Lower Foss River Falls

The West Fork of the Foss River produces two spectacular sets of waterfalls between it's outlet from Delta Lake and the inlet to Trout Lake, both consisting of multiple individual drops and neither presenting themselves as easy to see. The lower of the two falls consists of three distinct tiers - first a 96-foot tall nearly vertical plunge where the river squeezes into a crevice in the cliff band which forms the step of the valley, then in broad, thunderous back-to-back plunges of 74 and 81 feet respectively. The final 81-foot tier is paralleled with a tiny channel of water which branches off from the river below the second drop, creating an interesting "beauty vs. beast" dichotomy. The West Fork of the Foss River drains a considerable basin above these falls, anchored by the outflow from a dozen significant lakes, several of which are among the largest in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, but because there is no permanent snow which melts into the basin (save for the tiny glacial remnant above Iron Cap Lake) the volume of the river does drop substantially from the spring to the autumn. However, even late in the year there is still a considerable amount of water present in the falls and in turn less spray which would otherwise inhibit exploring around the bottom of the falls.