Wells Creek is a swift

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

Whatcom County Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan Cou ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. It is a tributary of the

Nooksack River The Nooksack River is a river in western Whatcom County of the northwestern U.S. state of Washington, draining extensive valley systems within the North Cascades around Mount Shuksan, Mount Baker and the Twin Sisters, and a portion of Fraser Lo ...

, joining the river just below

Nooksack Falls Nooksack Falls is a waterfall along the North Fork of the Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington. The water flows through a narrow valley and drops freely 88 feet into a deep rocky river canyon. The falls are viewable from the forested cove ...

. It is best known for having six major waterfalls along its course. Wells Creek was named for Hamilton C. Wells who prospected the area in the 1880s and 1890s.

Course

The creek begins between Ptarmigan Ridge and Lasiocarpa Ridge. It starts off by flowing northeast before soon turning northwest, being joined by the stream draining Mazama and Iceberg Lakes, and dropping over massive

Mazama Falls Mazama Falls, also referred to more simply as Wells Creek Falls (though this is incorrect, as there is a ''Wells Creek Falls'' downstream), is a waterfall on Wells Creek in the U.S. state of Washington. At nearly high, it is said to be the large ...

. The creek continues to flow northwest and about 2 km after Mazama Falls, the creek drops over

Wells Creek Falls Wells Creek Falls is the generally used name for a waterfall on Wells Creek in the Mount Baker Wilderness in Washington. The falls are located several thousand feet above Wells Creek's confluence with Bar Creek. Characteristics One of the be ...

. Soon after dropping over the falls, the creek flows under Wells Creek FSR, and is joined by its only officially named tributary, Bar Creek, which at the confluence is actually bigger than Wells Creek itself. The creek continues to flow northwest for 1.3 miles before it drops over Landslide Falls. From there on the creek continues to flow northwest, but within a deep

gorge A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

that sees it drop over two more major waterfalls. It is about 2 miles from Landslide Falls to its confluence at the base of Nooksack Falls.

References

Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Whatcom County, Washington {{Washington-river-stub

Course

See also

References