Carbon Falls

Carbon Falls is an unofficially named waterfall which occurs along an unnamed seasonal stream that drains the Northern Crags and west face of Crescent Mountain near the toe of the Carbon Glacier. The falls plunge a sheer 202-feet over a dark cliff of andesite, which causes the water to explode outward in a powerful firehose effect during heavy flow. The falls are not well regarded because they cannot be seen from the popular Northern Loop Trail which passes near its base, and while it formerly was visible from the Carbon Glacier Trail on the west side of the valley, flooding in 2003 and 2006 destroyed the Carbon Glacier Trail between the Northern Loop junction and Cataract Creek, so there is no longer a way to see the falls from a distance. We should note that in all volumes of Greg Plumb's Waterfall Lovers Guide books, Carbon Falls is stated to consist of two tiers. While there does appear to be an upper falls along the creek, it is situated over one-eighth of a mile upstream from the lower falls, a distance too great for it to be considered part of the same waterfall. Additionally, it isn't clear that this upper falls even lies on the same stream - it may instead be a smaller tributary to the main watercourse, and if this is the case then it should not be considered an upper falls, but rather an ancillary tributary waterfall. We have not been able to verify the significance of the upper falls through any of our survey efforts.