Shoestring Falls
Washington · 984-foot drop · Last verified 2026-05-15
Flow at Shoestring Falls is 166 cfs today, around its seasonal average. October averages 5.2 snow days here.
Right now
Streamflow
166 cfs
SOUTH FORK SKYKOMISH RIVER · 23m ago
Overnight
42°F
Mostly Cloudy
Sunday
51°F
Chance Light Rain
Today's daylight
Sunrise 7:38 AM · Sunset 6:00 PM · 10h 22m
Snapshot built 7m ago. Sources: USGS · NWS SEW.
No verified photo yet
Shoestring Falls is a waterfall in Washington. It drops roughly 984 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.
Shoestring Falls is in Washington. The base sits at roughly 3,362 feet of elevation. Drive time is about 17 minutes from Baring. A trail — West Fork Foss Trail — runs within 650 meters of the marked location. 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.
Shoestring Falls is a waterfall, about 1,000 feet (300 m) high, fed by an unnamed stream coming from Malachite Glacier in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area, King County, Washington, United States. It is 20 feet (6.1 m) in breadth and flows year-round, but is at peak flow May to July. It drops down the mountainside in five distinct tiers, with the two main tiers totaling about 700 feet (210 m). It is at.
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 · 5.8 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 | 36 | 25 | 13.7 | 22 |
| Feb | 35 | 23 | 11.7 | 22 |
| Mar | 41 | 25 | 5.5 | 19.4 |
| Apr | 45 | 28 | 5 | 14.6 |
| May | 54 | 34 | 4.5 | 6.2 |
| Jun | 62 | 42 | 4.7 | 0.8 |
| Jul | 72 | 48 | 1 | 0 |
| Aug | 72 | 49 | 1.7 | 0 |
| Sep | 66 | 45 | 3.4 | 0.2 |
| Oct | 55 | 37 | 7.7 | 5.2 |
| Nov | 41 | 27 | 11.9 | 16.2 |
| Dec | 35 | 23 | 12.5 | 21 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shoestring Falls (this page) | — | 984 ft | — | — | — |
| Sunray Falls | 0 mi | 394 ft | — | — | — |
| Middle Copper Falls | 1 mi | 49 ft | — | — | — |
| Lower Copper Falls | 1 mi | 46 ft | — | — | — |
| Upper Copper Falls | 1 mi | 39 ft | — | — | — |
| Malachite Falls | 1 mi | 600 ft | — | — | — |
Related waterfalls
Similar height (~984 ft)
- Green Lake Falls981 ft
- Staircase Falls1,017 ft
- Tueeulala Falls915 ft
- Berdeen Falls899 ft
- Depot Creek Falls886 ft
Questions visitors ask about Shoestring 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 Shoestring Falls?
Shoestring Falls is 984 feet (300 m) tall. Height is sourced from OSM.
How far is Shoestring Falls from a major city?
Shoestring Falls is 12 miles from Baring (about 17 minutes' drive).
More waterfalls in Washington
Where it is
47.6316, -121.3188
Sources and live status
Where we got the data, and where to check current conditions before you drive.
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoestring_Falls
Wikidata (Q7500062)
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7500062
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 Shoestring 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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