Lower Denny Creek Cascades

Keekwulee Falls is located just west of Snoqualmie Pass, along the Melakwa Lakes Trail. Depending on which direction you are traveling from, directions to the trailhead will vary. For travelers heading east from North Bend, depart I-90 at Exit 47 (Denny Creek and Asahel Curtis), then turn left from the off-ramp and cross the freeway, and bear right at the T-intersection. Drive just a quarter mile, crossing under I-90, and then turn left onto Denny Creek Road #58 where signs point to Denny Creek and Franklin Falls. After 2.3 miles pass Denny Creek Campground, shortly after turning left onto Road #5830 and following it a quarter mile to its end at the trailhead. To avoid backtracking, westbound travelers can exit at the West Summit (Hyak) exit at Snoqualmie Pass and follow the frontage road towards Alpental, then pick up Road #58 where Alpental Road bears right, and follow it down to the Denny Creek area in another 2-1/2 miles. On foot, follow the Melakwa Lakes Trail, which climbs moderately along its duration, for just over a mile to where the trail crosses Denny Creek. From the ford point, backtrack about 350 feet to where the roar of the creek is loud and obvious, then pick your way down through the open forest (moderately steep in a few places) to the falls.Denny Creek sports a number of waterfalls, some quite a bit more noteworthy and conspicuous than others. Keekwulee Falls is the most significant of the bunch but is not really viewed as a major destination for hikers. The cascades along Denny Creek where the trail makes its crossing however is definitely a location that qualifies. Long referred to as the "sliding rocks", Denny Creek sheets across long exposures of gently sloped granite slabs, forming dozens of small cascades and slides with pools between that are perfect for wading or swimming - especially for kids - when the volume of the creek is manageable. Most attention is focused on the slides and cascades upstream of where the Melakwa Lake Trail crosses Denny Creek, but the largest individual slide of the bunch occurs about 300 feet downstream of where the trail crosses. Here, the creek accelerates down a granite incline and into a chute, sliding and cascading a total of 52 feet. Unlike the upper cascades, no stream crossing is needed in order to view this waterfall, so should Denny Creek be flowing too heavily to visit the other waterfalls further upstream, this can function as a decent consolation prize in the worst case scenario. The falls however cannot be seen from the trail, so one must be receptive to the siren call of the falls - which is pretty obvious - in order to successfully locate it (and given that it's only about a hundred feet off the trail, it's not hard to find).