Second Canyon Falls

Second Canyon Creek is a small tributary of the Clearwater River that has a violent history in the past 75 years. Since the first road into the Clearwater Valley was built, the creek has damaged or mandated the replacement of no less than 4 bridges, and most recently has given the road-fill culvert scheme a bout of problems. Unfortunately in the process of alleviating the problems caused by the creek, a portion of Second Canyon where the upper of two waterfalls existed has been destroyed. According to Roland Neave’s outstanding book Exploring Wells Gray Park, the upper falls were buried in an avalanche of debris from a flash flood in 1997, but the upper canyon was still accessible. The main falls on the creek occur about ½ kilometer downstream, and drop 15 meters just above one of the old bridges spanning the creek.