- Racehorse Creek (wa100.dnr.wa.gov)
Racehorse Creek, a small waterway near Deming, Washington, is a must-see destination for fossil aficionados. The area is known for its fossil beds—50 million-year-old leaf fossils, including sycamore and swamp cypress, await dedicated collectors. In addition to abundant fossils, the creek boasts the impressive Racehorse Falls, a 169-foot-tall multi-stage waterfall that’s a short 0.6 mile hike to reach.
Northwest Waterfall Survey
- Racehorse Falls (waterfallsnorthwest.com)
Racehorse Creek thunders over a great waterfall situated within a short, shallow and very interesting gorge. The falls drop a total of 139 feet over four distinct steps. The first two tiers are back-to-back punchbowl-type plunges of 19 and 44 feet respectively, which both feature deep potholes at their bases. Immediately below the second tier the creek accelerates down a ramp-like cascading fall for about 15 feet and then comes to the final drop where it first plunges over an undercut ledge and then slams onto a diagonally pitched bedrock ramp and veils out in a broad sheet, with a small pool on one side about three-quarters of the way down and ending in a much larger pool. The basin at the bottom of the falls is held back by a second diagonally pitched ramp of bedrock, within which is another small fall of about 10 feet.
