Upper Hard Creek Falls

RATING - 48.0

VR - 4.0 (Sm/M) HR - 11.0 SR - 4/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Fairly Difficult

LOCATION - Cascade River Road

TYPE - Cascades

HEIGHT - 1400'

WIDTH - 10'

DIRECTIONS - From Hard Creek Falls, climb up the hillside along the creek for several hundred feet. You'll get your first view of the falls from just above the lower falls, but climbing further up the ridge will be necessary to see the falls well.

As one nears the end of Cascade River Road, almost every creek that is crossed drops over 1000', multi-tiered waterfalls on their way to the river. In the middle section of the road, most of the creeks harbor much smaller waterfalls, but Hard Creek is the exception. A short distance upstream from the road, Hard Creek cascades down a massive cliff face for well over 1000'. From just above Hard Creek Falls, one can see the very bottom of the falls and parts of the smaller, righthand segment. Getting a better view will require a longer bushwhack, but should definitely be possible. On my first attempt to view the falls, the creek was covered by an avalanche so I elected not to go further. I'll give it another shot in the near future and attempt to view the main segment of the falls.