Bottleneck Falls
RATING - 21.6
VR - 0.9 (Tiny) HR - 4.0 SR - 18/20
TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail
DIFFICULTY - Easy
LOCATION - Curry Gap Trail
TYPE - Fan
HEIGHT - 76'
WIDTH - 30'
DIRECTIONS - Drive south from Darrington along the Mountain Loop Highway. Turn right onto the North Fork Sauk Road and follow it for several miles. Follow the sign for Sloan Creek Road at the fork in the road and then turn right at the next fork. The trailhead is at the end of this road. Follow the trail for 1.5 miles to where the falls can be seen from the trail.
The Curry Gap/Bald Mountain Trail starts out as one of the most boring trails ever. For the first mile and a half, the trail follows an old roadbed, gradually but steadily climbing upwards with nothing to see but trees on both sides. Beginning with this waterfall, however, the trail passes three small volume, but very pretty waterfalls in the next .7 miles. These three waterfalls combined with the easy hike, make this a great family-friendly hike, particularly in the spring when the creeks have more water.
Bottleneck Falls drops 76' down a fern-covered cliff in a unique fan-shape that is quite reminiscent of a bottle or vase. When the creek has more water, I suspect this is a very pretty waterfall with ferns on the cliff and a beautiful carpet of Vanilla Leaf on the ground.