The 168 foot roadside showpiece on the Paradise River at Mount Rainier, loudest as the Paradise snowfields melt out in early summer.
June and July
Big water window
in a typical year
Snowmelt
What drives it
Paradise River
Live USGS
Data on this page
gauge 12082500
NPS Mount Rainier
Managed by
their rules govern
Trail status, closures and safety rules belong to each falls' managing agency, named and linked on every page.
The season
What fills Narada Falls, and when
Mount Rainier's own page sets the calendar for all its falls: best in early summer as melting snow feeds the streams, again in autumn as rain refills them, with only the major falls still flowing in late summer. Narada, carrying the Paradise River off one of the snowiest places in America, is one of the majors, but its June version and its September version are different animals.
Typical best flow: June and July
JFMAMJJASOND
What the agency itself says
Mount Rainier’s numerous waterfalls are best viewed in early summer as melting snow feeds the streams, and again in autumn as the rains fill the streambeds. During late summer, only the major waterfalls will be flowing.
Mount Rainier National Park (National Park Service)What a snowmelt year looks like at full send: Palouse Falls in mid April, when the Palouse River is still carrying the melt. The same falls in late August is a ribbon. Timing is most of the visit. “04-15-14-palouse” — Dsdugan — CC0
Advertisement
Right now
What Paradise River is doing today
Flow at the gauge now
Loading
USGS median for Oct 15
Not published
Gauge: USGS 12082500 Nisqually River near National WA, downstream and distant, a basin-level proxy outside the park. The gauge reads the river, not the brink of the falls, so treat it as the trend line rather than a turnstile.
Source: USGS Water Services (National Water Information System). Instantaneous values and daily statistics services. U.S. Geological Survey data are works of the United States Government and are in the public domain. Gauge verified 2026-08-27.
The other half of the story: the same Palouse Falls in late August. Nothing is wrong; this is what a snowmelt river does every year once the melt is spent. “Palouse Falls 20100829” by Mark Wagner, CC BY-SA 2.5
Getting there
Access, in the agency's words and ours
The falls sits along the road 3 miles below Paradise, with a short, steep walk to the base view that the Park Service says catches refreshing spray. It is accessible year round; the lower path is often very icy in winter.
Early season melt on a big vertical river (Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, NPS photo). Narada Falls runs the same June crescendo on Rainier's Paradise River. “Afternoon fall light on Lower Falls from Lookout Point (54937071695)” — YellowstoneNPS — Public domain
Common questions
Narada Falls flow season FAQ
The reliable big-water window is June and July. Mount Rainier's own page sets the calendar for all its falls: best in early summer as melting snow feeds the streams, again in autumn as rain refills them, with only the major falls still flowing in late summer. Narada, carrying the Paradise River off one of the snowiest places in America, is one of the majors, but its June version and its September version are different animals.
This page reads the USGS gauge on Paradise River (Nisqually River near National WA, downstream and distant, a basin-level proxy outside the park) live in your browser, and shows the latest flow next to the median USGS publishes for today's date, so you can see where today sits in the year. The gauge reads the river, not the brink, so treat it as the trend rather than a turnstile.
No; it makes the Park Service's list of major falls that keep flowing in late summer. The autumn rains bring a genuine second season, which the agency itself points out.
Mount Rainier National Park (National Park Service). The falls sits along the road 3 miles below Paradise, with a short, steep walk to the base view that the Park Service says catches refreshing spray. It is accessible year round; the lower path is often very icy in winter. Trail status, closures and safety rules are theirs, and their page is linked on this one; nothing here overrides what they publish.
In their own words: "The trail can be very icy during the winter." That sentence is Mount Rainier National Park (National Park Service)'s, quoted verbatim, and their page is the place to check before you go.
Yosemite Falls in May, running on snowmelt that will be gone by late summer. The National Park Service tells visitors the falls can be dry by August, which is why every falls page here starts from its watershed. “Tourists below Yosemite Falls (39832011431)” by Mike McBey, CC BY 2.0
Flow windows are typical-year climatology drawn from the driver and the agency language quoted above, not forecasts. Live readings and per-date percentiles are U.S. Geological Survey data, public domain; the above-or-below-typical line is our comparison and is labelled as such. Access, trail and safety information belongs to Mount Rainier National Park (National Park Service). National picture: waterfall season across the US → Hero image: “Afternoon fall light on Lower Falls from Lookout Point (54937071695)” — YellowstoneNPS — Public domain
Places to stay