Tillicum Point Falls

Tillicum Point Falls is a surprisingly significant hidden waterfall found at the southwest edge of Spray Park in Mount Rainier National Park. The falls are actually two parallel waterfalls which occur along completely independent streams that face one another as they drop off the Spray Park plateau (since the streams are separate, we may ultimately end up splitting this entry into two upon further review). The smaller stream originates in snowmelt tarns and meadows in Spray Park itself, while the larger of the two is sourced in part of the remnant of the Flett Glacier on Observation Rock. Both falls drop into a large horseshoe-shaped alcove in the cliffs below Spray Park. The larger of the two streams falls 168 feet, first in a nearly free-fall drop then skipping over rock and finally entering a true free-fall for the final two-thirds of its descent. The smaller of the two falls, which is situated at a 90-degree angle perpendicular to the larger fall, drops in two side-by-side streams itself, falling 103 feet to the talus slope below. Because of how the smaller of the two falls is oriented, we found it difficult to photograph - perhaps a future survey will yield a more revealing perspective. The stream which produces the larger of the two falls seems likely to be a healthily perennial stream, since it sources in a glacier. The smaller of the two however seems more likely to require snow melt to subsist. When we surveyed the falls in mid-August we found that one-half of the smaller of the two falls was already considerably reduced in volume. We expect that by September the entirety of the smaller stream may be just a trickle, outside of heavy snow years at least.Neither the falls nor its streams are thought to have ever been named, so we've titled it after Tillicum Point, the prominence which rises above the falls directly to the southeast.