Marsh Creek Falls

RATING - 38.0

VR - 6.0 (Med) HR - 5.0 SR - 8/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Road Walk

DIFFICULTY - Fairly Easy

LOCATION - Sultan Basin

TYPE - Curtain

HEIGHT - 100'

WIDTH - 20'

DIRECTIONS - From Highway 2 east of Monroe, turn onto Old Owen Road. From the west end of Old Owen Road, drive for about 5 miles and turn left onto Reiner Road. If you turn onto the east end of Old Owen Road, it's about 1/2 a mile and a right turn onto Reiner Road. From there head north. In just over 3 miles, turn right again onto Lake Chaplain Road and follow it for 2.75 miles to a gated road on the right. Park at the PUD sign, sign in, and follow the main road, taking the left at the first fork and right at the second. A tad over 3/4 of a mile from the car you will hear and see the falls across the canyon.

Marsh Creek thunders into the Sultan River Canyon via an impressive and beautiful waterfall. The only downside is that it is virtually impossible to get a clear view of the falls without falling off the cliff to the river below. The view from the road is actually pretty good and a better view can be had by scrambling down the very steep bank to a flat bench below. Be careful if you climb down there. The next step down from there is a doozy. If there was a way to get to the base of the falls, this one would be rated much higher. As it is, it's still worth the easy walk into the viewpoint along the road.

Another option is to be like my buddy Jeff and join the nudist colony across the river. This gives you easy access to the bottom, but the devils club can be especially painful, what with being nude and all.