Middle Fryingpan Creek Falls

Middle Fryingpan Creek Falls is accessed from the Summerland Trail in the northeast part of Mount Rainier National Park. Turn off Highway 410 onto the White River Road (toward Sunrise an the White River Campground) 4-1/2 miles south of the northeastern park entrance. Continue along the White River Road for 4.3 miles to the bridge over Fryingpan Creek and the adjacent trailhead for Summerland and park. Follow the Summerland Trail, which becomes the Wonderland Trail shortly, for 1.6 miles to the first sharp switchback where the trail begins climbing more steadily - the falls will be partially visible immediately from the trail, with slightly clearer views accessed by following obvious scramble trails.Fryingpan Creek is a large tributary to the White River on the northeast side of Mount Rainier. It is not normally thought of as an area of the park to visit to find waterfalls, however tucked in several gorges along its length are several significant drops. The Summerland / Wonderland trail passes by this 76-foot cascading fall as it makes its first major switchback up the valley of Fryingpan Creek, and the falls are plainly visible from the trail (at least part of it is). The creek cascades down a narrow sluice in the bedrock, splitting into two side-by-side streams about halfway down the descent. Just before the bottom of the falls the streams converge and then plunge about 30 feet over the final part of the drop, but facing away from the trail so there is no clear view of the bottom of the waterfall. User trails that run along the cascades from the Wonderland Trail allow closer and clearer views of the upper portion of the falls, but there is unfortunately no way to view the entire descent from one location due to its twisting shape and the fact that it falls away from the trail (there may be a clear view from the opposite side of the gorge below the falls, but the uppermost part may be obstructed).