Gatton Creek Falls

Gatton Creek Falls is the largest of the handful of waterfalls known to exist along the south shore of Lake Quinault, but is also the most difficult to view. The network of trails in the area provide easy access to a footbridge spanning Gatton Creek at the top of the falls, but unfortunately the only vista which can be accessed with any modicum of ease is an uninspiring view looking downstream over the top of the multi-stepped fall. The falls drop a total of 88 feet in four steps, all in immediate succession of one another, with individual drops of 14, 19, 20, and 35 feet respectively. A partially obscured side view of the uppermost tier is possible from the trail, and by scrambling down to the creek below the bridge one can achieve a more or less clear view of the same tier, but getting further downstream to obtain anything resembling a clear view of the rest of the falls requires extensive scrambling over steep, crumbly, extremely cluttered, and very brushy terrain. Additionally, a wind storm in 2008 resulted in a huge swath of forest just upstream of the falls being leveled, but there were many trees downed around the falls as well, and the logs littering the forest floor coupled with the thick new growth makes off-trail travel in this area quite difficult. As such, attempting to reach the bottom of the falls is strongly discouraged. Gatton Creek drains from an area covering approximately 1.6 miles in size. Despite its small basin, the stream typically flows with a healthy volume of water throughout the year due to the heavy annual precipitation this part of the state receives, swelling to considerable size during the winter.