Berry Creek Falls

Berry Creek Falls is a surprisingly significant waterfall located in a forested canyon just outside the southwest entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. The falls consist of two distinct steps which drop a total of 59 feet. The upper step cascades about 14 feet first steeply and then in an almost smooth-rock slide, but the river-right half of the falls dropping more steeply, and the left side of the falls cascading and sliding more than not. The sliding portion of the upper drop leads directly into the lower tier, as the creek rolls over a rounded ledge and drops in a near free-fall for another 45 feet. The creek spreads out to a width of over 50 feet at the lower tier of the falls, falling in numerous parallel streams when not swollen by snow melt. Because of the rounded ledge leading into the vertical part of the fall, the drop appears considerably smaller when viewed from the base than it does when viewed from above. Immediately below the falls the creek makes a sharp Z-shaped bend as it wraps around two narrow ridges which extend into the canyon. These ridges (and the trees that grow on them) make it very difficult (if not impossible) to clearly view the falls from downstream - only up close views are possible without obstruction. Berry Creek is a moderately sized stream, draining from a basin covering approximately 10 square miles in size. The basin rises to elevations as high as 5000 feet along the rim of Sawtooth Ridge, but the majority of it falls at or below the 3500 foot level. Though heavy winter snow fall can be expected in the area, because much of the basin is found at lower elevations, the snow will melt off earlier in the season, and the flow of the creek can be expected to be more limited than some other streams in the area despite the size of its drainage area. When surveyed toward the end of June of 2018, the flow of Berry Creek was healthy, but the seasonal snow melt in its basin had likely all but been expended.