Thunder Creek Falls
RATING - 36.0
VR - 8.0 (Big) HR - 3.0 SR - 12/20
TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack
DIFFICULTY - Very Difficult
LOCATION - Lake Shannon Area
TYPE - Cascades
HEIGHT - 50'
WIDTH - 10'
GPS - N48 36.162 W121 42.304
ELEVATION - 551'
DIRECTIONS - Drive up Baker Lake Road and turn right onto Baker Dam Road. Shortly after driving over the dam, part at the gated logging road that heads straight where the main road turns left. Walk or bike up this road (I recommend a bike). Just before reaching Thunder Creek, turn right on another dirt road. You will soon cross under the power lines (this is a good spot to ditch the bike). Take a left at both forks you come to. Just after the second fork in about a mile you should hear the creek roaring below you. Leave the road and start climbing down the hill. You'll reach the creek in about 220 vertical feet. Follow it upstream to the falls.
Thunder Creek is a very large creek that drains a big area on the eastern side of Lake Shannon. Just before reaching the lake, the creek runs through a very deep, rugged canyon, dropping over at least two waterfalls in the process. The major waterfall is the lower one, occuring where Thunder Creek drops out of said canyon and begins its final descent to Lake Shannon. The main portion of the falls is an extremely powerful horsetailing drop of about 30' in height. Upstream from this are several smaller drops adding about 10' to the overall height. Finally the creek roars, or maybe thunders would be a better term, out of the canyon in a 10' tall mess of whitewater. After exiting the canyon, the creek spreads out to almost 100' wide for the rest of the trip to the lake. In lower water levels, it should be possible to wade right up to the base of the falls but during the wet season this is a dangerously large creek.
My route to the falls is pretty tiring. The road is very flat so it's a pretty easy bike ride, but the climb down to the creek and then back up is exhausting so save some energy. An alternative route to the falls would be to take a boat to the mouth of Thunder Creek and then rockhop upstream. I even found what appeared to be a trail of sorts running along the north side of the creek. Whether this is man-made or animal-made, I know not.
