Trixie Falls

Trixie Falls is a moderate to low volume waterfall found along the upper reaches of Basalt Creek in the Cowlitz Park area of Mount Rainier National Park. The falls drop a sheer 86 feet over a sheer cliff of Andesite before cascading down a long talus runout to a large meadow in the basin below. The falls can be distantly seen (with a very strong set of binoculars or lens) from the Stevens Canyon Road at the Backbone Ridge viewpoint, but practical access otherwise requires a difficult hike and cross-country travel. The falls are mislabeled on the 1:24,000 USGS Mount Rainier East quadrangle as occurring along a seasonal unnamed tributary stream immediately to the east, which also harbors a waterfall we refer to as Little Trixie Falls. Basalt Creek is not a large stream in the first place, but as high up in its basin as Trixie Falls is found, it relies completely on active snow melt in order to sustain a flow. The drainage area above the falls covers just one-tenth of a square mile in area, however as this area ranges from 6,100 to 6,500 feet in elevation there is typically a heavy winter snow pack to provide a slow release of water into the creek for at least the first half of the summer. When we surveyed the falls in August 2017 there was still ample flow in the creek due to several large drifts of snow remaining in the meadows above the falls. It would be expected however to see the falls dwindle to just a trickle by early to mid September, and there is a possibility it may dry out entirely by the end of September or in drought years. The falls will not be accessible (and will be mostly, if not entirely buried) between the first snow fall of the season until roughly mid July.Trixie Falls was named by former Mount Rainier National Park superintendent Ethan Allen for Beatrice (Trixie) Hall, one of three daughters of Edward S. Hall, the first superintendent of Mount Rainier National Park.