White Falls

White Falls is located immediately upstream of the fourth footbridge over the Robson River along the Berg Lake trail in Mount Robson Provincial Park. From the junction of Highways 5 and 16 in Tete Jaune Cache, follow the Yellowhead Highway (16) east for 16.3 kilometers to Mount Robson Meadows and turn left onto Kinney Lake Road, then follow it to the trailhead at its end in another 2 kilometers. Expect to encounter a crowded parking area, the Berg Lake Trail is the most popular hike in the Canadian Rockies. The hike in to White Falls is not terribly difficult, but it does feature some ups and downs - though most of the hike is fairly flat. The footbridge below White Falls is encountered at the 11.8 kilometer mark on the trail, or about a kilometer past the Whitehorn Campground junction and the third bridge (the suspension bridge). Only the lowermost tier is visible from the bridge, to see the bigger tiers upstream it's necessary to scramble upstream along the river for about 100 meters. Two more viewpoints for White Falls are encountered further up the trail as well; continue up the trail, which gets much steeper for another 1/4 kilometer to where an obvious spur trail shoots off to the right toward the falls for the best views. A third viewpoint is encountered right along the trail at the 12.3 kilometer mark along the trail, but the view from this angle is heavily obstructed.White Falls is the final and by far the largest of the major waterfalls along the Robson River as it descends down the aptly (though obviously hyperbole) named Valley of a Thousand Falls in Mount Robson Provincial Park. The falls consist of four distinct sections in a run of about 900 linear feet, three of which we were able to measure. The uppermost tier of the falls is hidden out of view from all potential viewpoints along the Berg Lake Trail, so we were not able to properly survey or photograph it on our first visit. The first visible portion of the falls is the largest individual drop, which twists down a corkscrew shaped horsetail type fall and then slams into a broad ledge and plunges over a sheer broad bench for the final part of its 269-foot drop. Immediately below this tier the river accelerates down a long sliding cascade for another 26 vertical feet, which finally leads into the last drop, a nearly sheer 54-foot tall block shaped fall visible just upstream of the footbridge over the Robson River.
The official topographic data from the provincial government suggests the total drop of the river in the vicinity of White Falls is close to 400 feet (120 meters), so considering our measurements show the visible portion of the falls to have a drop of about 350 feet, this suggests that the hidden upper tier of the falls is probably in the vicinity of 50 feet tall, give or take.
We have been unable to find stream flow data for the Robson River, so our estimated volume for this waterfall is purely a guess based on visual comparisons to other rivers which we have a better grasp on flow rates for. Given that at this point in its length the Robson is fed by three very large glaciers, the volume of the falls should be assumed to be consistent and heavy for the entire season in which it's accessible.