Trip Report
Day Hike - Big Creek Falls & Otter Falls
Amazing conditions - dry, sun breaks, no wind - for this January trip to two waterfalls. Five of us took a chance and, following 2 days without rain, we navigated the five stream crossings with no trouble. Some downed trees made us pause, otherwise, the trail is in pretty good shape.
Courtenay Schurman
- Tue, Jan 7, 2025
- Day Hike - Big Creek Falls & Otter Falls
- Taylor River
- Day Hiking
- Successful
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- Road rough but passable
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The half-mile before the parking lot has potholes full of water. Otherwise, the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie is in great shape.
We were nervous about the stream crossings from previous trip reports sharing that people turned around in the rain, but we had zero problems, thanks in large part to two drier days and less flow.
Several large trees are down on the trail; they were NOT an issue on November 23 on my last visit. Subsequent wind storms have caused more blow-downs.
The five streams are flowing fast, but after two dry days we were lucky, we had no trouble other than one hiker's foot slipping briefly coming back on the last stream crossing (first from the cars). Fortunately, she had waterproof footwear and we were half a mile from the car, so it was no big deal. We all brought trekking poles and gaiters.
Four Mountaineers members and I started our journey at 8:30 a.m. and only saw one lone hiker around 2 p.m. We visited Big Creek Falls first, then backtracked to Otter Falls for lunch. Big Creek is raging and Otter Falls is calm and peaceful. We had zero wind and a beautiful sunny morning, clouding up around noon.
The porta-potty remains open and has toilet paper. The only birds we heard were golden-crowned kinglets. Lots of lovely photo ops of the sunbeams in the forest.
All in all, a successful "A+" trip. It was nice to take advantage of a beautiful January day and have some great conversations.