Malachite Falls

RATING - 70.0

VR - 6.0 (Med) HR - 9.0 SR - 16/20

TYPE OF APPROACH - Trail

DIFFICULTY - Fairly Difficult

LOCATION - Foss River Area

TYPE - Tiered

HEIGHT - 618'

WIDTH - 60'

GPS - N47 36.736 W121 19.699

ELEVATION - 2907'

DIRECTIONS - From Middle Copper Creek Falls, continue along the travel, climbing higher and higher towards Copper Lake. The first good view of the falls is about 1/2 a mile after reaching Copper Creek.

Malachite Falls is one of the best waterfalls in the state. The massive waterfall occurs where the outlets of Copper and Malachite Lakes drop over an enormous cliff located adjacent to the Copper Lake Trail. The segment that comes from Copper Lake is what most people see. This giant waterfall drops 618' in a series of horsetailing drops. The bottom tier alone stand 329' in height and spreads out to 65' wide along the way. The segment that comes from Malachite Lake cannot be seen at all from the trail. From the base, only the bottom 80' tier can be seen. This segment is most likely quite a bit taller than this, but either way it's small beans compared to the beast next door.

The falls can be seen fairly easily from the trail but a few trees will always block a view of the bottom. I was able to make it to the base of the falls with a lot of work (and a ton of scratches). From the bottom, you can't see the top so you might as well just enjoy the view from the trail. The first mile and a half of the trail is fairly easy, but once it starts switchbacking up towards the lake the going gets much rougher.