Washout Falls

From Randle, take SR 131 south towards Mt. St. Helens, then bear left onto Forest Road 23 towards Trout Lake (Road 25 continues straight to St. Helens and Cougar). After about 13 miles, turn right onto Forest Road 28, following signs for the Cispus Center and Tower Rock. Continue 1.3 miles on Road 28 to just beyond the bridge across Yellowjacket Creek. Here, Road 28 continues straight and becomes gravel - take this, do not follow the pavement. On the now gravel extension of Road 28, continue another 5 miles to a concrete low-water crossing at a sharp bend in the road where the falls can be seen through the Alder trees growing adjacent to the creek. Clear views are had by scrambling 100 feet upstream.Washout Falls is a low volume roadside waterfall found along an unnamed tributary to Yellowjacket Creek on the southeast flank of Burley Mountain in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The falls are composed of a single drop of 137 feet, transitioning from a sliding smooth-rock cascade into a veiling horsetail type fall which spreads out to as much as 50 feet across at its base, depending on the volume of water present in the stream. The entire waterfall was formerly visible from the road following a flash flood which destroyed the road in the late 90's, however Alder saplings have since grown up around the base of the falls and largely obstructed all views of the falls from anywhere except its immediate base, so the upper section of the fall is no longer easily seen. The unnamed stream which produces this waterfall drains from a basin of approximately one-half of a square mile in size. The majority of the terrain in this basin is steep, and though the thick forest in the area will help to consistently regulate ground water in the basin, the over all steepness will promote fast runoff of any precipitation which falls in the basin. The falls as a result do not flow with vigor for more than a few months out of the year. Flow will be adequate in the spring, but will quickly fall off to just a trickle by the beginning of summer, and may be entirely dry by the end of August.