North Davis Mountain Falls

North Davis Mountain Falls is located about halfway between Packwood and Randle. After flood damage in 2003, access to the falls became slightly less convenient when traveling either direction on Highway 12, but is nonetheless easy to access. Take Highway 12 about ten miles west of Packwood, or six miles east of Randle, and bear north onto Davis Creek Road. Follow the paved road to its end at the barricaded site of the former bridge over Davis Creek, destroyed in the floods of 2003. From here, turn hard left onto NFR #63 - also called Davis Creek Road, and proceed for another 4.7 miles to where the falls can be seen just upstream from the road.North Davis Mountain Falls is a long series of sliding cascades which tumble down a shaded glen on the west side of Davis Mountain near the town of Randle. The falls drop a total of 170 feet in two distinct steps, both steep cascading falls with the majority of the fall coming in sliding cascades. The upper tier tumbles and slides a total of 102 feet, then after a very brief pause the lower tier tumbles and slides a further 68 feet, terminating immediately upstream from where the stream flows beneath NFR #63 (Davis Creek Road). There may at times be a not inconsequential pile of sticks and logs gathered at the bottom of the falls as a result of winter flooding or storm damage in the area. The stream producing this waterfall drains from an area covering approximately one-half of a square mile, and has a maximum elevation of 4850 feet, with most of the basin falling below the 4000 foot elevation. When surveyed at the beginning of July the flow was low but still enough to allow the falls to be visually prominent from the road. It is likely the average volume of this stream will be just a trickle by the end of July in most years.