Kitchener Creek Falls

The falls are best seen about 6 kilometers north of the Columbia Icefields Center along the Icefields Parkway, at either the large paved overlook for Cataract Canyon and the Sunwapta Valley, the lower parking lot at Tangle Falls, or from the service road just north of Tangle Falls.Like practically all of the streams feeding from the various finger glaciers stemming from the Columbia Icefield, Kitchener Creek cascades its way down a glacially carved valley toward the Sunwapta River. Like nearby Woolley Creek Falls, Kitchener Creek twists down a gnarled gorge carved out of glacial deposits overlayed on top of stratified bedrock. The falls on Kitchener Creek, however, are quite a bit more visible. The 400 foot series of cascades can be seen from the Icefields Parkway for a kilometer between Tangle Falls and the viewpoint overlooking Cataract Canyon just up the hill. At first glance, it looks like more of a long talus cascade than anything else, but close examination reveals that the first 400 feet of the creek’s descent to the valley floor is, in fact, descending over bedrock and thus qualifies to be classified as a legitimate waterfall.