Purdue Falls

Purdue Falls was one of the last major waterfalls that I found on Mt. Baker and immediately became one of my favorites. It's not a big, powerful waterfall by any means, but it's delicate, gorgeous, tranquil, all those sorts of things. The falls occur where a small branch of Ridley Creek encounters an undercut cliff (a rarity on Baker) and plunges 103' in a narrow stream of water. The waterfall itself is gorgeous, but the setting it lies in makes it really special. The cliff behind the falls is full of tiny little pockets or caves. I sat out a small rain shower in one of these caves with a pika as my only companion. The best time to view the waterfall is a fairly tight window. The creek is fed entirely by melting snow and will be almost dry by August most years. Access to the falls doesn't open up until July (depending a little on which route you take) so there are only a couple of months to catch it with enough flow to make it worth your effort, and the effort is pretty substantial.

Purdue Falls was named by a 1909 Mazamas Expedition who spent the summer in Mazama Park (just upstream). W.E. Stone was the president of Purdue University, so the falls were named after the school. It remained a bit of a mystery until I rediscovered the falls in 2017.