West Nickel Falls

This waterfall is marked with a generic "Falls" marker on the current 1:24,000 USGS Mount Rainier East topographic quadrangle. A very low volume ephemeral waterfall does occur along a tiny drainage at this location, dropping about 100 feet down a cliff band, but the drainage area is so small (about 0.03 square miles, or 20 acres) that even with the winter snow pack actively melting to feed the stream the falls barely register on the radar. We passed the location in August 2017 when there was still ample snow in the basin above and the falls were functionally dry. This behavior suggests the falls may only flow with an acceptable amount of water for a matter of just a few weeks each year. When flowing the falls will be distantly visible from the Wonderland Trail near the high point on Cowlitz Ridge, about a mile south of Indian Bar. Getting closer is not worth the effort involved.