Irene Creek
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| | Raps:8, max ↨140ft
Red Tape:No permit required Shuttle:None Vehicle:Passenger Rock type:Plutonic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Condition Reports: | 25 Jul 2025
"Awesome day in mod high flow. All anchors good. River crossing at 620cfs wasnt bad. Swam with no backpack, then ferried packs with rope. Then other 2 |
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| Best season: | Late Summer, Early Fall, Before rainy season
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48.5294, -121.3224
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Weather forecast
Waterflow
Introduction
Irene Creek is a large, north-facing drainage that joins the Cascade River just across from Lookout Mountain. From the confluence, the first falls is a showy curtain spilling from a undercut slot. Peer behind this curtain to find Cascadian Dream, a scenic bedrock narrows full of smaller drops and pools. This is topped by a second falls dropping into a deep shrine-like alcove.
Approach
The crux on the approach is getting across the Cascade River. Getting across the Cascade River is NOT easy most of the year. It drains a large reach of the cascade crest including several large glaciers. Just upstream of the confluence is a class V rapid, affectionately named 'Monster'. The bank on the north side is also steep with very few beaches or eddies. Nevertheless, stream flow can subside by late season on a dry year for a reasonable crossing. Check an online CFS flow graph before attempting. Crossing is an easy swim at ~200cfs. Above 450cfs, crossing may require a boat and some whitewater experience.
'Cascadian Dream' Approach (Requires river crossing)
Park on the Cascade River Rd, at a turnout near an old logging road before the culvert over a small stream, roughly above 'Monster'. Head West down the road 30 yards, and drop into the trees. There seems to a variety of routes to the river, but orange flagging (visible from road) marks a not too horrible path. Leaving a 30 ft hand line rope in place can make the last little bit easier going up and down. Once at the river, walk upstream to below Monster. The final falls of Irene should be visible direct across the river. Swim across the river in the calmer section to Irene Creek.
At the west corner of the creek & river, pick up further orange flagging into the trees, following it up the steep hillside. Despite the verticality of the route, the open trees and faint trail makes it fairly easy going.
This route gives access to both the lower and top entrances. You can take a look at the creek flow at the lower entrance. Continuing up the west slope, until it opens up to an old clear cut. For the nicest drop to R1, follow the edge of the clear cut uphill another 100 yards and then turn towards the creek (orange flagging continues). The R1 tree is flagged, and has webbing for the rappel down to just above the R1 upper large falls.
'Cascadian Nightmare' Approach (Avoids river crossing)
Use road FS1550 and hike cross country to the east side of the canyon. With good route-finding, expect a full day effort and be prepared to encounter some brush. While there are large swaths of open mature timber on gentle slopes, there is a fair mix of steep sidehilling though boulder fields, devils club, vine maple, and other assorted shrubbery. Stay above the clearcut, though it is impossible to avoid if you drop down to the Cascade River level. It is possible to scramble directly into the middle of the narrows from the east side, connecting to Cascadian Dream but it is somewhat steep and precarious. Be wary of yellow-jackets on hot days.
Descent
(When reading old trip reports, note that R1 used to be called R0, and R7 wasn't needed. This meant R6 referred to the final rap).
R1 (entrance rappel into the creek): 70' dry rappel from webbing off flagged tree on the edge of the canyon. The slope the R1 tree is on is steep, so we recommend just putting harnesses on for R1 and waiting to fully suit up at the bottom. There is plenty of dry land for a suit-up area above R2.
R2 (Upper Falls): 140’ from unlinked bolts DCR into a pool. Fall line from this anchor takes you through the heavy heart of the flow the entire way. An incredible rappel.
Scramble below the 'weir', an impressive logjam, partway down the start of a narrow sluice to a ledge DCR. DCR ledge is incredibly slippery. At moderate flow, stemming down into the water course is the safer route, then climbing back up to the anchor at the end of the slot.
R3: 20' from a bolt DCR
J1: 8' jump off chockstone or small ledge DCL. There is a boulder roughly 5' underwater - check the bottom and/or use shallow jump technique. Logs are available to sling for a short rappel.
R4: 50' from webbing off tree DCL
R5: 40' from webbing off tree on shelf DCL, or J2: 35' jump into a deep pool from shelf DCL.
J3: 8' jump from a chockstone over 'twin falls'.
This puts us back to the lower entrance (see reference photo), and early exit option DCL.
R6: 100' two-stage rappel from tree DCR with a long piece of webbing extended around the edge. Last person should make sure that the rapide extends past the boulders/brush at the top of the first falls for a clean pull. A courtesy anchor is recommended. The second stage is not a slide, as it looks from above.
R7: 30' from boulder pinch DCR to approach the R8 anchor (can be rigged as retrievable hand line).
R8 (Irene Creek Falls): 95' from unlinked bolts on the backside of huge chockstone
Exit
The final rappel deposits you a few hundred feet from where you crossed the Cascade River. Return via approach chosen.
Red tape
None. The creek is on state forest land adjacent to national forest land.
Beta sites
Northwest Waterfall Survey - Irene Creek Falls
American Whitewater - Cascade River Info and Flow Gauge
Trip reports and media
Photos from Sep 2020: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pnwcanyoning/permalink/10158706090360789
More photos from Sep 2020: https://www.facebook.com/groups/pnwcanyoning/permalink/10158797792945789
Background
First descent by Yana Radenska, Kevin Steffa, Josh Warren, Cassandra Sipe in 2017.
Special thanks to Didzis Beitlers for route ground truthing.