Jasper's Thundering Waterfalls: Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls & Tangle Creek

Along the northern 95-kilometre stretch of the Icefields Parkway (Highway 93N) between Jasper Townsite and the Columbia Icefield, melting glacier water funnels into three sweeping roadside waterfalls where you can walk right out over the gorges in 10 to 30 minutes for free.

1. Athabasca Falls (30 km / 25 Mins South of Jasper Townsite, At the Highway 93 / 93A Junction)

While Athabasca Falls is only 23 metres (75 feet) high, it is the most powerful and thunderous waterfall in the Canadian Rockies because the entire milky-turquoise volume of the wide Athabasca River (fed directly by the Columbia Icefield) suddenly squeezes through a narrow gap barely 18 metres wide:

• How It Cuts Through Solid Quartzite: glacial sand and pebbles suspended in the water act like liquid sandpaper, grinding smooth circular whirlpool potholes through a layer of ultra-hard Precambrian quartzite into the softer limestone underneath.
• Walk the Full 1-Kilometre Loop of Bridges & The 'Abandoned Canyon' (30 to 40 Mins): do not just stop at the first platform. Cross the upper concrete bridge directly in front of the roaring spray (with 2,956-metre Mount Kerkeslin towering directly behind the waterfall), then descend the stone steps into a cool, narrow, vertical-walled dry rock canyon where the waterfall flowed thousands of years ago before shifting its channel, following it all the way down to the calm turquoise lower river where whitewater rafts launch.

2. Sunwapta Falls (55 km / 40 Mins South of Jasper) & Tangle Creek Falls (96 km South)

1. Upper & Lower Sunwapta Falls: derived from the Stoney Nakoda word meaning 'Turbulent River', Upper Sunwapta Falls is just a 2-minute walk from the car park. Stand on the wooden footbridge spanning the 18-metre-deep limestone gorge to look straight back at the landmark tiny pine-tree-topped rock island that splits the rushing river into two white-water curtains right before it plunges beneath your feet. (Insider tip: walk 1.3 kilometres / 20 minutes further down the forest trail past the bridge to Lower Sunwapta Falls, where three consecutive waterfalls drop through the canyon with 90% fewer crowds).
2. Tangle Creek Falls (km 96, 7 Mins North of the Columbia Icefield): pull into the car park directly across the highway to see a multi-tiered wedding-cake cascade of 8 braiding waterfalls tumbling right down the cliffside beside the road.