Upper Sandy Creek Falls

RATING - 54.0

VR - 6.0 (Med) HR - 6.0 SR - 18/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Extremely Difficult

LOCATION - Mt. Baker Rec Area

TYPE - Plunge

HEIGHT - 173'

WIDTH - 15'

ELEVATION - 4440'

GPS - N 48 44.233', W 121 47.685'

DIRECTIONS - No directions provided. Dangerous access.

Upper Sandy Creek Falls is the best of the large group of waterfalls located at the headwaters of Sandy Creek. The waterfall was a great surprise to me when I found it. I knew there was a waterfall of some sort at the location, but I had no idea how tall it was. I would've been happy with a 50 footer. In addition, the first view of the waterfall is a bit of a tease. The upper 50' or so can be seen and then the waterfall drops behind the cliff which hides the full height until you reach the creek level. The waterfall plunges over one of the best cliffs on the mountain in a 173' tall, 15' wide curtain of water. Just upstream, the North Fork of Sandy Creek splits in two with the majority of the water dropping over this waterfall. The rest of the creek branches off and drops over its own waterfall a short distance to the south of this one. The scene of two waterfalls side-by-side over this amazing cliff is one of the coolest places on Mt. Baker. While the trip to visit this waterfall is very difficult, it is worth the effort and there are several other nice waterfalls in the immediate area as well.