McNeeley Falls

The lower tier of McNeeley Falls is visible from the Huckleberry Creek Trail in Mount Rainier National Park. Starting at the Sunrise Visitors Center, hike the Sourdough Ridge trail for three-quarters of a mile towards Frozen Lake and the Fremont Lookout, then bear right onto the Huckleberry Creek Trail at the signed junction. Continue down the steep Huckleberry Creek Trail for another just under 2-1/2 miles further, losing over 1,700 feet in elevation to a footbridge across Huckleberry Creek. Just across the bridge, look for the falls to the right of the trail, with a faint bootpath leading back to the pool at the bottom of the falls.McNeeley Falls is a tall but surprisingly low volume waterfall found along an unnamed branch of Huckleberry Creek, north of Sunrise in Mount Rainier National Park. The USGS Sunrise 7-1/2 inch quadrangle incorrectly marks this waterfall along the middle of three streams which form Huckleberry Creek, where it actually occurs along a much larger (though still quite small) stream which drains out of the Huckleberry Basin proper and merges with the other main branch of Huckleberry Creek below Point 5552. Viewed from the base of the falls, only a single 47-foot tall horsetail type fall can be seen as it skips down a mossy covered cliff into a small pool. Topographic data and lidar imagery however indicate there to be three drops to the falls, with a total drop of approximately 135 feet, split more or less evenly between the three steps. Upon our initial survey of the falls, we did not have time to investigate the upper tiers. The branch of Huckleberry Creek which produces this waterfall drains from an area covering approximately 0.6 square miles in area, and originates in Huckleberry Basin itself. The entire basin is located above 5,300 feet above sea level, and receives a heavy winter snow pack, but despite this the flow of the stream will typically be greatly reduced by the end of July, and may be entirely dry by September. As a testament to the influence the small drainage area has on the appearance of the falls, when first surveyed at the beginning of August in 2018, upon first reaching the falls its flow was just a trickle. After hiking further downstream, a thunderstorm rolled through the area and rained heavily for approximately 30-45 minutes, and when passing by the falls on the return, the stream had swollen in size considerably and made the falls quite visually striking.This waterfall has no known recognized names, so we've opted to name it for nearby McNeeley Peak. References in the appendix of Greg Plumb's Waterfall Lover's Guide books refer to this waterfall as Huckleberry Falls, however that name was much more appropriately used for a nearby waterfall along Huckleberry Creek itself.