Upper Crater Creek Falls

Crater Creek harbors at least half a dozen major waterfalls as it cascades from its source on Broken Top to the calm meadows of Sparks Lake in the basin below the volcanoes of the Cascade Lakes Highway. This is the uppermost of a major series of waterfalls where the creek loses 700 feet of elevation in its final descent to Sparks Lake. Crater Creek meanders through flower-infested meadows before accelerating down a chute and spreading out to veil 37 feet in a boisterous plunge. Visitors to this waterfall may notice the heavily scoured streambed above and below the falls. This is the remaining evidence of a substantial flood which occured when a large chunk of an unnamed glacier calved into Moraine Lake on the east face of Broken Top and sent a large wave over the natural dam, causing it to breach. The lake partially drained, lowering its level by 14 feet and sending 50 million gallons of water down the Crater Creek drainage, scouring out everything in its path. The scars on the landscape are not nearly as evident at this waterfall as they are further downstream. Crater Creek is partially diverted into the Crater Creek ditch about a mile upstream of the falls. Late in the summer months the volume of water actually reaching this waterfall can be greatly reduced due to this diversion, but the falls should rarely run dry.