Icicle Creek
| Icicle Creek | |
 Rapids on Icicle Creek
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Washington |
| County | Chelan |
| Source | Cascade Range |
| - elevation | 4,681 ft (1,427 m) |
| - coordinates | 47°43′7″N 121°3′3″W / 47.71861°N 121.05083°W |
| Mouth | Wenatchee River |
| - coordinates | 47°34′48″N 120°39′57″W / 47.58000°N 120.66583°WCoordinates: 47°34′48″N 120°39′57″W / 47.58000°N 120.66583°W |
| Length | 31.8 mi (51.2 km) |
| Basin | 212.7 sq mi (550.9 km2) |
| Discharge | for river mile 5.8 |
| - average | 614 cu ft/s (17.4 m3/s) |
| - max | 19,800 cu ft/s (560.7 m3/s) |
| - min | 44 cu ft/s (1.2 m3/s) |
  Location of the mouth of Icicle Creek in Washington
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Icicle Creek is a stream in the U.S. state of Washington. It originates at Josephine Lake near the crest of the Cascade Range and flows generally east to join the Wenatchee River near Leavenworth. Icicle Creek's drainage basin is mountainous and mostly undeveloped land within the Wenatchee National Forest and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. The final six miles of the creek are moderately developed with scattered homes and pasture, a golf course, children's camp, a small housing development called Icicle Island Club, and the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery. Some water is diverted from the creek for municipal use by the City of Leavenworth at Icicle Creek river mile 5.6. Near Leavenworth, the wheelchair-accessible Icicle Creek Nature Trail, a National Recreation Trail designated in 2005, runs 1.0 mile (1.6 km) along a historic creek channel.
Icicle Creek's name comes from the Indian word na-sik-elt, meaning narrow canyon. According to Albert H. Sylvester, topographer and Forest Service surveyor for many years, "Place the letter n at the beginning of icicle and the letter t at its end, and you practically have the Indian word."
Icicle Creek begins as the outlet of Josephine Lake, less than a mile from the crest of the Cascade Range and the headwaters of Tunnel Creek, a tributary of the west-flowing Skykomish River. Stevens Pass is a few miles north of the lake. The Pacific Crest Trail passes along the lake's western side. Josephine Lake's altitude is 4,681 feet (1,427 m). Icicle Creek flows south from the lake through a deep and narrow valley. After a few miles it turns southeast and its valley takes on a classic glacier-carved U-shape. Icicle Creek begins to turn more directly south near river mile 22, just after Spanish Camp Creek joins from the northeast. Spanish Camp Creek and its headwater tributaries drain the high alpine western side of Icicle Ridge from Grindstone Mountain to Cape Horn and Ladies Pass.
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Wikipedia