Silver Falls

Silver Falls is a fairly significant low-elevation waterfall found on the west side of Lookout Mountain between Lake Samish and Bellingham. The falls occur where the major branch of Silver Creek veils 105 feet over the side of a narrow ravine, sliding down a steep pitch of the Chuckanut Sandstone first in a single horsetail form, and then splitting into two streams when the creek runs into a short ledge that tries (but fails) to break up the falls into two distinct steps. Below the falls, the creek changes direction by 90 degrees and flows down a long, narrow gully lined with thick Salmonberry growth which makes accessing the falls a lesson in futility. The basin which feeds the stream producing the falls is quite small, covering an area of less than half of a square mile. Because of the limited drainage size, and the low elevation, Silver Falls should be expected to behave as season waterfall; likely running dry in the late summer months. Not only will visiting in the winter months allow for observing the falls flowing at their best, but accessing the area when the brush in the gully is bare and dead for the season will also make the bushwhack in to the falls considerably easier (though still no easy task).It appears likely that Silver Falls may have at one time been a more accessible, and possibly more well known waterfall. About 500 feet downstream of the falls is the remnants of a small concrete dam, the purpose of which is not entirely clear.