Canyon Falls

The most direct access to Canyon Falls is from Kootenay National Park. From Radium Hot Springs, drive east on Highway 93 then turn south onto Settler's Road after descending from Sinclair Pass. After 12-1/2 kilometers, bear left onto the Cross River Forest Service Road, then in another 2 kilometers turn right onto the Kootenay-Palliser Forest Service Road. Continue for another 22 kilometers to the bridge over the Palliser River, then turn left after the bridge onto the Palliser River Forest Service Road. Go another 11.8 kilometers then turn left onto the Canyon Falls Forest Service Road. In another 600 meters the road crosses the Palliser River slot canyon adjacent to a footbridge. Continue another 200 meters, keeping right at the junction just past the bridge, and watch for a rough overgrown road branching to the right and park where space is available. Walk down this overgrown road for about 100 meters to where Canyon Falls can be found plunging into the head of the Palliser River canyon.Canyon Falls is essentially a standard copy of any other medium to large river slot canyon waterfall found in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. The falls are found at the head of a half-kilometer long limestone slot canyon which seems to average between 5 and 10 meters across but as much as 50 meters deep at its apex. The falls drop 16 meters (55 feet) into possibly the narrowest section of the canyon, the river narrowing from an expansive 30+ meter wide width just above the falls to no more than 3-4 meters across in the slot just downstream from the falls. As of July 2018 a massive log jam had gathered at the top of the falls and though the falls weren't obscured from view, it obscures some of the unique geology at the top of the falls. Visitors are urged to exercise extreme caution along the rim of the canyon. The cliffs are unguarded, trails in the area are poorly established and the ground is muddy and unstable in places. The Palliser River is a fairly large river, originating from a pair of small lakes and the small glacial remnants which feed into them, at the boundary between Banff National Park and Height of the Rockies Provincial Park. A small section of the Haig Glacier which feeds into LeRoy Creek also provides a consistent year-round source of water to the river, but the rest of the drainage is largely dependent on outflow from small lakes and seasonal snow melt. The basin however is quite large, covering an area of approximately 370 square kilometers (142 square miles), and the flow of the river should remain quite consistent throughout the year thanks to the numerous high alpine basins scattered throughout its tributary valleys and streams.We've seen this waterfall referenced as Palliser Falls, but given the Canyon Falls Forest Service Road (as well as the Parks Canada maps of Banff, Yoho and Kootenay National Parks) seems to make it abundantly clear that Canyon Falls is indeed the proper name.