Upper Falls Creek Falls

RATING - 54.0


VR - 6.0 (Med) HR - 6.0 SR - 18/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Very Difficult

LOCATION - Falls Creek Road

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 154'

WIDTH - 30'

GPS - N48 07.001 W121 29.285

ELEVATION - 2380'

DIRECTIONS - No directions provided. Dangerous access.

The upper falls on Falls Creek is the best of the bunch. The creek drops over 150' in two back-to-back tiers. We measured the upper tier at 66' in height, but it's really difficult to see. No problem though, because the 88' tall main tier is astounding. It drops into a large amphitheater in a 25' wide curtain of water that is very different from most other NW Washington waterfalls.

This is by far the best waterfall in the Darrington area but suffers from being very difficult to visit. Most of the trip is spent walking up the old road bed, which gets brushier and brushier as the journey goes on. The final climb up the side of the North Fork is steep and difficult. The total trip is around 8 miles round trip and took us 5 hours. Be forewarned if you chose to go after this one, there's nothing extremely difficult about it, but the overall trip is thoroughly exhausting.