Sunday Falls

Take the Mountain Loop Highway to the Barlow Pass trailhead, found just over 30 miles east of Granite Falls or 23 miles south of Darrington. Once parked at the pass, either hike of bike the gated Monte Cristo Road for 4.25 miles to the Monte Cristo town site. As of 2012 one of two bridges spanning the South Fork Sauk River remains out and the river must be crossed on a large log instead (easy for hikers, a little more cumbersome for those with bikes). Once at the town site, lock your bike up on the rack if needed and follow the trail past the cabins, then keep straight where a bridge crosses Seventysix Creek and leads towards Glacier Basin. Signs point to Poodle Dog Pass and Sunday Falls from this point. The path now becomes rockier and steeper and climbs for a quarter mile to the signed viewpoint for Sunday Falls, vistas from which are largely obscured by the surrounding forest. To see the falls clearly it's necessary to scramble down the very steep bank to the creek then rock-hop up to the base of the falls.Sunday Falls is a low-volume but rather tall set of cascades found just outside the historic mining town of Monte Cristo. The falls mark the final descent of tiny Sunday Creek, which runs out of the small basin adjacent to Poodle Dog Pass and joins Seventysix Creek as it enters the former Monte Cristo town site. The long series of cascades drops a total of 373 feet, with the upper sections of the falls appearing steeper than the lower but because it isn't easy to approach the upper sections of the falls we can't be certain. Sunday Creek is not likely a truly seasonal stream in that it should retain some flow throughout the year, but because its drainage basin is quite small and is not fed by snow or ice from any of the adjacent tall peaks, it is reduced in volume greatly by the middle of summer.Both Sunday Falls and Creek were named during the heyday of Monte Cristo's activity around the turn of the 20th Century. The falls served as a frequent destination for short group hikes after Sunday mass for the families who lived in Monte Cristo full time.