|
Mineral Creek Falls is a small but surprisingly eye-catching waterfall encountered along the Hoh River Trail in Olympic National Park. The falls drop 66 feet down a mossy cliff, bouncing off the face and changing directions mid-fall. Below the falls the creek cascades down a shallow gully, with ferns covering the floor of the forest literally from head to toe, creating a quintessential temperate rainforest scene. While Mineral Creek isn't a small stream, the basin which it drains from is for all intents and purposes quite tiny. The significant amount of precipitation which falls on the western side of the Olympic Mountains sustains the creek year round but from July through October expect the volume of water present in the falls to be significantly reduced.
- Mineral Creek Falls is the Unofficial name of this waterfall.
Beginning in downtown Forks, follow Highway 101 south for 13 miles and turn left onto Upper Hoh Road, which is signed for Olympic National Park and the Hoh Rainforest. Follow the Hoh Road for 18 miles to its end at the Hoh Rainforest Visitor's Center in Olympic National Park (an entrance fee is required). Find the trailhead adjacent to the visitors center and follow the signs pointing to the Hoh River Trail (stay straight at the signed junctions), and hike 2 1/2 miles to the bridge over Mineral Creek (the first significant stream the trail crosses) where the falls will be visible about 200 feet upstream.
|
