Sulphide Creek

Name

"Sulphide" is the British English spelling of sulfur. The creek was named for minerals that occur naturally in the area. During the 1950s molybdenite (molybdenum disulfide) was prospected near the headwaters of the North Fork of Sulphide Creek, although the deposit was described as having "no economic value".

Course

Meltwater from the Sulphide and Crystal glaciers skips several hundred feet down a series of Shuksan greenschist cliffs into Sulphide Lake, a small and nearly inaccessible tarn at 3800 ft on the southeast flank of Mount Shuksan. Sulphide Creek flows out of the lake and drops down a narrow, deeply incised rock chute forming Sulphide Creek Falls, one of the tallest waterfalls in North America with an estimated height of 2182 ft. According to Canyoneering Northwest, the Sulphide Creek canyon has had "no record of descent or exploration".

At the base of Sulphide Creek Falls, an unnamed tributary (which forms a high waterfall of its own) joins from the west. The creek then turns to the east and is joined from the north by another unnamed tributary whose basin forms four notable waterfalls – Seahpo Peak Falls (2200 ft), Cloudcap Falls (2400 ft), Jagged Ridge Falls (1500 ft) and Rockflow Canyon Falls (200 ft).*

The creek then continues generally southeast for about 2 mi through thick avalanche brush and forest until it joins the Baker River, upstream of Blum Creek and the Baker Lake reservoir.

References

References

1. {{cite gnis
2. Elevation derived from [[Google Earth]]
3. "Top 10: North America Waterfall Destinations". AskMen.com.
4. "Sulphide Creek Prospect". Western Mining History.
5. "Sulphide Creek Falls". World Waterfall Database.
6. "Canyon Prospects in the North Cascades". Canyoneering Northwest.