Torment Falls

Just prior to crossing the North Fork Cascade River for the last time, motorists driving the Cascade River Road may notice a lofty series of steep cascades visible through the trees across the valley. This waterfall is both one of the tallest in the area as well as one of the most agonizingly difficult waterfalls to see in the area. Torment Creek, fed by remnant glacier fragments and snowfields on Mount Torment, cascades somewhere between 1200 and 1600 feet down the steep wall of the Cascade River valley, its final drop as a rather impressive 3 or 4 tiered horsetailing waterfall. Its hard to gauge where the falls begin and though I have reached the foot, mapping the location is a tricky endevor. Unfortunately the falls cannot be easily seen due to a stand of quite rudely obstructive trees along the banks of the North Fork Cascade River (though the river in this area did flood severely in 2006 and may have exposed a view since), so the only readily clear view of the falls is from the immediate base where only a fraction can be seen.I initially gave this waterfall the working name of Torment Falls after the creek, well before I knew what it had in store for me. Turns out there must have been some kind of karma in the air that day, because after having tried 3 times to view the falls, only to find that only a fraction can be seen, I don't think I could have named it better. To this day, it still torments me.