Bucket Creek Falls

Bucket Creek Falls is accessed from the Stetattle Creek located in the town of Diablo within the Ross Lake National Recreation Area portion of North Cascades National Park complex. Take the North Cascades Highway (US 20) east from Newhalem for 5.5 miles and bear left onto the signed road leading to Diablo where Highway 20 crosses Gorge Lake as it bears to the right. In two-thirds of a mile the Diablo road crosses Stetattle Creek and enters the townsite - park immediately after the bridge on the right (or near the Gorge Campground if the road is gated at the bridge). The Stetattle Creek Trail starts out immediately adjacent to the bridge, passing behind several houses, following the creek on one side and a fence line on the other. About 4/10 of a mile in the trail has been largely wiped out by flooding and a landslide, and it is necessary to scramble up and over a large boulder in order to continue (this may not be possible if the creek is running very high). Once across the boulder, the route is largely vague for several hundred feet - follow the sandy bank of Stetattle Creek until you can re-enter the woods where the brush is minimal and the trail should re-emerge. After crossing the first tributary stream the trail climbs steeply and maintains a path higher along the ridge for the remainder of its length. About 1.25 miles in a smaller waterfall is passed at the second major stream crossing, and then at about 1.7 miles Bucket Creek is encountered, with the falls visible about 300 feet upstream of where the trail fords the creek - simply rock hop your way up to its base (crossing the creek several times may be necessary in order to stay dry).Bucket Creek Falls is the most significant waterfall which is encountered directly along the highly neglected Stetattle Creek Trail near Diablo. Situated in a dark alcove several hundred feet upstream of where the trail crosses its namesake creek, the falls drop 42 feet in a very scenic display - veiling in back-to-back fan-shaped falls of 31 feet and 11 feet, with smaller boulder cascades just downstream. The grotto surrounding the falls is quite lush, coated with moss, and surrounded by several large Cedar trees. Bucket Creek is not a terribly large stream, and it will inevitably be reduced considerably later in the summer, but even with a lower flow the falls should remain quite scenic and worth visiting. During the winter months the flow will be quite plentiful - potentially even too heavy at times for serious photography.