Racehorse Falls
RATING - 52.0
VR - 6.0 (Med) HR - 6.0 SR - 16/20
TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail
DIFFICULTY - Fairly Easy
LOCATION - Mosquito Lake Road
TYPE - Fan
HEIGHT - 139'
WIDTH - 40'
GPS - N48 52.692 W122 07.439
ELEVATION - 740'
DIRECTIONS - Take the Mt. Baker Hwy east from Bellingham. Turn right onto Mosquito Lake Road. Just after the road crosses the Nooksack, turn left onto North Fork Road. In just over 4 miles, cross Racehorse Creek on an old wooden bridge. Turn right just before the bridge and drive for a few hundred feet to a large pullout on the right. Park, cross the road, and then find the trail heading upstream. You will have to cross the creek to get right to the base of the falls, which can be tricky when the water is high.
Racehorse Falls is a very unique looking waterfall that drops part of the way down the cliff before crashing into the bedrock and spreading out into a gorgeous fan. Above the main section of the falls is an upper section that consists of an 8' drop, followed by a 15' drop, and then a 25' tall slide into the main part of the falls. There are a few more small drops upstream a short distance but they are difficult to view and not nearly as impressive as the main section. The creek below the falls is now a wide, gravel bed and the nice swimming hole below the gorge is now filled in with logs and rocks. It's more difficult to get close to the falls now but it's easy to see the falls from the gravel bed downstream.
