Anderson Falls

Take Highway 542 east from I-5 in Bellingham then turn right onto Y Road. Continue just under a mile and park in a large pullout on the left side of the road next to a gated gravel road. On foot, hike or bike up the gated road for 2.1 miles to the first major junction branching right, head right, and continue for another 1-1/2 miles to where the road crosses Anderson Creek via a culvert. The bottom of the falls are located less than 300 feet upstream from this point, but the brush is thick on both sides of the creek so the final bushwhack can be slow going. The most accessible easy view of the falls is had from the right side of the creek, but if you want to get close to (or behind) the big drop of the falls, scrambling up the steep crumbly slopes adjacent to the falls is necessary.Anderson Falls is a moderately low volume waterfall found north of Lake Whatcom along the northern end of the Chuckanut Mountains. The falls drop a total of 170 feet in five distinct tiers, first as three back-to-back-to-back steps of 15, 22, and 13 feet. The third tier then leads directly into the main drop of the falls as the creek sheets across a smooth sandstone shelf and arcs gracefully outward over a rounded lip, plunging a sheer 85 feet over a huge undercut cliff. The water shoots out from the cliff far enough that it's possible to walk behind the falls on a narrow ledge about halfway up the main drop (getting up there is a bit of an unpleasant and potentially dangerous scramble however). Below the big drop the creek cascades for a final 32 feet over another smooth sheet of bedrock, but this time covered in dozens of slimy rotting logs. Thick bushes and encroaching trees surround the falls on either side of the creek, and especially below the falls, which makes viewing the falls in any sort of unobstructed way almost impossible. The area surrounding Anderson Falls as well as the road which allows access is privately owned timber land. Signs at the gate at the beginning of the road indicate that public recreation is allowed in this area provided a permit is first acquired from the relevant landowners. Additionally there is a private residence about a mile up the road from the gate - if you do end up hiking or biking up to Anderson Falls, please stay on the main road and do not bother or intrude on the residents in the area as you pass by. Anderson Creek upstream from the falls drains from a basin roughly one square mile in size. The Chuckanut Mountains do receive fairly significant amounts of precipitation between November and June, which should ensure the falls always has a healthy flow in the Winter and Spring months, however in the Summer and early Autumn the creek should be expected to drop in volume considerably. Heavy clear cutting in the basin above the falls may also work in favor of faster run off of rain rather than soil retention.