Kamikaze Falls

From downtown North Bend, follow North Bend Way east for 1.3 miles and turn left onto Mount Si Road (signed for the Mount Si Trailhead). Follow Mount Si Road for just under 3 1/2 miles to a gated gravel road on the left just before a sign noting the end of the public road. Park without blocking the gate (enough room for a dozen or so cars) and begin hiking up the gated road. After about 8/10 of a mile, bear right on a more overgrown road. At the 2 mile mark, follow the sign pointing right to the falls, which are reached in one more mile of much steeper hiking. The trail comes out at the base of the upper tier, so those wishing to see the middle or lower tiers will have to travel off trail from the various switchbacks as the trail climbs (the lower tier is easily seen through the trees, the middle tier much less so).Kamikaze Falls is a surprisingly large waterfall along Teneriffe Creek, which drains from a small basin between Mounts Si and Teneriffe. The falls consist of three tiers, all horsetail type drops, with the uppermost and largest being easily seen from Interstate 90 and most roads (at least those adjacent to clearings or fields) throughout the Snoqualmie Valley east of downtown North Bend. The upper tier plunges off the lip of the cliff then smashes into the mountainside, falling 226 feet. Almost immediately below, the second tier slides and veils 92 feet in a twisting cascade, followed again almost immediately by the final drop, a 96 foot tall veil (though the bottom 15-20 feet of this drop is largely covered by logs and boulders, so visually it appears more like 70 feet tall). The upper and lower tiers are easily seen from the trail climbing to the falls, but the middle tier is obstructed from view for the most part without scrambling off-trail (the terrain around which is steep and attempting to view it is not recommended). Because the basin which the falls drain is small and at a relatively low elevation, the volume of the creek is small by nature. Once the winter snow pack has melted, the falls will shrivel and dry out for 3-4 months during the summer.Kamikaze Falls has been a long standing colloquial name for this waterfall dating back at least to the early 1970s, inspired both by how the falls seems to boisterously hurtle over the cliff, and by how steep the trail becomes as it climbs beyond the falls up to the summit of Mount Teneriffe. More recently, those with a more politically correct mindset have occasionally deemed this name to be offensive, which may have been a motivating force behind the DNR's choice of posting a sign along the trail calling it Teneriffe Falls.