Little Skate Falls

Little Skate Falls is found just off of Skate Creek Road (Forest Road 52) about a third of the way between Packwood and Ashford. In Packwood, turn off US 12 onto Skate Creek Road at the Shell station at the north end of town, and follow Skate Creek Road north for a hair under 8 miles to a large pullout on the right side of the road just before the road crosses the unnamed stream (in a culvert). A sliver of the top of the falls can be seen from the road but it remains mostly hidden. Look for a well trodden path on the right side of the stream which leads 200 feet through a wooded grotto to the smooth rock shelf at base of the falls.Little Skate Falls is a small, potentially seasonal but exceptionally scenic waterfall found plunging into an inconspicuous little grotto just a few dozen yards away from the popular Skate Creek Road near Packwood. The falls occur along an unnamed stream which drains the central portion of Skate Mountain's north flank, plunging 31 feet into a small pool lined with Devils Club and Maidenhair Ferns, and another small series of cascades immediately below. During periods of heavy flow, the falls shoot out from the cliff face and fall free into the pool below, but when the stream flow drops the water retains contact with the cliff and forms a subtle veiling shape.
The drainage basin for the unnamed stream which produces the falls covers an area of about 1.8 square miles, and rises as high as about the 4600 foot level on the north flank of Skate Mountain. The moderately high elevation along the upper reach of the basin will help to temper the rate of melt of the winter snow pack in the area, but because there is no flat land in the basin it will run off quickly. The falls will flow well through the spring and into the early summer months, but by the end of July it will likely be reduced to just a trickle.We know of no official or colloquial names for this waterfall, so until and unless one pops up, we've opted to refer to it as Little Skate Falls - mainly because its not a very large stream and there is a potential waterfall in the next drainage west which may be a good candidate for a "Big Skate Falls".