UPPER THUNDER CREEK FALLS

VR - 8.0 (Big)               HR - 1                  SR - 10/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Roadwalk

DIFFICULTY - Medium

LOCATION - Baker Lake Area

TYPE - Segmented

HEIGHT - 23'

WIDTH - 50'

GPS - N48 36.178 W121 41.683

ELEVATION - 831'

Thunder Creek is a very large creek that drains a big area on the eastern side of Lake Shannon.  Just before reaching the lake, the creek runs through a very deep, rugged canyon, dropping over at least two waterfalls in the process.  The upper falls occurs just upstream from where the bridge over the creek used to be.  When the bridge was there, visitors probably had a nice view looking down at both segments of the falls.  Unfortunately, with the bridge gone, the right segment, which also has the larger volume of the two, is all but impossible to see.

The falls themselves consist of two tiers.  The first tier occurs where Thunder Creek splits in two around a massive boulder.  The left segment drops 23' in back-to-back drops before finishing in a pretty pool of green water.  The larger portion of the creek drops over the right segment, which appears to be a cascading drop of tremendous power that is slightly shorter than the left side.  A short distance downstream is another drop around 10' tall into the deeper part of the canyon.  Thunder Creek finally exits this canyon via Thunder Creek Falls.  What lies in between the two is unknown and probably not possible to view without canyoneering equipment or a kayak and suicidal tendencies.  The walk or bike up the road is pretty easy, but the climb down to the creek is tough.  I wouldn't recommend visiting this waterfall, but if you're planning on going to Thunder Creek Falls downstream, it's only a 5 minute sidetrip to the end of the road where this waterfall occurs.

NEARBY WATERFALLS - Thunder Creek Falls

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