Big Creek Falls (Steve Hart)

Looking upriver from the Big Creek Viewpoint (Steve Hart)

Mini-mushrooms (Steve Hart)

Cedar bench near Big Creek Falls (bobcat)

The trail to the viewpoints of the waterfalls (bobcat) Courtesy: Caltopo/USFS

• Start point: Big Creek Falls Trailhead
• End point:Big Creek Viewpoint
• Trail Log: Trail Log
• Hike Type: Out and back
• Distance: 1.4 miles
• Elevation gain: 180 feet
• High point: 1,980 feet
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Seasons: Year round
• Family Friendly: Yes
• Backpackable: No
• Crowded: No

Hike Description

NOTE: The trailhead parking area for the Big Creek Falls Viewpoint is closed off with big boulders. Several trees are down on the trail and the viewing platform has been damaged by a fallen tree. The old-growth forest here is infected with root rot, and the Forest Service believes more big trees will fall, thus presenting a continuing hazard. Thus, they feel that rebuilding the trail is not worth the effort at this time. Hike at your own risk and avoid this trail during even moderate winds.

Big Creek has two interesting waterfalls in a very short distance. Unfortunately, they are both very difficult to see. This hike is now on a trail abandoned since the winter of 2012-13 with several trees down across it although the trail appears to be well-used, officially abandoned but not closed. You don't get much of a view from the old viewing platform, but a steep scramble trail down will get you to a much better viewpoint. However, if you don't like clambering over downed trees and steep scrambles, this is not the hike for you - even if it's tantalizingly short!

Start westward on the unsigned Big Creek Falls Trail from the former Big Creek Falls Trailhead. You'll quickly enter an area filled with large trees and even larger broken snags. Keep to the right at a couple of unmarked trail forks, find your way over or around some downed trees, pass through two chainsawed paths through the same monster tree, and you'll soon reach the old viewpoint for Big Creek Falls. The old cedar fence here may not be too safe, so continue on the trail. Next, you'll come to the damaged viewing platform, where you'll get a partial view of Big Creek Falls. The waterfall is a simple 113-foot plunge type waterfall and the viewpoint is about level with the falls. The water falls into an amphitheater with impassable cliffs all around.

The trail continues to gradually descend above the canyon rim, and you'll pass the junction with former nature trail. There are big Douglas-firs and cedars in this vicinity, with a mossy forest floor carpeted by Oregon grape. Big Creek roars below but cannot be seen. What you are hearing is the 450-foot plunge of Cave Falls in five drops. The trail reaches the edge of a sheer cliff with a view down to the lowest tier of Cave Falls (this is below the cave which the falls plunge through, but that can’t be seen from above). You can also see where Big Creek has tunneled under the opposite cliff to create a substantial overhang. From here, one gets views across the wide Lewis River valley to Spencer Butte and other prominences. The trail continues to drop in quieter woods away from the roar of the falls below. You'll reach a clifftop lookout with a view up the Lewis River and also its confluence with Big Creek. You'll be able to see up the Lewis River Valley to rock cliffs all around. Hemlock Creek Falls is visible during the wet season by looking straight west across the gorge.

Maps

• Maps: Hike Finder
• Green Trails Maps: Lone Butte, WA #365
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument & Administrative Area
• U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Gifford Pinchot National Forest
• Adventure Maps: Hood River, Oregon, Trail Map
• Adventure Maps: 44 Trails Area plus the best of the G.P.N.F.
• National Geographic Trails Illustrated Map: Mount St. Helens - Mt. Adams

Regulations or restrictions, etc

• Trailhead now closed and blocked off by boulders: hike at your own risk.
• $3 toll each way at the Bridge of the Gods

Trip Reports

• Search Trip Reports for Big Creek Falls Hike

Related Discussions / Q&A

• Search Trail Q&A for Big Creek Falls Hike

Guidebooks that cover this hike

• Day Hiking: South Cascades by Dan A. Nelson & Alan L. Bauer
• Washington's South Cascades Volcanic Landscapes by Marge & Ted Mueller
• 95 Virtual Hikes of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument by Northwest Hiker
• Waterfall Lover's Guide: Pacific Northwest by Gregory A. Plumb
• Waterfalls of the Pacific Northwest by David L. Anderson

More Links

• Big Creek Falls (Washington Trails Association)
• Big Creek Falls Trail (All Trails)
• Big Creek Falls Trail #28 (Summit Post)
• Big Creek Falls Hike (Northwest Hiker)
• Big Creek Falls (World of Waterfalls)
• Big Creek Falls (Northwest Waterfall Survey)
• Cave Falls (Northwest Waterfall Survey)

Contributors

• Stevefromdodge (creator)