It’s not often you can reach out and touch the upper part of a waterfall as it cascades below. You can almost do that at Johnston Canyon in Banff National Park in Canada. There is a rock tunnel (for lack of a better word) that brings you breathtakingly close to the waterfall. Brendan at Johnston Canyon Resort told me that it’s believed nature created a big indentation in the rock and a pioneer bore a hole through it, creating a small viewing area. It offers a spectacular view of the lower waterfall which drops about forty feet. You’ll get drenched by the mist of the waterfall and the roar of the rushing water sends a clear message from Mother Nature about who’s boss.
There is an easy twenty minute hike on a paved walkway to the lower fall and for the more serious hiker, you can venture further on to the upper fall. That hike will take about two hours roundtrip I am told.
Unless you’re into ice climbing you might want to wait until late spring of summer to visit. Alberta’s frigid temperatures ice over the lower falls.
