Noname Falls

There are multiple routes to the Wynoochee Lake area in Olympic National Forest. The most direct route is to take Highway 12 west from Olympia to Montesano, and exit the freeway at the Devonshire Road exit, then go straight at the intersection at the end of the off-ramp onto Wynoochee Valley Road, and follow Wynoochee Valley Road for 35.5 miles to where it officially becomes National Forest Road 2312 at the junction with NFR-22; a sign at this point will mark the way to the Wynoochee Dam. An alternate route to this point is to take Highway 101 north from Hoquiam for 25 miles, then turn right onto Donkey Creek Road (NFR-22), and continue another 14 miles to the aforementioned junction with Wynoochee Valley Road. From either direction, from the junction continue north on NFR-2312 towards Wynoochee Lake for another 6.75 miles to where the falls crash down immediately adjacent to the road as it passes a section of cliffs.Noname Falls is an unofficially named waterfall which can be seen literally out of your car window from the National Forest Road heading up the Wynoochee River Valley from the head of Wynoochee Lake in the southern part of Olympic National Forest. The falls drop a total of 85 feet in two primary tiers, the upper dropping 52 feet and the lower another 33 feet before the creek is funneled beneath the road in a culvert. The stream producing the falls is quite small, draining from an area covering only about two-thirds of a square mile. Despite the impressive rain fall totals which this part of the Olympic Peninsula receives annually, the drainage basin is ultimately too small to sustain the falls beyond a trickle (if that) during the dry summer months. In the winter and spring however, an ample flow will be present - possibly enough to spray passing cars if the recent precipitation has been significant.This waterfall has no official name, and there seems to be a dearth of named geographic features in the immediate vicinity from which a name could be adopted. So in following the name "Noname" was chosen by "A Waterfall Lover's Guide to the Pacific Northwest" author Greg Plumb when he first listed the falls in the 3rd edition of the book. Should we find a suitable placename in the immediate vicinity, we will likely adopt a different name if only for the sake of more originality.