There’s no denying that Jasper National Park is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. With mountainous landscapes, crystal clear lakes and an abundance of wildlife you’ll be hard pressed to find a reason not to love things here. What makes the park even more special however are the seemingly endless cascade of waterfalls falling away from the Athabasca River with, in our opinion, the best one being the Athabasca Falls.
From the car park you can’t see the waterfall but you can certainly hear the water crashing over the edge in the distance and smell the damp in the air.
As you walk down to the falls the first thing that strikes you is the sheer power and speed of the water flow. It’s an incredible sight.
So how big are the Athabasca Falls? Well based on my photo below it should give you a good idea – take a look on the left side and see if you can spot the other tourists standing near the edge. They look pretty tiny stood alongside the torrent of water.
The falls offer you 3 different viewpoints. The first one which is directly in front of you from the car park the first one in this post. It gives you a great close-up view of the waterfall but is teaming with tourists so you’ll need to jostle for position a little to get that perfect shot!
The second viewpoint is shown immediately above which is from the bridge that crosses the canyon. This gives you great views both upstream and downstream.
Finally there is a third viewpoint which is on the far side of the falls. You can walk across the bridge and make your way around easily with this side being so close to the falls you can nearly touch it.
This third viewpoint is where the water flows over the edge of the falls and drops down into the plunge pool so it’s incredibly loud with some spray here.
You can see from this photo the first viewpoint on the left filled with people and then the second on the far left where the bridge is.
From the bridge you can walk down to the lower falls which offers another experience. For us we were pretty exhausted after a long day so having seen the incline of the path decided to give it a miss on this occasion! It’s always good to leave somewhere unexplored as it creates a good excuse to return, right?
The Athabasca Falls is definitely one of our favourite sights in Jasper National Park. There are a lot of waterfalls around but this one is particularly special with numerous viewing areas available to look at the rock formations, canyon and water power. We loved it here and are sure you will too – add it to your itinerary today!
Have you been to the Athabasca Falls or planning a trip this year? Let us know in the comments!
