Tokaloo Falls

Tokaloo Falls is visible from Mount Rainier National Park's Wonderland Trail for approximately half of a mile on either side of where it crosses the saddle of Emerald Ridge. The shortest approach to Emerald Ridge is to take the West Side Road to its end at Fish Creek, then hike in along the old road for just over a mile to the unsigned Tahoma Creek Trail - look for a metal garbage can where the road makes a sharp bend to the left, there are two metal signs along the trail about 100 feet in from the old road. The Tahoma Creek Trail, officially unmaintained but generally in fine shape - climbs just under 2 miles to intersect the Wonderland Trail at the suspension bridge spanning Tahoma Creek. Bear left and continue climbing toward Emerald Ridge and South Puyallup Camp. The falls will become visible after about another mile where the trail breaks out onto the moraine of the South Tahoma Glacier, with the summit of Emerald Ridge and the closest views of the falls reached almost exactly 5 miles from the trailhead.Tokaloo Falls is a prominent waterfall which veils almost directly onto the Tahoma Glacier on the southwest side of Mount Rainier. The falls are fueled by permanent snow fields in a small basin situated between the Puyallup Cleaver and the Tahoma Glacier, the runoff from which plunges over 3-stepped waterfall of about 400 feet in height before the stream runs underneath the Tahoma Glacier near its terminus. Two smaller streams can also be seen braiding down the adjacent cliff to the left of the main falls, however these two falls flow from a much smaller basin and will likely run dry by the beginning of the autumn months during most years (if not sooner). As the falls are situated over two-thirds of a mile away from the nearest trail, there is no easy way to approach the falls closely (experienced mountaineers might be able to traverse from St. Andrews Park, but the terrain appears prohibitively steep in many places). Because of this limited access, we were not able to accurately measure the total height of the falls, but feel that a height of about 400 feet as suggested by topographic maps is close to accurate.This waterfall is not known to have held any historical or official name of any sort. We have suggested the listed name after nearby Tokaloo Rock.