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to the end of
February. The cone collapses inward sometime during March and some remnants are still visible in June. The road is plowed and sanded in winter and volunteers maintain the trails. Snow tires are essential and tire chains are recommended as a safety precaution. A network of cross-country ski trails starts near Dawson Falls, but there has been no grooming since the winter of 2011–2012.
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Most tourists see
Helmcken Falls in summer. A winter visit is worthwhile because the ice cone at the base often grows to 50 m tall and sometimes even higher in very cold snowy winters. It has occasionally been seen reaching halfway up the falls. The best time to view the ice cone is from late January
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surveyors in the 1870s passed to the north and made no mention of seeing the falls. Credit for discovering
Helmcken Falls goes to Robert Henry Lee (1859–1935), a land surveyor working for the British Columbia government. In 1911, Lee was awarded a four-year contract to survey lands in the North
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Gatling Gorge is the narrowest point of the
Clearwater River, about 20 m (66 ft) across. It is at the head of Helmcken Canyon, upstream from the confluence with the Murtle River. A trail from the main Helmcken Falls viewpoint accesses this gorge and takes about 1.5 hours each way.
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Thompson and
Clearwater Valleys. By 1913, he was working south of the Murtle River laying out lots for homesteaders. On July 24, 1913, he walked west along the Murtle River from his remote camp and reached the top of the waterfall. He was so impressed that he wrote a letter to
265:, Premier of British Columbia, requesting that the falls be named "McBride Falls". Three weeks later, Lee received a reply from the Premier stating that the waterfall was instead to be called Helmcken Falls. This name honoured
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was erupted from nearby fissures starting 200,000 years ago and filled the wide valley of the
Clearwater River. Layer upon layer of fresh lava created the plateau, then enormous floods eroded the lava at the close of the last
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A 30-minute walk west from the main viewpoint follows the rim of
Helmcken Canyon to an overlook of the meeting of the Murtle and Clearwater Rivers, about 250 m (820 ft) below.
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248:. Only Helmcken, The Mushbowl and Dawson can be reached by road. Majerus, Horseshoe and McDougall Falls are accessed by trails. Meadow Falls is very difficult to view, except by air.
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A short paved side road from the main Wells Gray Park road leads to
Helmcken Falls. A viewing platform on the rim of the canyon provides a panorama of the falls and canyon.
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Helmcken Falls is the fourth highest waterfall in Canada, measured by total straight drop without a break. Higher
Canadian waterfalls are
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hours each way. There are no fences at the end of this trail so caution is important, especially with children and pets.
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198:. The protection of Helmcken Falls was one of the reasons for the creation of Wells Gray Provincial Park in 1939.
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There are six other waterfalls on the Murtle River, upstream from
Helmcken Falls. The others are The Mushbowl,
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Helmcken Falls drops over the western escarpment of the Murtle Plateau. This huge lava deposit in the
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and follows the south bank of the Murtle River to the brink of Helmcken Falls. This walk takes about 1
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in 1871. Dr. Helmcken died in 1920 at the age of 95, but never actually saw the falls himself.
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563:""Mission to Mars" Is Tim Emmett and Klem Premrl's New WI 13 (What?!) at Helmcken Falls"
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who arrived in Victoria in 1850. He helped bring British Columbia into
457:"Helmcken Falls, British Columbia, Canada - World Waterfall Database"
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614:"Emmett talks about "Mission to Mars" and Helmcken Falls"
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490:, 7th edition. Wells Gray Tours, Kamloops, BC.
589:"These are the 10 hardest climbs in the world"
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516:(3rd, 1997 ed.), Vancouver: UBC Press,
402:(W13, 2020). Helmcken has been called the
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508:Akrigg, G.P.V.; Akrigg, Helen B. (1986),
664:. Bryan Swan & Dean Goss. 1985–2008
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382:Helmcken Falls has some of the world's
169:107 m/s (3,800 cu ft/s)
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425:List of waterfalls in British Columbia
16:Waterfall in British Columbia, Canada
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701:Kamloops Division Yale Land District
420:Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field
328:Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field
561:Levy, Michael (19 February 2020).
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537:"The Atlas of Canada - Volcanoes"
347:Helmcken Falls with the ice cone
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686:Waterfalls of British Columbia
587:Gray, Will (9 December 2021).
461:www.worldwaterfalldatabase.com
291:A 4-km long trail starts near
178:is a 141 m (463 ft)
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691:Volcanism of British Columbia
512:British Columbia Place Names
225:, all in British Columbia.
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223:Strathcona Provincial Park
207:Tweedsmuir Provincial Park
188:Wells Gray Provincial Park
50:Wells Gray Provincial Park
35:Wells Gray Provincial Park
488:Exploring Wells Gray Park
384:highest graded ice climbs
125:141 m (463 ft)
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662:World Waterfall Database
378:(WI10+), Helmcken Falls.
258:Canadian Pacific Railway
88:51.954092°N 120.176911°W
269:, a physician with the
267:John Sebastian Helmcken
149:15 m (49 ft)
141:23 m (75 ft)
486:Neave, Roland (2023).
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275:Canadian Confederation
93:51.954092; -120.176911
696:Wells Gray-Clearwater
649:BC Geographical Names
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315:Gatling Gorge trail:
271:Hudson's Bay Company
252:Discovery and naming
430:Volcanism in Canada
263:Sir Richard McBride
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396:Interstellar Spice
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215:Yoho National Park
117:Plunging Punchbowl
33:Helmcken Falls in
496:978-0-9681932-3-5
398:(W12, 2016), and
281:Access and trails
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242:Meadow Falls
230:Dawson Falls
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203:Hunlen Falls
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184:Murtle River
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158:Murtle River
122:Total height
598:21 December
572:21 December
368: [
219:Della Falls
154:Watercourse
138:Total width
91: /
78:120°10′37″W
65:Coordinates
680:Categories
668:2008-11-07
547:2009-03-08
466:2020-11-03
436:References
97: (
75:51°57′15″N
392:Wolverine
322:Formation
180:waterfall
166:flow rate
414:See also
404:Yosemite
388:Spray On
46:Location
593:RedBull
333:ice age
300:⁄
186:within
182:on the
164:Average
618:Climbr
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217:, and
196:Canada
58:Canada
624:5 May
372:]
626:2023
600:2021
574:2021
518:ISBN
492:ISBN
256:The
244:and
113:Type
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
