Ohanapecosh Falls

Ohanapecosh Falls is located along th Eastside Trail along the Highway 123 corridor in Mount Rainier National Park. The falls can be accessed two ways. The first, start from the Grove of the Patriarchs and hike north for 3 1/2 miles to the falls. The second, and personally preferred is to start at the Owyhigh Lakes Trailhead, 4 1/2 miles south of Cayuse Pass, and hike 1/4 mile to the Eastside Trail, then follow the Eastside Trail south for just over 3 miles to the falls. The best views are about 300 feet south of the bridge.Ohanapecosh Falls is a modest waterfall along the Ohanapecosh River about a quarter mile upstream from its confluence with Chinook Creek. The falls are a double-punchbowl in form, split in two by a natural trough that offsets the tiers by a good 20 feet, creating a very eye catching stair-step. During high water, the whole ledge most likely gets submerged underwater. During the flood of 2006, the Ohanapecosh took out the bridge 15 feet above the falls - a testament to the insane volume of water that fell on Mount Rainier during the event.While I have very little evidence to support this theory, it is possible that this waterfall was the feature originally intended to be titled Stafford Falls. While the early Eastside Trail passed near both this entry and the fall currently known as Stafford, it is postulated that this would have been viewed as more prominent due to the river's size.