UPPER BOULDER GLACIER FALLS

VR - 2.0 (Small)             HR - 4.0                SR - 6/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail

DIFFICULTY - Difficult

LOCATION - Baker Lake Road

TYPE - Plunge

HEIGHT - 58'

WIDTH - 5'

GPS - N48 45.653     W121 46.321

ELEVATION - 5050'

One of the best hikes in the Mt. Baker area is the Boulder Ridge Trail.  The view from the end of the trail is nothing short of astounding.  Mt. Baker looms massively above an alien landscape of red, volcanic rock, sparse trees, and waterfalls as far as the eye can see.  To get to the end requires some patience and a lot of work on the part of the hiker.  The trail spends the first two miles traveling through a nice forest with gradual ups and downs along the way.  It's nice, but there are no views to speak of.  After passing through a meadow, the trail beings to climb very steeply and spends the next mile and a half gaining the top of the moraine left over by the retreating Boulder Glacier.  It's worth all the trouble once you arrive at the end, but it's definitely a little more work than some of the more popular trails in the area.

This is one of the many waterfall at the headwaters of Boulder Creek that can be viewed from the end of the Boulder Ridge Trail.  Upper Boulder Glacier Falls occurs where one of the several small streams originating in the Boulder Glacier encounters a vertical cliff and plunges 58' in a vertical drop.  This is the most distant of the waterfalls from the end of the trail and also the smallest, but it provides one more waterfall to the already large number in the area.