Fenwick Falls

The most direct access to Fenwick 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 right and continue for another 8.3 kilometers to the bridge over Fenwick Creek (these final 8 kilometers are a bit rougher, lower clearance vehicles might have issues). Park on the far side of the bridge where a sign marks the Fenwick Falls trail. The easy trail leads to views of the falls in about 100 meters.Fenwick Falls is a modest fall dropping 11 meters over a broad, partially undercut cliff with a bowl-shaped basin below that seems to do a rather good job at capturing logs which have washed downstream. The cliff which creates the falls forms a uniformly even shelf which stretches about 15 meters across, with a small narrow notch carved out where the majority of the stream is directed. During much of the year the entire creek channels down this notch, creating a single plume of water as it falls. In the spring and early summer months however, the creek will overwhelm the notch and will spread out across a broader area of the shelf, creating a waterfall nearly as wide as it is tall, with a second segment forming on the far left side of the cliff. The drainage basin for Fenwick Creek is surprisingly large, covering about 110 square kilometers (43 square miles), which should ensure a strong flow present in the falls throughout the year. There are however no glaciers, permanent snow or ice fields, or lakes feeding in to the creek, so once the winter's snow pack has melted off in entirety, the volume of the creek will be reduced considerably from its spring and early summer peak levels.