Slide Falls
Slide Falls is one of the few waterfalls that looks exactly how it sounds. Nestled deep within the Slate River Gorge the river pours over a flat, mostly even piece of slate, fanning over the wide rock, making an overlarge water slide. A few deep pits near the bottom take the water and form several direct plunges.
Directions
Park on either side of the bridge over Slate River, about 11 miles east of L’Anse on Skanee Road. Follow the river upstream past Slate River Falls and Ecstasy Falls to reach Slide Falls. If you take the east bank path try to come down at Ecstasy Falls and stick to the river a short distance for the best views of Slide Falls.
Photographs
Visits
Seen in March, April, August and November.
Aside for having more water flowing down it, which was by now a common theme to the drops along Slate River, this one didn't look too different than normal. Even when the water is low this drop is always completely covered by sliding water.
Another of the drops we walked over rather than saw, marked from the footpath along the sunny eastern rim of the gorge.
Above Ecstasy Falls the banks began to ease up. The pine and cedar forests start to extend all the way down to the river and a mixture of human and animal paths crisscross for easy walking. We pushed on along these paths, tiring yet not willing to risk a break with our cold feet, and soon found Slide Falls.
By now the gorge walls were much shorter, maybe forty or fifty feet above us, but the towering pines stretched up even further at their crests. The waterfall was pretty cool too, a long, flat slide surrounded by thimbleberries. Few good footholds and a deep lower pool made them hard to get around so we retreated to the bank again for a dry bypass.
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