Sunwapta Falls
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Sunwapta Falls is a pair of
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 ...
s of the
Sunwapta River The Sunwapta River is a major tributary of the Athabasca River in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. Course The headwaters of the Sunwapta River are near the Columbia Icefield in the valley west-northwest of Sunwapta Pass, which divides Ja ...
in
Jasper National Park Jasper National Park is a national park in Alberta, Canada. It is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains spanning . It was established as a national park in 1930 and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984. Its locatio ...
, Alberta, Canada. The falls are accessible via a access road off the
Icefields Parkway Highway 93 is a north–south highway in Alberta, Canada. It is also known as the Banff-Windermere Parkway south of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Highway 1) and the Icefields Parkway north of the Trans-Canada Highway. It travels through ...
, which connects Jasper and
Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada's oldest National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, wi ...
s. The falls have a drop of about . ''Sunwapta'' is a
Stoney language Stoney—also called Nakota, Nakoda, Isga, and formerly Alberta Assiniboine—is a member of the Dakota subgroup of the Mississippi Valley grouping of the Siouan languages. The Dakotan languages constitute a dialect continuum consisting of Santee ...
word that means "turbulent water". The falls is most spectacular in the late spring when the spring melt is at its peak. There are two falls, a lower and an upper one. The one most people see is the upper falls, as access is easier. The lower falls are a short distance away. The water originates from the
Athabasca Glacier The Athabasca Glacier is one of the six principal 'toes' of the Columbia Icefield, located in the Canadian Rockies. The glacier currently loses depth at a rate of about per year and has receded more than and lost over half of its volume in ...
, and volumes are higher in early summer because of glacial melting. It is a Class 6 waterfall, with a drop of and a width of .


See also

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Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...
*
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
*
Wildlife of Canada The wildlife of Canada or biodiversity of Canada consist of over 80,000 classified species, with an equal number thought yet to be recognized. Known fauna and flora have been identified from five different kingdoms: protozoa (approximately 1% of ...


References


External links

* *Sunwapta Falls
Sunwapta Falls
Waterfalls of Alberta Jasper National Park {{Alberta-geo-stub