Eight Mile Falls

RATING - 55.2

VR - 5.4 (Med) HR - 8.0 SR - 12/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Difficult

LOCATION - Clear Creek Road

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 369'

WIDTH - 20'

DIRECTIONS - Take the Mountain Loop Highway south from Darrington and turn left onto Clear Creek Road (the dirt one across from the campground). Follow the very rough road for 6.2 miles to the Eight Mile Trail (taking a right at the one fork). Hike up the trail. In 1.5 steep miles you will encounter "3 O'Clock Rock" and probably see climbers working their way up the rockface. A short distance later the trail comes up against a small creek. Leave the trail and follow the creek steeply downhill to its convergence with the main branch of Eight Mile Creek. The convergence is the top of the falls. I recommend scrambling steeply down the side of the big slide and then skipping the bottom sections.

Eight Mile Falls is a long, complex series of cascading drops located on Eight Mile Creek. The waterfall can be accessed via a short, steep bushwhack from the Eight Mile Trail.

The falls begin with a 40' tall sliding drop. From there it drops over the major part of the falls, the pretty 123' tall sliding drop seen to the left. This is followed by a 15' drop and then further sliding drops of 43' and 37' in height. The falls finish with a 79' tall, nearly vertical finale. Add it all up and you get 369' worth of waterfall. While the individual drops are pretty, it's impossible to see any two tiers together. In addition, as you climb further down the creek, the going becomes much more difficult and more dangerous. Luckily the best drop is near the top and it's substantially easier to view than the bottom parts (although it's still no picnic). If you must visit, I would recommend checking out the main drop and then climbing back up to the trail the way you came. The lower drops are nice, but getting back to the trail from down there is a chore.