Tailrace Falls

RATING - 12.0

VR - 2.0 (Sm) HR - 5.0 SR - 4/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Road Walk

DIFFICULTY - Fairly Easy

LOCATION - Snoqualmie Tree Farm

TYPE - Plunge

HEIGHT - 100'

WIDTH - 15'

DIRECTIONS - From North Bend, turn north onto Ballarat Ave, which changes to 428th Ave, and then North Fork Rd. Two miles after crossing the river, take the left at a Y in the road. In a few miles the road will turn from paved to gravel. Just beyond this point, the road takes a sharp left turn with a gated dirt road going off to the right. Park and walk down this road taking a left at the first fork and then right at every other fork. Eventually you will see the falls on the opposite side of the river.

A small stream runs down from the Moon Wall and right past the Black Creek Powerhouse. There it is joined by the tailrace from the powerhouse and runs about 100' before dropping over this 100' plunge into the North Fork. The easy view is from across the river but it is possible to get to the base with a lot of work. The falls can also be seen by traveling past Lower SMC Falls to the Black Creek Powerhouse and following the creek to the edge of the cliff. I know of two guys who made their way down to the North Fork from there and photographed the falls from the base. I used to call this one Powerhouse Falls.