Granite Falls Fish Ladder

If you are in the area to visit Heather Lake or Triple Creek Falls, you won't regret a quick stop at Granite Falls Fish Ladder. The fish ladder that runs along the edge of the river doubles as a viewing platform. From here you can appreciate the incredible power these falls have generated over the years. Spring flows through this narrow section of river are thunderous, and the falls become a turbulent stretch of thrashing whitewater. If you visit at lower flows you'll see the evidence of this power in the riverbed's smooth and sculpted granite.

Incredibly, a 240-foot tunnel was blasted out of the granite to allow the fish to access the fish ladder. Built in 1954, the Washington Department of Fisheries constructed what was at the time the world's longest vertical baffled fish ladder (580 feet) to provide salmon with an opportunity to reach the 30 miles of river above the falls.