|
Sunbeam Creek possesses a small drainage with a substantially large number of high-quality waterfalls. For better or for worse, most people don’t know about any of them, this one probably being the most obscure. Despite the visibility of the ominous-looking mouth of the canyon producing Sunbeam Creek as it joins Stevens Canyon, Lower Sunbeam Falls cannot be seen with any modicum of ease, for better or for worse. Should this waterfall have been easily accessed, it would most certainly be a tourist draw of the magnitude of Narada Falls. And it wouldn’t be just because this is an exceptionally scenic waterfall, which may become exceptionally powerful and wide in the early summer, but because Lower Sunbeam Falls and Stevens Creek Falls face one another at the head of Stevens Canyon, and the two falls can be seen together from certain vantages. There are few places in the northwest where this is possible, and there may not be another location where two waterfalls of such high caliber are found neighboring this close. As I visited the 100-foot falls in mid September, I was quite surprised to find a substantial volume of water in Sunbeam Creek, despite the roadside inlet to Lake Louise being almost dry, so even if you can’t catch the falls at the height of snowmelt, they are still exceptionally scenic as long as there is water in the creek. Unfortunately, accessing the falls is difficult, and may or may not be possible when the creek is at its best flow. When the creek is running low, the falls take on a Segmented form.
- LOWER SUNBEAM FALLS is the name of this waterfall.
Lower Sunbeam Falls is located about ¼ mile downstream of Highway 706 in Stevens Canyon. The falls face south and are flanked on either side by sheer cliffs and an impenetrable canyon upstream, so the only access is from the opposite side of the canyon, adjacent Stevens Creek. Traveling down the west side of Stevens Creek will negate the necessity of a ford, but it will be much brushier travel, and possibly dangerously steep. Staying on the west side of Stevens Creek will result in an easier descent to the canyon floor, but a ford of Stevens Creek at the bottom of Stevens Creek Falls will be necessary. Do not attempt this ford if the creek is running high.
|
