Ione Falls

Ione Falls is located adjacent to Highway 23, approximately 20 kilometers north of the junction of Highways 23 and 6 in Nakusp, or about 27 kilometers south of the loading ramp on the Galena side of the Shelter Bay - Galena Ferry across Upper Arrow Lake. The falls are not indicated by name, but the rest area is prominently marked by signs as one approaches the site.Ione Falls is a fairly scenic but lower volume waterfall located adjacent to Highway 23 along the east side of Upper Arrow Lake between the Shelter Bay - Galena Ferry and the town of Nakusp. The falls are found at the northern end of the Ione Falls Rest Area, and can be easily seen from the highway spraying 29 meters (95 feet) down in an attractive veiling shape at the head of a small alcove, complete with a picnic table at its base. During the later summer months, the flow in the creek should be tame enough that one could take a refreshing shower in the falls to escape the summer heat. Ione Creek's drainage basin covers an area of about 2.8 square kilometers (just barely over 1 square mile), and rises up to an elevation of about 2,000 meters on Mount Sanderson at its apex. The majority of the basin is steep terrain and is almost entirely heavily forested, which should allow winter snow pack to persist at higher elevations well into the late spring and early summer months and provide a consistent, though modest, flow of water through much of the year. Once the lingering snow has melted off however, expect to see the volume of water in the stream be reduced considerably unless replenished with precipitation.