Change Creek Falls

RATING - 31.2

VR - 3.6 (Sm/M) HR - 7.0 SR - 6/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Difficult

LOCATION - Ollalie State Park

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 345'

WIDTH - 10'

DIRECTIONS - Head east on I-90 and take Exit 38. Drive east for a short distance to a big parking area on the left side of the road across from Change Creek. Find the trail up to the old railroad trestle over the creek. Just before getting to the trestle, head left into the woods and start heading upstream, passing various tiers of the falls along the way. This waterfall is pretty tough to get to but the distance is relatively short. You'll have to climb a total of about 600 vertical feet from the car to a view of the uppermost tier.

Change Creek Falls is a much more impressive waterfall than I remember from my first trip in several years ago. The falls consist of seven distinct tiers, none of which can really be viewed with any of the others. The waterfall begins with Change Creek plunging about 65' in a back-to-back drop into a alcove full of massive logs. The second tier is a segmented drops where the creek splits in three and plunges about 40'. This is immediately followed by another 30' or so of sliding drops. The fourth tier is the largest individual drop along the creek, falling 96' in a stairstep manner. When the creek is running at high volume, the final splash spreads out into a wide fan. Just downstream, the waterfall continues with a 42' tall drop that starts out as a vertical plunge before striking the rocks and spreading out in a mass of water. The falls finish off with a back-to-back drop totaling 40'. The lowermost tier is covered with a big log that actually adds a little to the look of the falls.

Add that all up and you have about 300' worth of drops, cascades, and plunges. the downside is the difficulty in getting clear views of anything other than the lowermost tier. Scrambling around some very steep hillsides is required in places where a fall would be deadly.

Above Left - Top two tiers of Change Creek Falls

Above Center - Side view of the 3rd tier

Above Right - The 4th and largest individual tier

Right - Looking over the 5th tier