Middle Cougar Creek Falls

Cougar Creek is a major drainage which spills down the north side of 7835-foot tall Sloan Peak, and provides the most direct access for mountain climbers seeking to summit the mountain. The climbers trail which provides access to the alpine meadows on the flank of the peak allows easy access to the more visible Cougar Creek Falls upstream, and hints at the presence of Lower Cougar Creek Falls as it climbs up the valley, but unless you know where to look there is no way of knowing 79-foot tall cascading Middle Cougar Creek Falls even exists. The creek makes a sharp zigzag bend after the trail crossing below Cougar Creek Falls, and then accelerates down a steep chute in a long sliding cascade wedged in a narrow gorge, and then spills over a short, wide fall before pooling below. The falls terminate not more than 200 feet upstream from the top of Lower Cougar Creek Falls, and in reality it could be considered an upper tier to Lower Cougar Creek Falls (and we may actually switch it to that designation in the future), but because it can only be seen on its own we opted to list it separately for the time being. Though Cougar Creek is located in an area which receives heavy snowfall during the winter, and the north face of Sloan Peak is well shaded to allow the snow to persist well into the summer months, it is not a large drainage and the volume of water present in the creek can be noticeably reduced during the dry summer months. In converse, while the falls will undoubtedly be at their best during the peak of the snow melt season, because accessing the falls requires crossing the North Fork Sauk River without aid of a developed bridge, it may be extra difficult (if not impossible) to visit the falls while it appears most powerful. To further emphasize the access issues, the trail used to access the falls is indeed a maintained trail, however there is no bridge spanning the North Fork Sauk River, which is quite large. As of October 2013 there are logs in place which allow dry crossings of all four channels of the river which are encountered, however earlier in the year when the river is running fuller, some of these logs may not be possible to access. The North Fork Sauk should under no circumstances be forded on foot without knowing exactly where to cross - the water is swift and there are dozens of logjams in the area which could pin someone swept off their feet - and then ONLY when water levels are at a manageable enough level (anything more than lower thigh-deep and you should not attempt a crossing).