Dingford Creek Falls

Exit Interstate 90 at Edgewick Road, east of North Bend, turn north and proceed about one-half mile and turn right onto Dorothy Lake Road (also signed as SE Middle Fork Road) which eventually turns into Middle Fork Road (NFR-56). Proceed 11-1/2 miles to the Taylor River bridge where the pavement ends, then bear right at the junction just past the bridge (the Taylor River Trailhead is straight ahead). From the Taylor River onward the road is in considerably rougher shape, and is frequently damaged by washouts in several places. High clearance is recommended, if not outright mandatory. Continue to the end of the road at the Dingford Creek Trail and gate 5-3/4 miles further. Walk the gated road for another sixth of a mile to the bridge over Dingford Creek to see the base of the falls.Dingford Creek Falls is a deceptively significant waterfall, or perhaps series of waterfalls, located in the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River valley. Viewed from the now-closed Middle Fork Road where it crosses Dingford Creek, approximately 100 feet worth of waterfall can be seen pounding down among large boulders and potholes carved in the granite bedrock. The portion of the falls visible from the bridge is split between a back-to-back 25 and 50 foot horsetailing falls about 350 feet upstream, and a 20-foot cascade immediately above the bridge. However the creek in actuality drops around 600 feet in total over a run of about 2,300 linear feet, in a long chain of pothole plunges and cascades, one right after another. Because we have not yet been able to survey the entire series of falls, it's not yet known for sure whether the entire series of falls should be considered one inter-connected set of falls, or whether it should be broken up into multiple entries. Based on photographs of the creek which have shown several sections of these falls however, it seems likely that it could all be considered a single set of cascades, which would likely make Dingford Creek Falls one of the longest (in a linear sense) waterfalls in Washington State. Note that because of the lack of data about the bulk of the falls, the rating generated for this waterfall is based only on the portion of the falls visible from the bridge. Dingford Creek is a moderately large stream, draining from an basin which covers an area of about 10-1/2 square miles, and holds at least a dozen lakes. No permanent snow or ice feeds into the creek, but the western side of Big Snowy Mountain - one of the highest summits in the area - does retain a considerable amount of winter snow pack well into the summer, and will help to ensure that the flow of the creek remains strong into the summer months. By September the stream flow is typically considerably diminished, though not nearly to the point of being deemed "a trickle".