Home > North America > USA > Washington > Colonial Creek Falls

   Known Alternate Names:

    No Known Alternate Names

Pictures:

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Physical Description Information  |  Detailed Information
Location, Directions and Maps  |  Recent Updates  |  Related Links

Visual Magnitude:

75

Absolute Magnitude:

96

BWR (Class):

6.17  (Class 7)

Scenic Rating:
(graded on a curve)

75 / 100

   Grandeur:

18 / 35

   Scenery:

30 / 35

   Volume:

6 / 10

   Height:

10 / 10

   Width:

3 / 10

English

Metric

Total Height:

2584 feet

788 meters

Tallest Single Drop:

Number of Drops:

Waterfall Type:

Tiered

Average Width:

50 feet

15 meters

Average Volume:

Maximum Recorded Volume:

Watercourse:

Colonial Creek

Seasonality:

Perennial

Seasons of Best Flow:

1

Continent:

North America

Country:

USA

State / Province:

Washington

Locality:

North Cascades National Park

Specific Location:

Colonial Peak

Latitude / Longitude:

Related Maps:

USGS Diablo Dam (topozone.com)
Aerial Photograph (lostoutdoors.com)

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Directions:

Unavailable

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Colonial Creek Falls, while never officially measured, has the potential to be the tallest waterfall in North America. We've used topographic maps and satellite photographs to determine where the top and bottom of the falls are, which gave us a good estimate at the falls' height. However, the figure given above may be inaccurate up to as much as about 200 feet, so there's still a chance that California's Yosemite Falls beats this one out. The falls can be seen from where US 20 crosses the Thunder Arm of Diablo Lake in the Ross Lake National Recreation Area, but only the top 2/3 of the falls can be seen from there (shown below). In order to see the bottom part of the falls, it's necessary to hike upstream for about a mile to the basin below the falls. For more information, see link below.

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http://www.waterfallsnorthwest.com/waterfalldetail.php?id=151

2004-08-12 - Updated Ratings, added map links.

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