Tin Cup Joe Falls

Tin Cup Joe Falls is one of Washington's hidden gems. While it's obvious that people have visited the falls before, it remains a surprisingly unknown waterfall considering it's proximity to the Seattle Metro area. The falls, on Cripple Creek's major headwall, are a rare combination of not only significant height and volume, but also a rather unique and complex shape. Cripple Creek drains from a basin harboring eight lakes which provide ample water throughout the year. Horseshoe, Shamrock and Elbow Lakes all drain into one stream, while Hatchet, Derrick, Little Derrick Lakes, Lake Caroline and a small unnamed pond all drain into a second channel. The USGS Snoqualmie Lake quadrangle incorrectly shows these two streams merging about half of a mile downstream from Little Derrick Lake. Instead they flow parallel to one another until they reach the steepest portion of the valley's headwall, where both streams encounter steep cliffs and plunge side-by-side for hundreds of feet. The Horseshoe-Shamrock-Elbow outlet corkscrews down a horsetail-type fall for 229 feet and then slides steeply down a bedrock incline for another 149 feet. The outlet of the other five lakes stairsteps 363 feet down a four-stepped fall, with the upper drop spreading out to over 100 feet in width and falling 185 feet, followed by three narrower drops back-to-back-to-back without pools between which make up the remaining portion. At the base of the main part of the falls, the two streams merge - with part of one splitting off again - and drop over a final 85-foot horsetailing fall, which again plunges side-by-side, though one half of this tier only persists during high water. At peak flow an immense volume of water can barrel down the mountainside over these falls. While the fork of Cripple Creek which starts in Lake Caroline is longer and drains from much more standing water, the fork from Horseshoe Lake also features the catchment basin on the northeast side of Preacher Mountain, which retains snow well into the summer and ensures a heavy flow from a much smaller basin. At nearly any time of year a consistent volume of water can be seen pouring down this set of falls. Lastly, we should stress that the measurements we took on our most recent survey of this waterfall reflect only the visible portion of the falls. It is very likely, given the nature of the stream and the ubiquitous granite bedrock in the area, that there are even further falls and cascades extending above what can be seen from the base of the falls. Accessing these hypothetical portions of the falls may prove considerably more difficult, however.The origin of the name Tin Cup Joe is not known with any specificity, but Cripple Creek was at one time was known as Tin Cup Joe Creek, and it follows that the falls were either named after the creek, or the person for whom the creek was named. Either way, the name is of colloquial origin and has been in use, albeit obscurely, for some time.