Little Mashel Waterfalls

I've been hiking the Little Mashel Waterfalls for years, and keep waiting for it to blow up in popularity, but for some reason it's stayed under the radar! It's a relatively easy hike, close to Rainier, and has THREE massive waterfalls in a row.

Just tell me the facts!

It's about 2.5 hours away from Portland, 1.5 hours from Seattle, and 30 minutes from the entrance to Mt. Rainier NP. The waterfalls are located in the Pack Forest, managed by the University of Washington. There are several ways to access the waterfalls - the two most popular paths are quite boring, in my opinion, as they follow logging roads or go through neighborhoods. In my most recent trip, I mapped out a far more interesting path that took me up to Hugo Peak.

The Lower Mashel River Waterfalls in February 2020 - much more water than my latest trip this past November.

University of Washington Pack Forest

The Charles L. Pack Experimental Forest turns 100 years old in 2026! It is managed by the University of Washington's School of Environmental and Forest Sciences.

The current link to the trail map on the Pack Forest website is broken, but I found a (horribly confusing) map here on WTA. The two most common routes are also on AllTrails, linked below:

• 1000 Road: Park at the Pack Forest facilities off of Highway 7 and take the logging road to the falls. It's about 6 miles round trip with a gentle uphill. You will be on a logging road through the Pack Forest for most of the hike - this is great if you have kids or want an easy walk, but it doesn't really feel like a wilderness hike and gets boring.

  
  

• Bud Blancher Trail: Park at the Bud Blancher Trailhead in Eatonville, then continue for a while on the trail parallel to Weyerhauser Road, then turn off onto the Little Mashel Falls Trail. This way is about 5 miles round trip with even less uphill. This trail is even less "wildernessy" as it goes behind people's houses and through the town of Eatonville.

I'm not sure why people popularized these two routes when there are so many interlocking trails in the Pack Forest to explore! If you are looking for a classic PNW waterfall hike through old growth forest, I'd highly recommend taking my route instead. Here is the link to my AllTrails map.

Hugo Peak to Little Mashel Waterfalls

I parked at the Pack Forest Facilities off of Highway 7 (same location that the 1000 Road trail starts at). I took 1000 Road, then the Hugo Peak trail up to the spur to the viewpoint. The view is not great, but the old growth forest is beautiful and there's more elevation gain for those looking for a workout.

It is a nice and peaceful view, but mostly blocked by trees.

Backtrack on the spur trail for a bit, then follow 1000 Road all the way to the waterfalls (trail turns are well marked, I have pictures below). It's a very short walk to the turnoffs to the three waterfalls! You will lose, then gain back, a lot of elevation to access the viewpoints, and it gets extremely muddy and slippery, so be careful. I'd absolutely recommend visiting all three waterfalls, especially after a heavy rain season, but the Lower Falls are the most impressive.

After seeing all three falls, I took 1000 Road back to my car, which made for a great loop with all the elevation gain frontloaded and an easy cruise back.

Overall, my loop was 8 miles, with 1,500 feet elevation gain. Much longer and more difficult than the two popular trails, but way more exciting and rewarding.

Here's my loop! You can see detail and even download the route here.

The Three Waterfalls

The walk on 1000 Road to the waterfalls is very gentle and clearly marked. Someone marked the turn off to 1070 Road with a creative pebble and stick sign, and then a spray painted rock will show you where to make the second turn.

A creatively built sign directing people where to go

Another creative trailmarker, showing the small path to get to the falls

The first turn off is to Upper Falls. It's marked by a blue diamond on a tree:

The same tree also marks the path to the Middle Falls

The Upper Falls is probably the least spectacular of the three. The viewpoint isn't as close up, and there's only one tier. That being said, I've done hikes where a similarly impressive waterfall is the main attraction.

By this point in my hike, it had started pouring and I just wanted to go home, so I didn't bother to hike down for better pictures.

Head back up the same path, to the tree marked with the white and blue diamonds. The white diamond marks the path to the next waterfall. Middle Falls is much larger than the first and has a better viewpoint. I definitely recommend visiting these waterfalls in the winter, especially after heavy rainfall. Just bring a raincoat, because they're so powerful you will get sprayed!

All the falls have paths leading to the base, but it gets so muddy and slippery I wouldn't recommend it.

Finally, the trail to Lower Falls is marked with a yellow diamond. This is the last of the falls, but if you continue on the main trail you'll reach Bud Blancher park (which is another access point for the falls).

Don't be deceived by how close the falls are on the river - you'll probably hike almost a mile going down and back up between the three waterfalls.

The Lower Falls are my favorite! The viewing platform is perfect for photos. They were a little bare on my most recent trip (November 2025), but I've seen them absolutely raging. The pictures at the beginning and end of this write-up show the Lower Falls in late winter, which would probably be the best time to visit.

My favorite of the three waterfalls

After visiting all three waterfalls, you can take 1000 Road back to your car for an easy walk downhill. If you're feeling adventurous, you could also head back the way you came (and doubling the elevation gain, since you'll be summitting Hugo Peak again).

The walk back to the road isn't the most exciting, but it is still very pretty. It had just started pouring rain on me, and I still had an hours' drive to my AirBnB in Olympia, so I opted to walk the road. With a good power walk cadence, I made it back to my car in about 40 minutes. This would be a great hike with kids or people who don't have the balance for uneven dirt trails.

1000 Road - if you follow AllTrails, your entire hike will look like this

Fast Facts about Little Mashel Waterfalls

This is the perfect rainy day hike! No crowds, no parking fees, dogs allowed, three waterfalls, old-growth forest.... everything is perfect and so underrated! Let me know what you think if you make it out there this winter!

• Link to my AllTrails loop here.

• Link to the Pack Forest website here.

• 8 miles, 1,500 feet elevation gain

• Dogs allowed!

• No parking pass required

• 2.5 hours from Portland, 1.5 hours from Seattle, 30 minutes from Mt. Rainier NP

• Great Verizon cell service throughout!

  
  

I will leave you with a photo from my first trip to the Mashel Waterfalls in early 2020. It's a bittersweet memory for me - I had just gone through a breakup and was starting to solo hike more often. To make it look like I was hiking with friends, I bought a tripod for my phone and got very creative with my selfies. I captioned this one "don't go chasing scrubs" and thought I was oh-so-clever mashing up my TLC lyrics while subtly insulting both my ex and the man I was trying to get to text me back. Little did I know that in less than a month, a pandemic would shut down the world and I'd have bigger problems on my hands. Nowadays, I proudly hike alone and have mostly retired the selfie timer and tripod!