Sulphide Creek


Sulphide Creek is a glacial tributary of the Baker River in Whatcom County in the U.S. state of Washington, draining a steep and narrow canyon on the southeast flank of Mount Shuksan, inside North Cascades National Park. Although called a creek, it is river-like due to its high volume. The creek is fed by the "massive" Sulphide and Crystal glaciers above Sulphide Lake and it runs east collecting several small tributaries before flowing into the Baker River at elevation. There are several very tall waterfalls occurring on the creek and its tributaries, the largest of which is Sulphide Creek Falls.

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 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 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.
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 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, Cloudcap Falls, Jagged Ridge Falls and Rockflow Canyon Falls.
The creek then continues generally southeast for about through thick avalanche brush and forest until it joins the Baker River, upstream of Blum Creek and the Baker Lake reservoir.