The secret waterfall near the Highline trail in Canmore.(Click on the photo for a larger image)
I’ve been hiking the Highline trail in Canmore for five years, and only discovered this spectacular cascading waterfall today. You can’t see it from the trail, but a very short scramble will take you there.
As you are climbing the Highline’s west connector, near the top you need to cross Stones Canyon, which is easy to do. Go down the east bank and this magnificent view will materialize before your very eyes.
I always enjoy encountering hikers who are lost
Tessa and I encountered a happy group of hikers who had ventured off the trail and were unsure of their whereabouts. It was a beautiful day to be lost in the mountains, but I gave them directions on how to return to the Highline trailhead at Quarry Lake. I hope they made it.
Hi there,
So we tried to find this waterfall yesterday and I’m pretty sure we came close but to no avail. Here’s my question; we started out from the Quarry Lake parking lot on the West Connector. About 1.5 km later we came to a fork – East Highline to the left and West Highline to the right. We opted for the east trail and almost immediately crossed a little creek (I’m wondering if this was Stones Canyon?) but then we just kept going along the trail. So where did we go wrong? Should we have gone right instead?
More details would be greatly appreciated as we would like to try to find the waterfall again!
Thanks,
Mallory
Yes, that was Stones Canyon creek. Approximately 50 – 100 metres before you reach the fork, there’s a trail leading down to the creek on your left. Cross the creek, go up the opposite bank, and take the faint but visible trail down through the trees for about 100 metres(it stays near the top of the bank). At this point, if you look behind you, you’ll see the waterfall. You can scramble down the bank to the base of the falls. Good luck. -Bob
Thank you very much for helping us find our way back. We a great day hiking and can’t wait for our next hiking trip maybe next time we will try harder to stay on the path and not get lost. But I guess if we would have done that we would have never meet you. Thanks again.
The Lost Girls
Hiker is lured off trail by gaggle of smiling sirens and stumbles upon ancient waterfall !
Any chance you have utm co-ordinates, I don’t know that trail? Thanks it would be nice to find.
The co-ordinates are:
N 51° 04.196′
W 115° 22.796
If you can find that location, you’ll be standing at the base of the waterfall. The best place to start the hike is at Quarry Lake parking lot in Canmore. There’s a Highline Trail kiosk there. It would be less than 2K to the waterfall, with an elevation gain of about 120 metres. -Bob