Florence Falls

Florence Falls is a long series of cascades on the East Fork Miller River as it exits Lake Dorothy, located within the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Due to vague information from the USGS GNIS database Florence Falls had for the longest time been assumed to be situated just upstream of the confluence of the Miller and Smith Creek near the Lake Dorothy Trailhead. However, a copy of a map of the Skykomish Recreation Area of the Snoqualmie National Forest produced in 1936 clearly illustrates the falls below the lakes outlet. While this is currently the only firm proof of the proper location of the falls to bear this name, we have little reason to doubt its accuracy. The falls begin shortly below Dorothy Lake's outlet where the river makes a sharp bends of over 100 degrees around a promontory and starts cascading down a narrow gorge. No individual drop in this gorge appears to be more than about 20 feet tall, but they are primarily bedrock-based cascades and falls. As the river exits the narrow section of the gorge, it starts to descend broader slabs of bedrock and drops over successively taller tiers. Just before the base of the falls the river splits around a small island and veils over the final and largest part of the falls, which slides down a 68-foot pitch. Unfortunately despite the close proximity to the Lake Dorothy Trail, little to none of this can actually be seen from the trail, so the falls remain largely forgotten and ignored by the hoards of hikers who frequent the area.Florence Falls has been ambiguously marked in the USGS GNIS database for as long as we've attempted to research the falls, the previously mentioned 1936 map of the Skykomish Recreation Area of the Snoqualmie National Forest (which pre-dates both the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and the modern Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest) is quite clear that the falls are positioned below Lake Dorothy and above the confluence with Camp Robber Creek. Whether one specific part of the long series of cascades along this stretch of the East Fork Miller River was targeted to bear this name is not known.