Park Glacier Falls

RATING - 48.0

VR - 4.0 (Sm/M) HR - 10.0 SR - 8/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Roadside

DIFFICULTY - Very Easy

LOCATION - Baker Lake Road

TYPE - Segmented

HEIGHT - 1000'

WIDTH - 2000'

ELEVATION - 5000'

DIRECTIONS - Take HWY 20 east and turn left onto Baker Lake Road. Just after the road crosses over Boulder Creek, turn left onto FR 1130. Follow this road, going right at the first fork and left at the second until it ends with an amazing view of Mt. Baker. This series of waterfalls can be seen tumbling down the Park Cliffs about 3 miles away.

This waterfall, or more appropriately waterfalls, occurs where several braids of water drop hundreds of feet from the Park Glacier down a huge cliff, aptly named the Park Cliffs. Depending on the amount of melting the glacier is doing, the number of streams can change from day to day or probably even hour to hour. The tallest single drop, pictured on the left, is somewhere around 600' tall in one tall, skinny plunge. The falls tend to get a little shorter as you work your way right (northwest). As impressive as these waterfalls are, they are essentially an afterthought to the amazing view of Baker from the end of the road (see additional pictures below). My pictures were taken in the afternoon with the sun almost directly overhead. If you get here in the morning, you should be able to see the falls much better. If you're in the area to visit Baker Hot Springs or Rainbow Falls, it's worth the extra few minutes to drive to the end of the road for this amazing view. It's possible to get a closer view by bushwhacking from the end of the Rainbow Ridge Trail, but you're still all the way across a huge canyon.