Sunset Falls is a 104-foot sliding cascade on the South Fork Skykomish River in Snohomish County, Washington, just over a mile south of Index. The Northwest Waterfall Survey calls it the largest and the last of the three major waterfalls on the South Fork, and in 1926 the daredevil Al Faussett rode it in a dugout canoe.
The falls
The river slides down a sloping granite chute about 40 feet wide at a pitch of around 45 degrees, falling 104 feet in a single drop. Average flow is about 2,427 cubic feet per second, and several potholes in the middle of the chute throw roostertails more than 30 feet into the air at high water. Together with Canyon Falls and Eagle Falls upstream, Sunset Falls is a natural barrier to migrating salmon.
Getting there
Public access to Sunset Falls is closed. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife runs a trap-and-haul fish facility at the falls with the Tulalip Tribes, trucking salmon above the barrier falls; the access it once provided on the north bank was closed after vandalism. The road on the south side is private, and residents don't want public traffic. Snohomish County's river recreation plan also lists the site as closed to the public.
When to go
Flow peaks in spring and runs lower by late summer.
On site
The river around the falls had become a popular but dangerous summer spot, with several drownings over the years. In 2017 the county sheriff's dive team recovered the body of a 25-year-old woman downstream of the falls after she disappeared there.
History and name
On May 30, 1926, Faussett ran the falls in a 32-foot spruce dugout canoe before about 3,500 spectators. He hit a boulder partway down but came through the roughly 20-second run uninjured. From 2011 the Snohomish County PUD studied a hydroelectric project that would have diverted water around the falls; it dropped the plan in April 2018.
Nearby
Canyon Falls is about 0.7 mile upstream, Bridal Veil Falls about 1.3 miles and Eagle Falls, also on the South Fork, about 1.7 miles.
Distances are straight-line.