Big Heart Falls

High up in the basin of the West Fork of the Foss River in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, the outlets of three major lakes all spill into secluded Delta Lake, when then produces the aforementioned river from its outlet. Each of these three streams feeding into Delta Lake produces a significant waterfall and this phenomena is largely responsible for the Foss River basin having one of the highest concentration of high-quality waterfalls in Washington State. Big Heart Lake is the westerly and smallest of the three tributary river sources, but produces the largest waterfall in the Foss River basin. As its outlet stream exits Big Heart Lake, the water immediately begins sliding down broad granite slabs, alternating in cascades and plunges. For the next half mile run between the outlet of Big Heart Lake and the inlet of Delta Lake, the stream drops over a huge, continuous series of falls totaling 1,262 feet in height - nearly the entire elevation change between Big Heart and Delta Lakes. The falls are broken into two distinct sections, the upper standing about 450 feet tall and the lower about 700 feet, with the difference made up in a short pause between the two drops. As the stream braids down the side of the valley it can stretch to as much as 250 feet wide in places, though separated by dozens of little islands and ridges in most cases. The falls can be seen in tandem with neighboring Angeline Falls, creating a very strong dynamic between the two dramatically different waterfalls. The drainage which fuels this waterfall consists of Big Heart Lake and not much else. While the lake is one of the largest in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, there is no permanent ice melting into its basin, so once the winter snow has melted from the surrounding peaks (which usually won't be until mid to late August) the volume of water exiting the lake will quickly drop and the falls will lose much of their luster. This, coupled with the facts that approaching the base of the falls closely is very difficult and that much of the falls is obscured by trees or foreshortening even when viewed from across Delta Lake, prevent Big Heart Falls from achieving the top-class ranking which it otherwise might deserve.