West Colchuck Falls

West Colchuck Falls is located near Colchuck Lake in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness southwest of Leavenworth. Depart Highway 2 in Leavenworth on Icicle Road and follow it for just under 8 1/2 miles to Eightmile Road # 7601 (signed for Eightmile Lake) and turn left. Follow Road 7601 to its end in just under 3 3/4 miles. Following the signs to Colchuck Lake, hike the Mountaineer Creek Trail for about 3 1/2 miles to where the falls can be seen on the right side of the trail near a switchback. The last mile of the climb to Colchuck Lake (another 2/3mile from the falls) is fairly steep and very uneven, so wear good shoes.Colchuck Lake has two outlet streams, both subterranean, but clearly lopsided in terms of distribution of the flow of water. The stream producing this waterfall seems to flow all year, but doesn't seem to flow with more than about 5 cubic feet of water at any given time. The falls are located a short distance below Colchuck Lake where the small stream veils about 20 feet over one of the many cliffbands it intersects as it flows towards Mountaineer Creek in the valley below. Oddly, even though the stream drops over 800 feet from the lake to the valley floor and there are numerous cliffs visible where the stream crashes down the hillside, there appeared to be only one other obvious waterfall on the creek (which isn't terribly conducive to photography). This isn't one to go out of your way to see, but it provides a good excuse to stop and take a breather when hiking to Colchuck.