Avalanche Gorge Falls

RATING - 24.0

VR - 2.0 (Sm) HR - 9.0 SR - 6/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail

DIFFICULTY - Difficult

LOCATION - Rainbow Ridge

TYPE - Segmented

HEIGHT - 600'

WIDTH - 15'

GPS - N48 47' 14.48" W121 44' 44.45"

ELEVATION - 3400'

DIRECTIONS - Take HWY 20 east and turn left onto Baker Lake Road. Just after the road crosses over Boulder Creek, turn left onto FR 1130. Follow this road, going right at the first fork and left at the second until it ends with an amazing view of Mt. Baker. Hike the trail up to Rainbow Ridge and follow the ridge. Avalanche Gorge Falls can be seen in the valley below you in several places.

Avalanche Gorge Falls is actually two separate waterfalls located about 1/4 of a mile apart. Both streams originate in a series of snowfields on the northern slopes of Lava Divide. The two creeks plunge in a series of drops, each totaling around 600'. The left hand stream has more volume than the right segment but is more difficult to see from the ridge. The left segment finishes with a plunging waterfall that may be over 200' tall by itself. Unfortunately, this can't be seen from the ridge. This isn't a waterfall that you should necessarily go out of your way to view, but it's a great accent to the view of Baker and the Rainbow Glacier.

Many of the pictures you see here were taken across the valley from off the Ptarmigan Ridge Trail near 22 Goat Lake so that's another possibility for a distant view of these waterfalls.

Left - The left-hand segment of the falls from near 22 Goat Lake

Right - The right-hand segment from Rainbow Ridge Trail