Sipsey Waterfall Day Hike

**Bad Biscuit** · 02-24-2014, 14:42

With all the rain recently, a buddy called me up for a spontaneous day hike in the wonderful Sipsey Wilderness to chase down some waterfalls.

Since we had a late start, we only planned on going a few miles - but a few miles in the woods is better than none.

We parked at the Rec area, hiked up Borden Creek a bit, crossed over, and went to Fall Creek Falls and returned.

First, we saw this small waterfall:

Then hiking some more, we came across this one:

We had to cross, but with the recent rain, the water was up a bit:

We made it to Fall Creek Falls and it had a great flow:

We made our way back, finding a spot only knee deep further upstream. We went and found these falls within sight of each other:

We spent a couple of hours and covered 4.11 miles. We only saw a couple of people and NONE on the "other side" of the water.

**Bad Biscuit** · 02-24-2014, 20:34

Sorry everyone - I fixed the links for the pictures.

**Bushwhacker** · 02-24-2014, 22:49

Brrr... Getting drenched is always a good reason to keep moving. How cold is it round your neck of the woods?

**Bad Biscuit** · 02-24-2014, 22:55

I won't lie - the water WAS chilly! The daytime temp is in the mid 50's.

**BillyBob58** · 02-25-2014, 00:50

You were crossing Borden? Last two years when I did that, I barely got my ankles wet! But one good rain will give what you got!

**Bad Biscuit** · 02-25-2014, 07:11

Yes, that was Borden a little bit upstream from the official crossing point. It will get deep in a hurry when it rains.

**dukhntn** · 02-25-2014, 08:16

Originally Posted by BillyBob58

You were crossing Borden? Last two years when I did that, I barely got my angles wet! But one good rain will give what you got!

I've only been to sipsey once and on day 1 Borden was impassable. Afternoon of day 2 and Borden looked like it did in jnunniv's pic. How does the sipsey crossing on the 202 compare to the Borden crossing? What about farther upstream where the 209 crosses? I know it's all dependent on rainfall and water level, but when conditions are the same how do they all compare to one another?

**squidbilly** · 02-25-2014, 08:39

Originally Posted by dukhntn

I've only been to sipsey once and on day 1 Borden was impassable. Afternoon of day 2 and Borden looked like it did in jnunniv's pic. How does the sipsey crossing on the 202 compare to the Borden crossing? What about farther upstream where the 209 crosses? I know it's all dependent on rainfall and water level, but when conditions are the same how do they all compare to one another?

The other 2 you mentioned are usually not deep, with a more firm rocky bed. Slightly upstream from the 209 crossing is the cascades-you can rock hop across, but the bank is steep on the 209 side.

**Bad Biscuit** · 02-25-2014, 08:53

Originally Posted by dukhntn

I've only been to sipsey once and on day 1 Borden was impassable. Afternoon of day 2 and Borden looked like it did in jnunniv's pic. How does the sipsey crossing on the 202 compare to the Borden crossing? What about farther upstream where the 209 crosses? I know it's all dependent on rainfall and water level, but when conditions are the same how do they all compare to one another?

There was debris caught in the brush/trees at least 6 ft off the ground and the trail is quite a bit above the water line. I use http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?02450250 as a gauge. I believe this measures the water level past/near the Rec area.

From my experience and generally speaking, 201/202 crossing is shin deep (at most), where 200 (Borden) is ankle deep. When it rains, the water level rises quickly. Of course, narrow=deep, wide=shallow.

On the way back, we just continued upstream and found a wider spot and it was MUCH more shallow.