We love waterfalls! My wife and I were in the final stages of planning our trip to Canada, intending to spend most of our time in the Jasper-Banff area along the Icefields Parkway. While discussing our plans with a good friend, he insisted we must visit Helmcken Falls, claiming it was fantastic! As waterfall enthusiasts, we researched the falls and the surrounding area, and concluded he was right—we had to adjust our itinerary to include this spectacular waterfall.
However, we discovered that Helmcken Falls is somewhat remote and only accessible on the way to Vancouver. So, we planned to drive four hours from Jasper, Alberta, to a small motel near Clearwater, British Columbia. After resting for the night, we continued on to the waterfall area, where we spent about an hour photographing the falls.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a path to reach the base of the waterfall, so we settled for taking photos from several lookouts along the canyon wall. We experimented with different exposures, and I particularly liked a six-second exposure that smoothed out the water while capturing a significant amount of mist from the waterfall’s powerful flow. We did explore some other waterfalls in the area, but none compared to Helmcken Falls.
