Explorer Falls

Explorer Falls can no longer be accessed via Monroe Camp Road as the City of Everett has closed off all public access to the parcels of land between the gate and the falls. There is still a viable route to the falls via roads which remain on Washington DNR land, however the exact route to take is not entirely clear. Relying on Apps like Alltrails or Google Maps to provide current, viable directions is not recommended.Situated on a slice of DNR land seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Explorer Falls is one of the few waterfalls in the state with a lot of character. Surrounded by former gravel pits, now being rampantly overgrown with Alder, accessed via an unofficial trail system used for training Search and Rescue teams and punctuated by a 7 foot deep cave locally dubbed Hobbit Hole, the falls aren't the only noteworthy feature in the area. The falls themselves skip about 50 feet down a mossy wall along an unnamed branch of the East Fork of Woods Creek. The catch basin for the stream is small, so it may run dry late in the summer. As mentioned above, there is a small cave at the bottom of the falls with a short, rickety ladder leading to it. It's not terribly interesting, but a neat feature nonetheless. A trail does lead to the top of the falls, so an accurate measurement can be taken with a plumb line if necessary (though I do have a laser rangefinder now, so that shouldn't be necessary). Accessing the falls used to involve hiking a road which crossed land owned by the City of Everett (part of the City's water supply is located adjacent to the road), but beginning in 2019 the city closed all access to Explorer Falls via this route, and it is now necessary to hike more than twice as far on roads which stay on Washington Department of Natural Resources land, which is still open to the public. These roads however are active logging roads, so use caution and expect to encounter commercial traffic if visiting during the work week.The name of the waterfall originates from the King County Explorer Search & Rescue unit which uses the area for training purposes. The name dates back to at least the 1970s. The name Wheeler Falls has also been infrequently used informally for this waterfall, but to what extent it was recognized as such is not known.