Gold Run Falls

RATING - 51.8

VR - 5.4 (Med) HR - 7.0 SR - 14/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Roadside

DIFFICULTY - Very Easy

LOCATION - Twin Lakes Road

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 314'

WIDTH - 25'

GPS - N48 56.159 W121 40.428

ELEVATION - 3295'

DIRECTIONS - Head east on Mt. Baker Highway and turn left onto Twin Lakes Road. Follow the road for around 6 miles until you cross over the creek. You should see the lower parts of the falls from the road. A rough trail leads up the right side of the creek to good views of the upper sections of the falls but it is very steep.

Gold Run Falls occurs on an unnamed, though fairly large, creek that begins on Yellow Aster Butte near Gold Run Pass (hence the name). I visited the falls for the 3rd time with Bryan from Waterfalls Northwest and he was able to measure the falls, which were quite a bit larger than I had estimated. The falls begin with a 163' tall drop that is nearly vertical and gets progressively wider as it falls. Below this the creek fans out another 57' in a gorgeous drop. The lowest section of the falls, that can be seen from the road, is another 74 vertical feet of cascades and slides bringing the total to around 314'. This is a spectacular falls, especially when the snow is really melting as it has been on my visits. I don't think this creek ever runs completely dry but it might get pretty low late in the summer. If you're heading up towards Twin Lakes, there is no reason not to check this waterfall out. It should be noted that the "Very Easy" Difficulty rating is only for the bottom section of the falls. It gets progressively more difficult as you climb higher up the falls. While the trip to the view of the top is short, it should probably be considered "Fairly Difficult" to get to.