Hard Creek Falls

Take the North Cascades Highway to the town of Marblemount, and continue straight onto the Cascade River Road - which crosses the Skagit River immediately - where the highway makes a sharp left. Continue along the Cascade River Road for 12-3/4 miles to the bridge over Hard Creek and park. There are two ways to view the upper portion of the falls - scrambling up the slope about 200 feet to the left of the creek or scrambling right up the creekbed via a narrow crumbly path that starts right next to the bridge and leads shortly to a failed mine adit. Both are hazardous, but going up the slope is considerably safer as the rocks along the creek can be very slick.Hard Creek is crossed by the Cascade River Road as it climbs towards the Cascade Pass trailhead in North Cascades National Park east of Marblemount. Passers by will no doubt rubberneck to view the creek in passing, but will likely be a bit dejected as a small cascading waterfall of about 10-feet is all that can be seen. Hidden out of sight on either side of the bridge however is a much more extensive series of waterfalls. Upstream, the falls begin by plunging over a fairly scenic 78-foot horsetail type fall, followed by a 32-foot tall cascade where the creek squeezes through a crack in the bedrock no more than two feet wide. Below here the stream makes a sharp 90-degree turn and pours over the 10-foot fall visible from the road, with another 15-foot fall situated directly beneath the bridge as well. Downstream from the road two more cascading falls can be seen by looking over the bridge, each dropping at least 30 feet. Unfortunately despite all this being situated in very close proximity to the road, the way the stream descends through its narrow, twisting gorge, the vast majority of the waterfall cannot be seen without putting yourself in less-than-safe situations. For this reason alone, we don't recommend this waterfall be sought out (beyond the roadside bit) without prior scrambling experience.