Lower Quartz Creek Falls

This waterfall can be found where FR 26 crosses Quartz Creek about 2 miles north of the Ryan Lake interpretive site in Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. FR 26 has a long history of being ravaged by floods and slides and has been more often than not closed over the past 15 years. As of 2008 it is open from the Randle side but not from the Windy Ridge side.This waterfall of Quartz Creek occurs where the stream bends right out of a trough along the road and steps down a three-tiered cascade before flowing through a flood ravaged gully below. The falls are visible where Forest Road 26 crosses Quartz Creek but in the last 10 years or so the trees around the falls have recovered from flash floods in the 90s that made the falls so visible and now obstruct over half of the falls. If a close approach can be found it may have some scenic value, but viewed from the road this one isn't worth much attention.