Mill Creek Canyon is a steep, forested mountain corridor on the southern side of the San Bernardino Mountains. Carved by Mill Creek and framed by the high country of the San Gorgonio Wilderness to the north and Yucaipa Ridge to the south, the canyon descends westward toward Mentone and the upper Santa Ana River watershed. Within it are the small, unincorporated communities of Mountain Home Village and Forest Falls, where homes, historic lodges and gathering places are nestled among oak and conifer forests, rocky washes, waterfalls and rugged mountain slopes.

The canyon also forms the southern gateway to State Route 38, the route many Southern Californians know as the “back way” to Big Bear. Highway 38 enters from Mentone and passes through Mountain Home Village before reaching the Forest Falls junction. From there, Valley of the Falls Drive continues deeper into Mill Creek Canyon, while Highway 38 climbs out of the drainage toward Angelus Oaks, Barton Flats, Onyx Summit and Big Bear.

Mill Creek Canyon has long connected the mountains with the communities below. Its flowing water supported some of the San Bernardino Mountains’ earliest sawmills, giving the canyon its name. In 1893, that same water powered the historic Mill Creek No. 1 hydroelectric plant, an early landmark in the commercial use of three-phase alternating-current electricity.

Today, Mill Creek Canyon is both a place of remarkable natural beauty and a living wildland-urban interface. Its residents share the benefits of mountain life, including clean air, wildlife, forests, flowing water and a strong sense of community. They also face the realities of steep terrain, wildfire, flooding, debris flows, rockfall and limited road access. Those conditions make preparedness, cooperation and local organizations such as CERT and the Fire Safe Council especially important.

More than a scenic passage on the way to Big Bear, Mill Creek Canyon is a distinct mountain community that is rural, historic, resourceful and closely connected to the forest that surrounds it.

What Is Mill Creek Canyon?