Narada Falls

Narada Falls
The upper tier of Narada Falls.
Location	Mount Rainier National Park, Lewis County, Washington, USA
Type	Horsetail
Total height	188 feet (57 m)
Number of drops	2
Total width	50 feet (15 m)
Watercourse	Paradise River

Narada Falls is a waterfall in Mount Rainier National Park, in the U.S. state of Washington. It is said to be the most popular, because the Mount Rainier Highway crosses the falls between its two tiers.

The waterfall drops 188 feet (57 m) in two tiers of 168 feet (51 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m). The upper tier is a horsetail that falls in several strands down a nearly sheer cliff, into a canyon that is perpendicular to it. The lower tier is a much smaller plunge. During the winter, the upper falls freezes and becomes a sheer 150 feet (46 m) of icicles, which attracts many ice climbers.

The falls was named by Frederick Gordon Plummer in 1893 after a branch of the Narada Theosophical Society of Tacoma. This branch was called Narada, a Hindi word meaning "pure". A variant name is Neradah, and a common mistake is Nevada.

Although there is little documentation supporting it, there is widespread belief among the Hindu community that the Falls shares its name with Narada Muni, a Vedic sage who plays a prominent role in a number of Hinduism's earliest texts, for a reason. Much like the sage, the Falls travels different realms during its course from its origin.

Narada Falls from the overlook.

See also

• Narada Falls Bridge
• Media related to Narada Falls at Wikimedia Commons