Nellie Falls

Nellie Falls is the major waterfall of the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River. Located near the Dutch Miller Gap trailhead, the falls occur where the river drops over a headwall in the valley, and thunders down a series of steep cascades. Even when the river is at it's lowest volume late in the summer, these falls are still very impressive. During the peak of spring melt, however, this waterfall becomes a massive sheet of violent whitewater, sending spray high into the air. Its too bad this one isn't more accessible as its one of the best in the Snoqualmie River basin.Before the gravel road from the Taylor River to the (former) Dutch Miller Gap Trailhead was constructed, the only method of travel in this part of the Middle Fork drainage was via the Cascade Crest Trail. A 1938 map of the North Bend Recreation Area (now all part of the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest or the Alpine Lakes Wilderness) clearly marks the falls as just "Falls" and the Cascade Crest Trail passing near it. This would suggest that while the falls had been known of dating back to at least the early 1930s, the name of the falls may not have been widely in use. The information we received regarding the name suggests that it originates from the individual who staked out a mining claim above the Hardscrabble Creek drainage known as the Nellie Claim, but for and by whom they were named is not known at this time.