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  UPPER BAR DIVIDE FALLS

RATING - 54.0

VR - 6.0 (Med)             HR - 7.0                 SR - 12/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail + Bushwhack

DIFFICULTY - Very Difficult

LOCATION - Sholes Basin

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 257'

WIDTH - 20'

GPS - N48 49.489 W121 46.520

ELEVATION - 4953'

62' tall bottom tierThe creek that harbors the three Bar Divide waterfalls is unnamed but drains a decent amount of water from the Sholes Glacier.  After meandering through the silty ground left over by the retreating glacier, the creek encounters a basalt cliff and tumbles 257' in a series of four tiers.  The first tier is 20' worth of sliding cascades.  The creek then spreads out and drops 85' in a fan-shaped drop.  The third tier plunges 61' and the final drop is a powerful 62' plunge, surrounded by some nice columns of bedrock.  The area around the waterfall is almost completely void of vegetation, creating an lunar landscape around the falls that isn't at all unattractive.

Most likely, this waterfall is almost always partially covered with snow.  Only during extremely dry summers, like the summer of 2015, will the entire waterfall be snow-free.

I wouldn't recommend making the trip into this area just to see this waterfall, but if you're already in the area to check out the glacier, it's worth the short side trip for the partial view.

         

 

DIRECTIONS - Follow the directions to Sholes Glacier Falls.  Scramble across the rocks to the west until you see the creek draining from the Sholes Glacier.  Follow the top of the ridge down for a few hundred feet to views of the falls.  It's possible to get to the base, but requires a steep scramble down the 300' tall canyon walls.

NEARBY WATERFALLS - Bar Divide Falls, Sholes Glacier Falls, Upper Sholes Creek Falls

ADDITIONAL PICTURES (CLICK TO ENLARGE) AND VIDEO
View from atop the ridge during a typical snow level     Third and fourth tiers from the side     View from near the base    
Upper Bar Divide Falls

Video of 257' tall Upper Bar Divide Falls from the base. This waterfall is almost never completely snow-free, so this is a rare sight.

Posted by Aaron's Waterfall World on Monday, August 24, 2015

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