Jordan Creek Falls

Jordan Creek Falls is a very large waterfall near the town of Marblemount, where its namesake creek drops over a glacially carved step in its valley and veils 588 feet in a huge, booming horsetail type fall. The cliff forming the falls has been cleaved and scoured such that the creek forms dozens of intermingled channels as it begins its descent over the falls, during which it retains a nearly consistent width of around 120 feet across. Two-thirds down the falls the cliff band twists toward the west and the water is thusly redirected, which results in the view from the base of the falls not allowing a head-on look at the top quarter of the descent. The drainage basin of Jordan Creek is moderately sized, and produced a consistent volume of water throughout the year thanks to the two large Jordan Lakes further upstream. There is however no permanent snow or ice which feeds into the basin, so once the seasonal snow pack has melted off the volume of the creek will be reduced greatly. Peak flows typically come in May and June when, based on historical stream flow data, the volume of the stream can swell to as much as 180 cubic feet per second. More typically from December through May the falls will see about 65 cubic feet per second descending it, and then in August and September it can dip as low as 25 cfs - which presents quite a start contrast from its peak-runoff form. Jordan Creek Falls itself is located on Washington State owned land, however the entire approach to the falls crosses both private timber land owned by Sierra Pacific, and a small private inholding adjacent to the State owned parcels. Sierra Pacific allows non-motorized recreation on their land, however the inholder has asked that visitors not access the falls via the approach which crosses their land. The inholder has however attempted to sell the property to the Skagit Land Trust in the past but has not yet succeeded in garnering the necessary interest from the county. Should the county complete such a transaction, access to the falls could be preserved.