Stetattle Creek Falls

Stetattle Creek is a large tributary to the Skagit River which drains the extremely isolated Azure Lake and enters the river just above Gorge Lake. Because the creek is quite large there are few waterfalls along its length, but about a mile upstream from its mouth it makes a thunderous descent over a pretty - though hard to view - cataract which roars 42 feet into a narrow canyon. Unless Stetattle Creek is running exceptionally high (which it typically does from May through July) the falls split into two channels as it drops into the canyon - the right side making a sheer plunge, and the left side skipping down a slightly less vertical portion of the cliff. During the late spring and early summer months however, as the volume of Stetattle Creek swells with the melt of six small glaciers, numerous semi-permanent snow fields, as well as Azure Lake, the creek overwhelms the bedrock and creates a single broad fall which stretches over 60 feet wide. The engorged to this volume would make it considerably more prominent from the obstructed view available along the canyon rim, however high water may make the Stetattle Creek Trail impassable depending on where the high water line is situated, so whether it can even be seen during such periods is not clear.