Revenant Falls

RATING - 36.0

VR - 3.6 (Sm/M) HR - 5.0 SR - 18/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Fairly Difficult

LOCATION - Ross Lake Area

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 123'

WIDTH - 20'

DIRECTIONS - Take HWY 20 east to from Newhalem. In around 20 miles you will cross Panther Creek (it's pretty obvious and signed). In another half a mile or so you should see a landslide on the right. Immediately after the landslide, a small creek drops below the highway. This is your spot. Park and head upstream a few hundred feet. Start on the left side and then hop over to the right side once you get above the landslide. The hardest part is finding a clear view.

Revenant Falls occurs on one of the many small creeks that drop into Ruby Creek. The falls drop a total of 123' in three tiers. The upper tier is a 25' tall cascade. This is followed by the gorgeous 78' tall main drop and 20' worth of cascades below. It's not super tough to get to the base of the falls, but getting the view you see on the left was tough. I took this picture while straddling a big cedar on the side of a near vertical cliff. If you can find a good (and safe) spot to take pictures, this one is a beauty.

A "revenant" is something that comes back to life (like a ghost). The stream is very seasonal, drying out later in the year, but it always comes back to life each spring with the melting snow. That and the sort of ghostly shape of the main drop made the name pretty obvious to me.