My oldest boy, my oldest daughter and I packed up our tent and camping supplies and headed out North on I-5 for Washington to find one of Washington’s best kept secrets. I have had an eye on this waterfall in Washington for a little while and really wanted to experience it before the heat of Summer turned it into a trickle of its usual glorious self. 
Walupt Creek Falls is located way up in the Goat Rocks Wilderness Area of Washington. The gravel road to get there is a long and grueling 20 miles on a dusty, pot hole filled, road that offers great views of one of Washington’s more wild places. There is no actual trail to Walupt Creek Falls and requires a little bushwhacking as well as a creek crossing over logs.
We camped at Walupt Lake which offers some primitive camp sites, a lake loaded with fish, a horse camp and many trailheads which lead into the Goats Rock Wilderness Area. We set up camp and decided to head out for the falls which is actually only a couple miles from the campground.
We parked across from a horse camp where there is an old road thats blocked off by some large boulders. We followed this old overgrown road down to Walupt Creek. We looked around and found what we thought was the best log to cross the swift creek. Once we crossed the logs to a little island we realized there wasn’t any more logs to get to the next spot so we waded in. Once across we got our shoes and socks back on and struggled to climb our way out of the thick brush that lined the creek on both sides. Once out of the brush the forest opened up and there was obvious game trails along the side of the creek with elk sign everywhere. We continued downstream knowing that I just wanted to always keep the sound of the roaring creek to my left and we followed the game trails for about 3/4 of a mile to a cliff that overlooks the top of the falls. From here we followed an obvious boot path to the right that led down a steep slippery path to the bottom of the canyon. Here the creek flows into the churning Cispus River.
As soon as you look to the left after descending to the canyons bottom it hits you like a ton of bricks. Your mouth drops and you almost have to pick it up with your hands because the sight is incredible. You almost can’t wrap your mind around it. I was in shock. I have seen hundreds of waterfalls in my time but something felt magical about this place. I think it was all the positive ions floating around. My kids instantly started taking off their shoes so they could climb up the giant waterfall that seemed to stretch across the whole side of the mountain like an avalanche of sorts. You can actually climb up stair like rocks up to the middle of the falls! Incredible! We stayed for about 2 hours just taking it all in.
This is truly a remarkable hidden gem in the Pacific Northwest that should be on everyones bucket list. I definitely recommend a visit during late Spring or early summer when she is at her strongest.
Ghost Rogue Adventures 