Murhut Creek

Murhut Creek is a tributary of the Duckabush River located in Olympic National Forest. Convenient road access and a friendly trail lead to the base of exquisite and popular Murhut Falls. The descent begins with an exciting rappel in the full flow and becomes quite intriguing further downstream. The atmosphere intensifies in a narrow hall with a logjam strainer and a siphon. Abundant cascades further on offer some enjoyable downclimbing. An impressive waterfall with a large boulder pile and wide cascades at its base is a grand prelude to the aquamarine waters of the Duckabush River. Watershed: 2.8mi^2. Highest point in the watershed is ~4500ft elevation.

From the trailhead, a large pullout on the north side of the road, follow the signed trail 0.8mi to Murhut Falls. The view from bench is the checkpoint. To get to the top of the big falls, head up the steep wooded slopes behind the upper viewpoint. Bear gradually right as you gain elevation until well above the falls. If it's not easy, you're in the wrong place. Head downhill to the creek just upstream of the waterfall. It's a little steep, but easy, as the forest is very open and there is hardly any brush. For Upper Murhut starting by walking up the forest road past trailhead for about 2.5 miles, then hop off the road and head down the steep slope to the creek. Marked on the map is the way we tried it, but might be easier to take the abandoned road that the slope shade in CalTopo implies is there.

Beta has been updated to reflect current conditions as of the 2025 season opener. Upper Murhut adds 3 more drops but a much longer approach, skip down to Murhut Falls for standard the route. (UM - Upper Murhut, so the rest of the rappels don't get renumbered) Two small drops that can be downclimbed but if some log piles rearrange more rappels might be needed Murhut Falls (R1 & R2). Take care of those below if throwing your ropes / rope bags and yell ROPE loudly. Continue downstream. Two small waterfalls can be downclimbed DCR. Two small 8-10' cascades that can be downclimbed, slid, or jumped. Check water levels before jumping. There is an early exit DCR if you want to avoid the steep bushwack climb up from the river. There is another early exit DCR shortly below the bottom of R9 if you want to avoid half of the steep bushwack up from the river. To continue, creek walk and downclimb a distance of about 500' to the river.

From the confluence of Murhut Creek and Duckabush River, exit the canyon DCR. Bushwhack up the slope, trending southeast. Ascend the slope for about 200ft until you encounter an old logging road grade (described as FR 032 on FS topo maps from 2016). Follow this mostly level grade east until it eventually intersects FR2530. The grade is overgrown but a use trail is developing. The overgrown road hike takes about 30 minutes to get to Lower Parking. The best thing about Murhut Canyon may be the after-canyon swimming hole at the bridge. There is a rope swing and jumping platforms from 10' to 20'. A great place to cool off and clean off your wetsuit and gear.