Mahood Falls is a

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

Wells Gray Provincial Park Wells Gray Provincial Park is a large wilderness park located in east-central British Columbia, Canada. The park protects most of the southern, and highest, regions of the Cariboo Mountains and covers 5,250 square kilometres (524,990 hectares or ...

located on the

Canim River The Canim River is a river in the South Cariboo region of the Interior of British Columbia, Canada. It begins at the outlet of Canim Lake and runs approximately 1.8 km to Canim Falls, the river then continues approximately 9 kilometres via ...

between Canim Lake and

Mahood Lake Mahood Lake is a lake in the South Cariboo region of the Interior of British Columbia in Wells Gray Provincial Park. It is drained by the Mahood River, a tributary of the Clearwater River which has cut a deep canyon into Cambrian rocks and Pleis ...

and northeast of

100 Mile House, British Columbia 100 Mile House is a district municipality located in the South Cariboo region of central British Columbia, Canada. History 100 Mile House was originally known as Bridge Creek House, named after the creek running through the area. Its origins ...

, Canada. The waterfall is high. Mahood Falls is also a small community spread out along of road east of Roserim Lake and south of Canim Lake. The population is about 50 people. There was a post office there until 1990, but presently there are no stores or services. Nearby Mahood Lake and, later, the Mahood Falls community were named after James Adam Mahood who was in charge of a

Canadian Pacific Railway survey The Canadian Pacific Survey or Canadian Pacific Railway Survey comprised many distinct geographical surveys conducted during the 1870s and 1880s, designed to determine the ideal route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Although much of the survey's ...

in this area in 1872.Neave, Roland (2015). ''Exploring Wells Gray Park'', 6th edition. Wells Gray Tours, Kamloops, BC. . Joan Uhrig (née McNeil) was born in 1935 at Canim Lake and grew up on the McNeil Ranch, now operated by the third generation of McNeils. According to her, the waterfall was unnamed during the family's early years at Canim Lake and considered to be part of nearby

Canim Falls Canim Falls is a 23 metre high waterfall on the Canim River between Canim Lake and Mahood Lake in Wells Gray Provincial Park in the Cariboo region of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.Neave, Roland (2015). ''Exploring Wells Gray Park ...

. When the post office was established in the 1950s and named Mahood Falls, tourists on the new road to Mahood Lake began asking for directions to see the waterfall. Answering repeatedly that there was no waterfall became so tiresome that the McNeils selected this waterfall to which they could send the curious tourists.Conversation with author Roland Neave in 2004 Only the community, not the waterfall, is an official name in the British Columbia Gazetteer. Access to Mahood Falls (the waterfall) is by a short trail off the Mahood Lake Road. Trail signage on the road says only 'Canim Falls'. It is a 10-minute walk to see Mahood Falls first, then 10 minutes further to see Canim Falls. Both are on the Canim River, downstream from Canim Lake, where there is a large island; the north channel goes over Mahood Falls and the south channel (which carries a lot more water) over Canim Falls.

Formation

Like many other waterfalls in Wells Gray Provincial Park, Mahood Falls owes its formation to the deposits of

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic r ...

in the

Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field The Wells Gray-Clearwater volcanic field, also called the Clearwater Cone Group, is a potentially active monogenetic volcanic field in east-central British Columbia, Canada, located approximately north of Kamloops. It is situated in the Cariboo ...

. Layer upon layer of fresh

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

created flat areas, over which enormous

flood A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...

s flowed at the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...

. These floods carved the canyons below Mahood Falls and Canim Falls. Erosion by wind and rain created a natural bridge in the cliffs beside the trail, one of only three in Wells Gray Park.

References

{{coord, 51, 51, 58, N, 120, 35, 13, W, region:CA-BC_type:waterbody, display=title Waterfalls of British Columbia Wells Gray-Clearwater

Formation

See also

References