Sunbeam Creek Waterfall, at Mount Rainier

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Watch closely as you drive along Stevens Canyon Road, at the upper end of the canyon, near Louise Lake.  As the road crosses Sunbeam Creek (the source of water for Louise Lake), you’ll catch a brief glimpse of a pretty little waterfall.  It’s worth stopping for.

I’m not sure if this waterfall has an official name, but I’ve seen some websites call it Upper Sunbeam Falls. The most obvious part of the falls is only a few feet from the road, and you can take some good pictures of it from the bridge.

The falls form some lovely veils as they cascade down one rock after another.

I wasn’t completely satisfied with the pictures from the bridge, so I looked closely at the creek, and realized that it wouldn’t be difficult to walk upstream, just a short distance.

The upper portion of the falls is barely noticeable from the road, but if you carefully hike just 30 feet or so upstream, you’ll get a nice look at it.  There are enough rocks, positioned at strategic spots, to allow you to cross from one side of the creek to the other without getting wet (the rocks are slippery, though).

Along the way, I found one tiny cascade after another that was worth photographing…

… and I ended up spending a lot more time here than I expected.

If you stop to take pictures here, be sure to bring a tripod along, and take slow exposures, so that you capture the motion of the water.

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