You can see the falls when driving on Hwy 93. It is near St Ignatius when you come from Missoula up Ravalli Hill. Actually, you see Elizabeth Falls which is above Mission Falls.
From Kmart in Kalispell, the distance is 83.8 miles with a drive time of 1 hour and 48 minutes.
The road is paved almost to Mission Reservoir, then it is gravel for about 3 miles. The gravel road is in decent condition with a few potholes to slow a vehicle down. I drove my car which has a low clearance, and as long as I drove slow I had no problems.
The highlighted red dashed line is the trail to the upper falls. The lower falls is near the parking lot at the trail head.
Larry's GPS unit tracked our route. Larry and Steve remained at the Upper Falls (Lap 2) while I attempted to reach Lucifer Lake (far right in photo). Larry had misread the map he had and thought we were at Elizabeth Falls and that Lucifer Lake was less than a mile away. Wrong! So from Lap 2 to the end of the red line is my attempt to get to Lucifer Lake. As you can I wasn't even close by the time the "trail" disappeared.
You can't see the Upper Falls from the trail head. You hike for a quarter to a third of a mile (give or take) before you get a clearing where you can see the falls. I zoomed in for the second photo. The top falls is Elizabeth Falls. The lower falls is Upper Mission Falls. We hiked to the top of Upper Mission Falls.
This is about the only view of these falls from a distance you get. Most times you are in trees with views south across the valley. You do get lots of views of the falls on the South Fork Mission Creek halfway up the valley and on the south side. The creek comes from Sonielem Lake high up the mountain and unseen.
Even though it was July the water was flowing high and fast. I don't know if it was because of all the snow this year, or whether the Falls usually have lots of water.
The Lower Mission Falls
Larry and Steve at the Upper Mission Falls.
One has to take care at the Upper Falls. The wet rocks are very slippery. The rock somewhat forms a bowl and with the fast water it may be the reason a number of people have been swept over the falls to their death.
http://montananewsnow.com/the-latest/tag/mission-falls-hiking-death
Mission Falls can be deceivingly dangerous, according to Tom McDonald, division manager of CSKT’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, Recreation and Conservation. The trail, which includes three steep sections, takes you to a pool atop the falls that couldn’t look more serene.
“A light film of algae grows on the rocks, and people who wade out into the pool can slip and go over the falls,” McDonald says. “It’s the only trail in the Mission Mountain Tribal wilderness we’ve had fatalities on in my time here.”
The trail continues another 3 to 4 miles to Lucifer Lake. It is extremely steep, not maintained, and doesn't offer good vantage points for viewing Elizabeth Falls, which it passes.
According to Larry's GPS tracking, the hike to the Upper Mission Falls was 4.62 miles (round trip) with an elevation gain of 1,595 feet. The main elevation gain is concentrated in a little of half the distance. Larry's GPS then had us climbing at a rate of 1,200 vertical feet per mile,which is very steep.
I attempted to hike to Lucifer Lake and failed. I ended up hiking 5.23 miles (round trip) with an elevation gain of 2,449 feet. The extra 854 ft elevation gain in .3 miles made it seem like I had hiked more than the extra .61 miles.
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| The 'trail' was steeper than it looks. Climbing to Lucifer Lake. |
The trail to the Upper Mission Falls is apparently mainly maintained by horse riders. The route to Lucifer Lake is too steep for horses and is only used by campers and fisherman, so it is not maintained. The initial route up from the Upper Mission Falls is clearly defined but after the trail levels off above the rocks in the photo the trail goes through a rocky and grassy area before going back into trees. Or maybe it does, as I lost the trail after it went back into the trees. Perhaps the trail goes up more before going into the trees and the 'trail' I followed into the trees was where other hikers got lost?
On the way back down to the Upper Mission Falls I met two backpackers with a dog hiking to Lucifer Lake. One guy had hiked to Lucifer Lake eight times. He says he still has trouble following the route. He said I was over an hour from the lake.
For more photos of the falls,
https://plus.google.com/photos/109566462412251958234/albums/6081409831194975265?authkey=COCG78OFo_XDsgE
For a video of the falls: http://youtu.be/JZvU-4ImONM
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