St. Louis Falls

RATING - 34.0

VR - 3.6 (Sm/M) HR - 5.0 SR - 16/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail

DIFFICULTY - Fairly Easy

LOCATION - Deer Creek Road

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 100'

WIDTH - 10'

DIRECTIONS - Drive along the Mountain Loop Highway and turn off onto Deer Creek Road (FR 4052). In about 3.5 miles, the road crosses over Deer Creek. Just after this it goes around a sharp, right-hand turn. Keep your eyes open for a large pullout on the right side of the road. Park there and find a rough trail down towards the creek. The trail is tough to follow in places but eventually leads you to the creek and the upper section of the falls. Cross the creek and continue down to the main part of the falls. It should be noted that the road is not in great shape and you may have a hard time getting by one spot before the falls without high clearance and/or 4WD.

St. Louis Falls is a bit of a hidden gem. Deer Creek drops over this very pretty waterfall near the St Louis Mine. The falls begin with a pretty slide of about 15' tall at an angle of around 30' into a nice pool. If you visit this waterfall on a warm day, this part can be used as a waterslide. After this initial drop, the creek slides another 20' or so before plunging over the bottom section of the falls in two drops totaling around 50'.

There are several mine shafts that can be encountered along the way. The first is right next to the sliding upper tier and the second is just to the right of the main drop. There is supposed to be a middle entrance as well, but I've never found it. The mine is actively being mined so stay out of it and don't mess with anything. The guy who is operating it used to have a blog about the project that I can't find anymore. He completely rebuilt the trail though so thank him for that. It was kind of a mess before. You can read a little more about the mine here: St. Louis & Jackson Mine Snohomish County Washington (ghosttownsofwashington.com)