Lower Foss River Falls
Washington · 251-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Lower Foss River Falls is 166 cfs today, around its seasonal average. October averages 7.7" of precipitation here — expect high flow.
Right now
Streamflow
166 cfs
SOUTH FORK SKYKOMISH RIVER · 23m ago
Overnight
39°F
Mostly Cloudy
Sunday
45°F
Chance Light Rain
Today's daylight
Sunrise 7:38 AM · Sunset 6:00 PM · 10h 22m
Snapshot built 11m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS SEW.
No verified photo yet
Lower Foss River Falls is a waterfall in Washington. It drops roughly 251 feet. Access details and conditions have not yet been verified in person by Fallspots — the data on this page comes from OpenStreetMap and USGS GNIS.
Lower Foss River Falls is in Washington. The base sits at roughly 2,680 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 20 minutes from Baring. No mapped trail runs within 200 meters — expect bushwhacking or off-trail navigation to reach the lip. No public parking is recorded within 2 km, so a longer approach is likely. This is one of the more frequently visited falls in the state by our popularity model. Source records come from OpenStreetMap.
Foss River Falls is a 650-foot (200 m) drop on the West Fork Foss River in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, King County, Washington. Its sources are at Delta Lake, and the 70-foot (21 m)-wide drop flows year-round. The waterfall is split into two parts. Each part is split into several tiers.
Is the water flowing right now?
Most waterfall sites don't tell you this. The waterfall itself is almost never gauged, but a USGS streamgage in the same watershed can tell you whether snowmelt has started, peaked, or run dry.
USGS gage 12131500 · 7.7 mi away
SOUTH FORK SKYKOMISH RIVER AT SKYKOMISH, WA
View live discharge data →
30-day streamflow
Below 30-day average↻ Same date last year: 751 cfs · 23% of last year — significantly drier
When to go (from the climate data, not our opinion)
Monthly averages from Open-Meteo's reanalysis dataset (2020–2024). Highlighted months are when we think the waterfall is at its best — but the numbers are the numbers regardless.
| Month | High °F | Low °F | Precip (in) | Snow days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 38 | 26 | 13.7 | 12.2 |
| Feb | 37 | 25 | 11.7 | 14.8 |
| Mar | 42 | 27 | 5.5 | 11.4 |
| Apr | 47 | 29 | 5 | 6.6 |
| May | 56 | 36 | 4.5 | 0.6 |
| Jun | 64 | 44 | 4.7 | 0 |
| Jul | 73 | 50 | 1 | 0 |
| Aug | 73 | 50 | 1.7 | 0 |
| Sep | 68 | 46 | 3.4 | 0 |
| Oct | 56 | 39 | 7.7 | 0 |
| Nov | 43 | 29 | 11.9 | 7 |
| Dec | 37 | 25 | 12.5 | 14.6 |
Source: Open-Meteo Historical Weather API · ERA5 reanalysis 2020–2024.
Compare to nearby falls
If this one isn't the right fit, here's how it stacks up against the closest documented falls. Every column is filterable on the site — not buried in 13,000 reviews.
| Waterfall | Distance | Height | Trail | Dogs | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower Foss River Falls (this page) | — | 251 ft | — | — | — |
| Upper Foss River Falls | 0 mi | 337 ft | — | — | — |
| Lower Copper Falls | 1 mi | 46 ft | — | — | — |
| Middle Copper Falls | 1 mi | 49 ft | — | — | — |
| Upper Copper Falls | 1 mi | 39 ft | — | — | — |
| Copper Lake Falls | 1 mi | 131 ft | — | — | — |
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~251 ft)
- Coon Creek Falls249 ft
- Hemlock Creek Falls249 ft
- Fall Creek Falls256 ft
- Huntington Falls246 ft
- Paradise Branch Falls246 ft
Questions visitors ask about Lower Foss River Falls
Answers built from our structured data. If a question isn't here, the fact is unverified — we'd rather omit than guess.
How tall is Lower Foss River Falls?
Lower Foss River Falls is 251 feet (76.5 m) tall. Height is sourced from OSM.
How far is Lower Foss River Falls from a major city?
Lower Foss River Falls is 14 miles from Baring (about 20 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Washington
Where it is
47.6038, -121.3144
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foss_River_Falls
Wikidata (Q37532)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37532
Last verified by Fallspots: 2026-05-15
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Marina and Theo verify pages one road trip at a time. If you've been to Lower Foss River Falls recently, your local knowledge improves the page for everyone. Pick the kind of contribution that fits — every email lands in our inbox and gets read (and credited when we publish).
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