveable by car, but with some rocky sections to traverse. Trail is easy, but some sections are very narrow with drop-offs to river. Nothing any capable person or kid can't handle. Codfish falls is nice, but can be dangerous, as rocks are steep at base of falls and easy to slide down. Just talked to an elderly gent who slide 15 feet down rocks at base of falls.
Thu Feb 20 2020Really great trail for kids. They enjoyed the four wheel drive down! Definitely need 4x4. Not a lot of parking once you’re at the bottom. But great trail.
