Chasing 10 of the Best Frozen Waterfalls Across Canada
Canadian waterfalls impart a sense of thundering awe in summer. In winter, they offer an especially mesmerizing interplay between raw power and tranquility.
Little High Falls, Ontario
A short five minutes from the quaint town of Bracebridge in Ontario Cottage Country, you’ll find a cluster of falls known individually as High Falls, Little High Falls, Pott’s Falls and Muskoka Canyon Falls. In summer, they are powerful and pulsating. In winter, they’re a whole other vibe: An enchanting tranquil winterscape with Little High Fall’s frozen cascade casting sparkling reflections on snowy surroundings. Consistent snow coverage in these parts is a good bet, so if you’re up for it, snowshoe or ski to the Falls. The trail from town to reach them is an easy 1.2 kilometres. (The trail is also accessible.) You’ll see why these falls have become a popular backdrop for engagement photos.
Kakabeka Falls, Ontario
Forty-six kilometres west of Thunder Bay are the Falls known as the Niagara of the North. At 40 metres tall, Kakabeka Falls are the second highest in Ontario. When winter weather does its thing, they can form some very other worldly scenery, with massive icicles hanging over cap rock. Watching these powerful falls rumbling under a thick blanket of snow with ice particles peeping out is breathtaking. A boardwalk trail leads from the parking lot to a viewing platform that lets you take in their full scale. You can also hike or snowshoe to the Falls via the Kakabeka Falls Mountain Trail—two shortish loops—and view them from different angles.
Albion Falls, Ontario
Some of Ontario’s most impressive falls are hidden in plain sight. In and around Hamilton, along the Niagara Escarpment are many graceful ribbon falls. Albion Falls is a stepped cascade tumbling over ancient rock that, in winter, creates beautiful and intricate ice formations. The Escarpment Falls are so easy to access they’re at risk of overcrowding (drivers often pull off to the side of the road for a quick view of them). To help curb overtourism, but also because they are spectacular in cold weather months, visit in winter. The Falls are visible from two viewing platforms, one of which is just steps from the Mountain Brow Boulevard parking lot. If you want to hike around them, park at Buttermilk Falls and take the Mountain Brow Side Trail.
Helmcken Falls, British Columbia
Helmcken is one of 40 waterfalls within Wells Gray Provincial Park, about 125 kilometres north of Kamloops. The park is off the main tourist radar though it brings hard-core ice climbers from all over the world in winter. You can do a waterfall safari marvelling at each one’s distinct and dramatic formation. But if you have time for just one then it should be the show-stopping Helmcken Falls which forms gravity-defying tiers of snow with running cascades plummeting into an 80-metre canyon. A trail takes you to the base of the waterfall and into the amphitheater. Or you can just stick to the elevated viewing platform.
Crooked Falls, Squamish, British Columbia
In BC’s Squamish Valley, Crooked Falls is a multi-drop cascade with dramatic ice formations over rock ledges. As soon as the almost guaranteed cold snap freezes the Falls, hard core ice climbers break out their ice picks and set out to scale these monsters. The non-climber can get up close, though this is a harder fall to access. The Crooked Falls trail branches off the Sigurd Trail with the trailhead 1.5 kilometres in. The trail is often at least ankle deep in snow. If you can’t make it all the way, you’ll still see cliffs bordered in fairy-tale-like icicles.
Lundbreck Falls, Alberta
The twin chutes of Lundbreak Falls are doubly mesmerizing. In winter, these falls, which cascade 12 metres down, force the surrounding snow into incredible shapes before roaring down into the Crowsnest River. More dramatic ice formations hang over the limestone gorge. The falls are located just off Highway 3 near Pincher Creek and there are two prime viewing spots, either from an observation platform or at the base of the falls, accessible by an easy trail. There’s also a bridge you can drive over to view them from the other side of the river.
Athabasca Falls, Alberta
The iconic Athabasca Falls, in Jasper National Park, drop an impressive 24 metres into the Athabasca River. In winter, they can freeze into magnificent ice formations with streaks of turquoise from glacial water giving them an otherworldly appearance. The Falls are just off the Icefields Parkway, 30 kilometres south of Jasper. At the site, you can take a short trail over a boardwalk that passes between two curvy walls of rock. The reward is a spectacular winter scene complete with Rocky Mountain views in the backdrop.
Montmorency Falls, Quebec
Montmorency Falls is a frozen treat just 15 minutes from Old Quebec. These are the tallest falls in the province and Quebecers will brag that they’re even taller than Niagara. In winter, the waterfall freezes into a giant ice cone that’s nicknamed Sugarloaf, popular for guided ice climbing (but off bounds for everyone else). The less adventurous can interact with the Falls in other ways. Take a cable car for a dazzling overview that stretches out to the Ile d’Orleans. Around the Falls, there are trails for hiking or exhilarating snowshoeing, including the Promenade du Domaine or the Résurgences Trail which snakes along the river. You can also walk across a suspension bridge.
Victoria Park Falls, Nova Scotia
Sometimes frozen falls don’t have to be epic to win your heart. The Victoria Park Falls at Victoria Park in Truro have more than enough fairytale magic to them in winter. The 3,000-acre park is home to stately old growth forest. The twin falls nestled within the park—Joe Howe and Waddell Falls—are flanked on either side by enormous snowy Balsams (Truro is the Balsam Fir Christmas Tree Capital of the world). In winter, icicles hang like ornaments over the rock. Because Truro is not coastal like milder parts of the province, ample snow is a good bet. Park in town and take an easy walk to the park along groomed trails.
Pisew Falls, Manitoba
In summer, you can hear the Pisew Falls nestled within beautiful Pisew Falls Provincial Park, 75 kilometres south of Thompson, and about seven hours north of Winnipeg, as soon as you get out of your car. (The word Pisew is Cree for hissing.) In winter, in this Northern Manitoba region, you can be sure of a majestic silence and breathtaking snow-covered boreal forest. Take the short, groomed boardwalk to the two viewing platforms or cross the bridge to see the cascading Grassland River, which normally plunges 13 metres into a granite gorge as an array of frozen stalactites.
Sure…. if one looks solely ‘across Canada’ – West to East coasts. None of these waterfalls compare to those in the NWT. Southerners never look to the North of the 60th parellel….