Shannon Falls

Shannon Falls Provincial Park is located 5 kilometers south of Squamish along the Sea-to-Sky Highway (99), or about 30 minutes north of the Horseshoe Bay Ferry terminal.Shannon Falls is a lofty moderate volume waterfall found along Shannon Creek where it slides and veils down the glacially carved granite walls of upper Howe Sound. The falls are often recognized as one of the tallest waterfalls in British Columbia, but exactly how tall it is remains unverified. Signs at the park state the falls drop 335.3 meters, which translates exactly to 1,100 feet - a number that seems all to round for mere coincidence. Topographic maps and Google Earth's terrain rendering both support the idea that the falls are closer to 250 meters (820 feet) tall in all, with only the bottom 140 meters or so being visible from the viewpoints at the base of the falls. During our most recent visit to the falls in May of 2018, the flow was too heavy to allow measurements to be taken, so we have yet to be able to verify the height with any degree of accuracy. Regardless of its actual height, thanks to its close proximity to a major highway and being located less than an hours drive from Canada's third largest city, Shannon Falls is one of the tallest waterfalls with truly easy and accessible access in North America. Yet despite its proximity to the Vancouver metropolitan area it doesn't receive the global recognition which other waterfalls of such size and proximity to major cities have received. If visitation were to suddenly increase, the falls are fortunately protected within a small Provincial Park which features a gentle series of trails leading to several viewpoints near the base of the cataract. Shannon Creek drains from a basin which covers approximately 13.5 square kilometers (5.8 square miles), and rises up to an elevation of just over 2000 meters at the summit of Sky Pilot Mountain. There are no significant lakes in the basin, and only a small patch of potentially permanent ice on the north face of Sky Pilot mountain which feeds into the creek. The stream flows all year long, but because of the lack of naturally regulated sources of runoff in the Shannon Creek drainage, the volume of the creek does fluctuate substantially as the seasons progress. Heavy rain in the winter and spring, as well as heavy winter snow pack ensure the creek is very full well into the summer months, but by September and October the volume of water is usually heavily diminished (though rarely reduced to anything close to what could be considered a trickle).Shannon Creek and Falls were named after settler William Shannon who homesteaded in the vicinity in 1889.