South Phillips Glacier Falls

South Phillips Glacier Falls is located in the heart of the Valley of a Thousand Falls along the Berg Lake trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park. From the junction of Highways 5 and 16 in Tete Jaune Cache, follow the Yellowhead Highway (16) east for 16.3 kilometers to Mount Robson Meadows and turn left onto Kinney Lake Road, then follow it to the trailhead at its end in another 2 kilometers. Expect to encounter a crowded parking area, the Berg Lake Trail is the most popular hike in the Canadian Rockies. The falls off the Phillips Glacier are visible starting just beyond the suspension bridge at Whitehorn Camp 10.6 kilometers in from the trailhead. The best views of South Phillips Glacier Falls are right along the Berg Lake Trail as it parallels the Robson River about 3/4 kilometer past the Whitehorn shelter, and then again from just of of a switchback along the trail as it climbs up next to White Falls. Closer views are possible by hiking up the canyon from the White Falls bridge, but it seems likely that the upper tier of the falls may be obstructed from view by getting that close.South Phillips Glacier Falls is one of two significant waterfalls which stream down the side of a long narrow glacially carved canyon which runs into the Robson River valley in an area known as Valley of a Thousand Falls. The name of the valley is clearly hyperbole, but the half-dozen or so waterfalls which can be seen upstream from Whitehorn Camp along the Berg Lake Trail, plus the falls along the Robson River itself, are clearly the inspiration for the name. The various lobes of the Phillips Glacier are responsible for the multiple different streams which produce the falls which pour into the valley from the west. South Phillips Glacier Falls is the largest of these in terms of both height and volume, and is so prominent and significant in the valley that it may have been a major inspiration for the name of the valley itself.
The falls drop approximately 1,400 feet total in three primary steps. The upper tier plunges approximately 200 feet over the edge of the uppermost tier of the canyon, followed by another 100-foot fall on a subsequent step. Below this the creek cascades steeply through talus for about 200 vertical feet before reaching the edge of the second major tier of the canyon where it leaps over a nearly sheer 900 foot cliff, impacting two small ledges (but never pausing the descent) which jut out during its descent - the lower of which causes the water to explode outward away from the cliff in an impressive fire-hosing arc similar to Takakkaw Falls in Yoho National Park. At the base of the falls the stream continues cascading for several hundred feet further to join with the main meltwater stream from the largest lobe of the Phillips Glacier.