Takakkaw Falls

Takakkaw Falls pours off the wall of the Yoho Valley in the Canadian Rockies, a white ribbon of glacier water falling in several steps, with one great leap that dominates the whole cliff. That main drop was measured in a 1985 survey at 254 metres. Estimates of the full height, upper cascades included, range from about 302 to 373 metres. The fall is often described as the second-highest in Canada, but that claim does not hold up: waterfall surveys list dozens of higher ones in the country. What sets Takakkaw apart is the sight of that one tall leap set against bare rock, glacier and forest.

The water comes from the Daly Glacier, an outlet of the Waputik Icefield on the Continental Divide. Because they are fed by meltwater, the falls keep their volume through the warm summer months, and they are at their fullest in late spring, once the heavy winter snow begins to melt. The name comes from the Cree language and means roughly "it is magnificent". It was not given by the Indigenous people of this valley, though; the Cree did not live here. The name was proposed by William Cornelius Van Horne, head of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and officially adopted in 1904.

The falls owe their fame to the railway. Yoho National Park began in 1886 as the small Mount Stephen Reserve around the railway town of Field. In 1896 the German explorer and mountaineer Jean Habel travelled up the valley of what is now the Yoho River and was overwhelmed by Takakkaw and the scenery around it. Within a few years the Canadian Pacific was advertising the Yoho Valley as "greater than Yosemite" and sending visitors up from its hotel at Field with Swiss mountain guides. In 1902 the reserve was enlarged to take in the valley and renamed Yoho. Today the park is part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site. From the Iceline Trail, the falls and the glacier that feeds them can be seen together.

Getting there

The falls lie in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, about 12 km north of Field, at the end of a side road that climbs the Yoho Valley from the Trans-Canada Highway near the town. The nearest larger town is Cochrane, Alberta, about 144 km to the east. Calgary International Airport (YYC) is about 176 km to the east in a straight line; Canadian Rockies International Airport (YXC) at Cranbrook is about 216 km to the south.