Hearty Falls

Hearty Creek is the southernmost stream which drains off the east side of the Twin Sisters Mountain Massif southwest of Mount Baker. The stream is endowed at least 11 significant waterfalls along its roughly 3-mile length. Only the final falls along the creek – Bridal Veil Falls – carries a historically recognized name, any titles bestowed upon the other falls along the creek are purely colloquial in origin. We have opted to forgo naming most of them. There is no developed access to any of these waterfalls. Hearty Falls is the most significant waterfall in the meadow-covered basin in Hearty Creek’s upper drainage. The falls drop 91 feet in two steps, initially plunging over a broad cliff in a 67-foot tall plunging fall, and then tumbling an additional 24 feet down a series of lower ledges, with the final part of the falls consisting of a very scenic sliding apron-like cascade that terminates in a small green pool. The upper tier of the falls seems to primarily form as a narrower plunging type fall, but the broad cliff and lack of vegetation suggests that the stream does swell to a considerable volume during the freshet, at which time the falls may broaden to over 50 feet in width. Hearty Creek heads in Heart Lake, and unlike all of the other easterly-flowing streams on Twin Sisters Mountain, it does not originate in any permanent snow or ice. The drainage area upstream from this waterfall covers approximately eight-tenths of a square mile, and because of its small size and lack of permanent snow to continually feed into the creek, the volume of the stream will be greatly reduced by mid summer.