Gibson Falls

Gibson Falls is one of the few relatively easily accessed of the more noteworthy waterfalls in the Suiattle River basin, however thanks to literally decades of flood damage along the roads leading to the falls, it has been largely neglected and forgotten. We first visited the falls in 1994 and since then numerous washouts had left the roads in the area in disrepair such that one wasn't able to access the falls at all between 2003 and late 2009. The falls occur where its unnamed stream splits into two channels and sprays 108 feet over a cliff band hidden within the forest by a canopy of truly massive trees - in one case a more recently fallen Douglas Fir which one can use to walk up to the bottom of the falls has a diameter of 7-9 feet on average. Due to the small drainage area of the unnamed stream, the flow of the falls varies a bit as the season progresses - usually consistent through the wet season and then peaking in early June when snow is melting off the ridgeline. During the late summer months, expect the volume to be reduced to the point where one segment of the falls runs dry, and the other is just a fraction of itself as seen during the spring.