Lower Geraldine Falls

The Geraldine Lakes trail starts 5.5 kilometers up the Geraldine Fire Lookout Road, itself accessed from Highway 93A about a kilometer north of Athabasca Falls. The first lake is 2 kilometers from the trailhead, and the base of the falls are reached in another kilometer.The Geraldine Lakes seem to be one of the most popular obscure hikes in Jasper National Park. The series of paternoster lakes string for several kilometers down from the slopes of Mount Fryatt and Whirlpool Peak, the outlet streams dropping over precipitous waterfalls between each lake. While Geraldine Creek more than likely contains a significant waterfall below the lower lake, this is the first easily accessible waterfall encountered along the creek. The Geraldine Lakes Trail climbs to the lower lake in 2 kilometers and reaches the base of the falls one kilometer further. The falls cascade down a twisting crack in the bedrock, dropping about 150 feet before cascading further to the lake level. The upper third of the falls are easily seen from across the lake, but are difficult to see from the base of the falls due to foreshortening. Likewise, from the very bottom, due to the way the stream twists mid-fall, the middle section of the falls is greatly obstructed from the easier viewpoints to reach.