Wallace Falls

Two weeks ago, while Nick’s mom was visiting us, we drove up to the tiny town of Gold Bar and hiked Wallace Falls. Wallace Falls features a 265-foot waterfall along with several smaller falls.

View from Middle Falls

Wallace Falls Statistics:

Roundtrip: 5.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 1300 ft
Highest Point: 1570 ft

One really neat thing about Wallace Falls is that you don’t have to hike all the way to the end. There are 3 tiers to the hike and they get progressively more difficult. The first tier is from the trailhead to Lower Falls (870 ft elevation), a 1.8 mile hike that’s easy difficulty. Next is Middle Falls (1100 ft elevation), which is another 0.6 miles down the trail, and moderate difficulty. The last leg of the trail to Upper Falls (1570 ft) is the most strenuous, going up 470 ft in elevation in only 0.35 miles. We only hiked to Middle Falls and back. At the end of each tier of the hike, there is a viewpoint where you get a clear view of the waterfalls.

Wallace Falls is a super popular hiking spot that is reportedly often crowded with people. We went during the day on a weekday and it wasn’t crowded at all. The weather was really nice, too… not too hot and not too cold, perfect hiking weather. It was a little cloudy when we first got to the trail, but it was sunny by the time we were done. There was even a wedding party at the beginning of the trail taking photos.

Unlike Rattlesnake Ledge, which we hiked earlier this summer, Wallace Falls has beautiful scenery the entire hike. Although you get the best views of the waterfalls at the viewpoints, you can always hear the running water as you walk through the old growth forests and over rivers and streams. We definitely plan on taking all of our out-of-town guests here in the future. 🙂

I took my camera with and got some really beautiful photos of the hike, so be sure to check out the Flickr album below!

Flickr album: Wallace Falls