Lower Cold Springs Butte Falls

From Randle, turn south on SR 131, which is signed for Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and Trout Lake, then bear left onto Forest Road 23, following signs pointing to Trout Lake. Continue east on Road 23 for another 11-1/2 miles, then turn left onto Forest Road 22. Continue on Road 22 for 6 miles to the end of the pavement at a junction, then keep straight on Road 22 for another 4-1/2 miles to a sharp horseshoe bend in the road where it crosses a stream (the first stream crossed after Horseshoe Point Falls). The falls will be visible through the trees upstream.Lower Cold Spring Butte Falls is yet another semi-seasonal roadside waterfall found within the North Fork Cispus River area of the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The falls consist of at least two distinct steps, with possibly a third tier out of site and slightly further upstream. The two tiers which can be seen from the road consist of a cascading fall of 31 feet, followed by a narrow veiling fall of 44 feet which rolls over a rounded protrusion of volcanic bedrock into a small pool. The lower tier of the falls is flanked on two sides by extensions of the smooth cliff producing the falls, which creates an attractive little alcove that has been thoroughly carpeted in moss thanks to the spray created by the falls. When viewing the falls up close, the upper tier is obstructed from view by the shape of the alcove (and a large, especially obnoxious log which straddles the creek just downstream of the falls). Topographic data and aerial imagery available on Google Maps indicates there to be at least two more significant waterfalls on this stream further up the mountain. The unnamed stream which produces this waterfall drains from a basin of about two-thirds of a square mile in size, rising to a maximum elevation of around 5500 feet. Though slightly larger of a drainage area than the neighboring stream which creates Horseshoe Point Falls, the higher elevation areas in the basin are considerably smaller than its sibling drainage. The flow of the stream was quite healthy when surveyed in May of 2018, but come mid summer it will likely be reduced to just a trickle, and may dry out entirely by September (if not sooner) during dry years.