Paradise Falls

Paradise Falls is a spectacular broad, sheer plunge type waterfall along Clearwater Creek found just outside of the area in which the trees were killed during the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. The falls plunge 126 feet in a broad sheet of water, streching on average about 55 feet in width, over an amphitheater cliff of andesite which displays some poorly formed columnar jointing. Though few instances of waterfall measurements by the USGS seem to appear on their 7-1/2" topographic maps, Paradise Falls seems to have been one of the few; the 1998 Smith Creek Butte quadrangle indicating the falls as dropping 133 feet in contrast to our measurement of 126 feet. It's possible that since the USGS's measurement was taken, the streambed above the falls had been scoured further to bedrock which may have reduced the height of the falls slightly since 1980. Immediately upstream of the falls the creek flows along a remarkably smooth, calm pool along a bedrock shelf which lends some evidence that the stream has likely been scoured out considerably during the last 30 years. Though it is situated well outside of the blast zone, in which all of the trees were knocked over and killed, there are several dead snags around Paradise Falls which were likely suffocated due to the thick ash and noxious gasses released during the 1980 eruption. Upstream of the falls and down, Clearwater Creek is lined with thick growths of Alder thickets which suggest that during and after the eruption there were sizeable mudflows which scoured the valley and ripped clean the older growth along the stream. Above and to the left of the falls thick layers of volcanic ash and breccias can be seen exposed along the rim of the cliff, signaling that the area has repeatedly been coated by eruptions in the past. Likewise, several stretches of the descent down into the canyon pass through forest floor littered with crumbly dirt which has almost certainly been intermixed with ash from the eruption. Though the journey into Paradise Falls is not terribly lengthy, it is a trek of considerable difficulty, and not one at all recommended for any but the most hearty of bushwhackers. The descent to the base of the falls is very steep, crumbly, and can offer potential situations where hikers could encounter cliffs if the correct route down is not identified. Please consider this before attempting to visit the falls.