Northwest Waterfall Survey
- McCoy Creek Falls (waterfallsnorthwest.com)
While I’d long known of a tall cascading waterfall near the headwaters of McCoy Creek, I hadn’t really given second thought to the small ravine near the mouth of the creek as it breaks into the Skykomish Valley. However, after receiving word from some fellow local hikers that a sizable waterfall was just ¼ mile upstream, I was sold. The results were surprisingly unexpected. While the falls weren’t quite as large as I was originally led to believe, the formation was much different than I had pictured. McCoy Creek plunges through an old mill dam of some sort and then fans out over a chunky bedrock face before contracting back to a narrow stream at the base of the 45 foot falls. Unfortunately several trees block clear views from the side of the road, but with a little hazardous scrambling I was able to attain a good viewpoint. With a rope and a revisit, I hope to eventually get all the way to the base for better photos.
- Caroline Plate (Wikipedia)
The Caroline Plate is a minor tectonic plate that straddles the Equator in the eastern hemisphere located north of New Guinea. It forms a subduction zone along the border with the Bird’s Head Plate and other minor plates of the New Guinea region to the south. A transform boundary forms the northern border with the Pacific Plate. Along the border with the Philippine Sea Plate is a convergent boundary that transitions into a rift.