Lower Camp Dayo Falls

Camp Dayo Creek harbors a number of small waterfalls as it cascades down the side of Sourdough Ridge towards Stetattle Creek in the valley below. The bulk of these waterfalls are located well off-trail and are not easy to reach, but the final in the series is located just upstream (but still off-trail) of where the user-trodden extension of the now essentially abandoned Stettatle Creek Trail crosses Camp Dayo Crreek. The falls consist of a two-step cascade which drops a total of about 40 feet. The upper part of the falls plunges cleanly over a slightly undercut ledge, then reverts to sliding cascades down smooth bedrock for the remainder of its drop. About 150 feet downstream is another small cascade of about 10 feet, but it's separated from the rest of the falls enough that it should not be considered an interconnected part of the main fall. Camp Dayo Creek is a modest to small stream which drains from a basin covering 0.87 square miles on the steep west flank of Sourdough Ridge, and rising up to elevations of about 6400 feet along the ridge top. The heavy winter snowfall coupled with the frequent (and often heavy) rainfall which this part of the North Cascades receives will help to ensure a good, even flow in the creek for the first half of the year. By July the volume of water should be expected to be reduced and by the end of August it may be just a trickle - possibly drying out completely by the early Autumn months during drought years.