Spahats Creek Falls

Spahats Creek Falls can be found 10km north of the Yellowhead Highway along the Clearwater Valley Road in Wells Gray Provincial Park. The trailhead can be found just north of the bridge across the creek and is well signed. The trail to the viewpoint is about 250m in length.Spahats Creek is the first major stream which is crossed along the Clearwater Valley Road in Wells Gray Provincial Park. Like every stream that flows off the Trophy Mountains into the Clearwater River, Spahats Creek intersects the area’s ubiquitous basalt formations and plunges over the rim of the Clearwater Valley. What stands out with Spahats Creek, however, is the sheer size of the canyon the creek has managed to create. As one approaches the falls from the parking lot the creek churns along in a gorge maybe 75 feet deep, but at the falls suddenly and spectacularly expands and deepens to 400 feet in dramatic fashion, with the waters of Spahats Creek pouring out of a keyhole slot in the amphitheater, plunging over an impressive waterfall. The falls stand approximately 240 feet tall, with drops of 40 and 200 feet respectively, but only the 200 foot drop can be seen due to the shape of the gorge. The canyon itself is the result of glacial meltwaters pouring over the edge of the Clearwater Valley some 11,000 years ago in similar form to what can now be seen at Helmcken Falls further up the valley. As the ice receeded the volume of the stream shrunk and what remains is Spahats Creek descending into a canyon formed by a stream several orders of magnitude larger.Spahats Creek was once known as Bear Creek and many early photographs of this waterfall can still be found captioned as Bear Creek Falls or Bear Falls. Spahats is a local Indian word for Bear.