Samantha Falls

RATING - 28.0

VR - 2.0 (Sm) HR - 8.0 SR - 12/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail

DIFFICULTY - Difficult

LOCATION - Baker Lake Road

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 431'

WIDTH - 15'

GPS - N48 45.502 W121 45.712

ELEVATION - 3980'

DIRECTIONS - Drive out Baker Lake Road to the Boulder Creek Bridge (tough to miss) and take an immediate left onto FR 1130. In about 1.5 miles, take the left hand fork at the Y. Follow this road to its end at the Boulder Ridge Trail. Hike the trail for about 3 miles until it ends up on a small ridge overlooking the barren wasteland of the Boulder Creek headwaters.

Samantha Falls is the middle of the three major waterfalls that drop from streams originating in the Boulder Glacier. The waterfall begins with a long series of slides and cascades totaling 245' in height. The creek then encounters a more vertical cliff band and plunges 60'. This is immediately followed by 78' worth of cascades. The waterfall finishes with a beautiful 48' tall fan shaped drop. This drop is located only a couple dozen feet from the bottom tier of nearly Upper Boulder Creek Falls, making for a really cool scene. Most of the waterfall can be seen from the trail but to get close you'll have to scramble off-trail, including a trecherous fording of Boulder Creek itself at some point. In the tradition of naming waterfalls after females, I have named this one for my daughter Samantha.