Illecillewaet Glacier Falls

Illecillewaet Glacier Falls can be seen distantly from the Trans-Canada Highway just west of Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park near the entrance to the Illecillewaet Campground. Closer views of the bottom of the falls are obtained by hiking either the Sir Donald Trail, or the Great Glacier Trail - better views are afforded on the later, and directions which follow will be for that approach. Both trails are accessed from the day use parking next to the Illecillewaet Campground. From the parking area, follow the signs pointing to Glacier House as well as all of the trails in the area. At the old railroad grade, turn right and cross the river to the site of Glacier House. Turn left, passing Glacier House and following signs pointing to the Great Glacier Trail. At the next intersection, keep right, then left at the next junction. At the 1.6km mark the trail crosses Asulkan Creek - turn left after crossing the creek, still following the signs indicating the Great Glacier Trail. The falls will come into view after another kilometer, but the best views are had by continuing up the trail as it climbs moderately steeply up the side of the lateral moraine left by the receding glacier, a total of about 4km from the parking area.The headwaters of the Illecillewaet River can be seen zigzagging down the face of the valley headwall as the river flows off the Illecillewaet Glacier near Rogers Pass in Glacier National Park. Because of the shape and nature of the extremely contorted bedrock below the glacier, as well as the amount of morainal debris left in the wake of the retreating glacier, its very difficult to determine exactly where this waterfall begins and ends. Based on multiple (though somewhat distant) surveys of the falls now, and the fairly rough topographic data available from the Province, we estimate the falls have a total drop of about 320 meters (about 1,050 feet) from head to toe. The largest and most notable portion of the falls is the final leap, which cascades and then plunges over a cliff for perhaps 100-120 meters in all. The falls are too distant from the adjacent trails to obtain an accurate measurement for any portion (without undertaking extensive off-trail scrambling at least). Because of the shifting of the glacier itself, the source of the river as it flows out from under the ice can change. When we first observed the falls in 2001, the river flowed rather unceremoniously down a channel at the very northeast side of the valley, bypassing the vast majority of the bedrock which makes up the headwall. A smaller melt stream flowed down the south side of the cliff at this time, but was less noteworthy. Some time around 2010 however the main river shifted further south, and now flows down a much steeper, much more solid part of the headwall and in result produces a rather spectacular waterfall. If and when the river shifts again, the falls could be reduced to almost nothing, or they could be bolstered further by a consolidation of the smaller channels of melt water merging into the main river further up the headwall. As the falls are situated immediately below its source glacier, the drainage area consists almost entirely of the glacier itself. The majority of the Illecillewaet Neve actually flows to the south into the Incomappleux River, with the tongue that forms the actual Illecillewaet Glacier covering an area of about 14 square kilometers (as of 2015). The strongest flow in the falls will be seen during the afternoons on high temperature days during the mid to late summer months.